Programming Jakarta Struts

Programming Jakarta Struts
by Chuck Cavaness

# Paperback: 550 pages
# Publisher: O’Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (June 21, 2004)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0596006519
# ISBN-13: 978-0596006518

While the look and feel of an enterprise web application is certainly important, developers usually find themselves spending far too much time on the front-end presentation before they can get to coding the good stuff–the business logic at the heart of the program. Jakarta Struts addresses this issue by combining Java Servlets, Java ServerPages (JSP), custom tags, and messaging resources (like Java Message Service) into a unified, re-usable framework. The result is a cooperative, synergistic platform that’s efficient and suitable for independent developers, large development teams, and everyone in between.

The Struts Framework has become a highly popular open source project, but there’s still woefully little documentation on the technology. What does exist is far too basic and lacks critical information for developers like you writing today’s complex web applications.

The revised and expanded Programming Jakarta Struts, 2nd Edition covers everything the successful earlier edition did–including an overview of the concepts involved in writing web applications; installation and configuration instructions for getting Struts up and running; a thorough discussion of how Struts implements the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design paradigm (known as the Model 2 approach) and how to interface with that pattern in your own applications; Logging, Validation, and Exception Handling with Struts; using Tiles; writing internationalization and localization code using Struts; and practical, real-world best practices for web applications–as well as plenty more: now fully up to date with Struts 1.1, this edition covers the latest material on tag libraries and the new JavaServerFaces (JSF) APIs and even includes all-new chapters on JSF, JSTL/EL, and security.

With each enterprise system he s developed, author Chuck Cavaness has spent many grueling hours learning invaluable lessons about Struts and figuring out the dos and the don’ts of building web applications. He saves you time and headaches by sharing that invaluable real-world experience here, with his realistic, practical, here’s how to do it approach to using the Struts Framework to its fullest potential.

Table of Contents
Preface
1. Introduction
A Brief History of the Web
What Are Java Servlets?
JavaServer Pages
JSP Model 1 and Model 2 Architectures
Why Is Model-View-Controller So Important?
What Is a Framework?
Alternatives to Struts

2. Inside the Web Tier
An Architecture Overview
The HTTP Request/Response Phase
Struts and Scope
Using URL Parameters
Forward Versus Redirect

3. Overview of the Struts Framework
A Banking Account Example
Looking at the Big Picture
Struts Controller Components
Struts Model Components
Struts View Components
Multiple Application Support
Summary

4. Configuring Struts Applications
The Storefront Application
What Is a Web Application?
The Web Application Directory Structure
The Web Application Deployment Descriptor
Configuring the web.xml File for Struts
The Struts Configuration File
The Digester Component
The Struts Console Tool
Reloading the Configuration Files

5. Struts Controller Components
The Controller Mechanism
The Utilities Classes

6. Struts Model Components
The “M” in MVC
What Is a Business Object?
Persistence
What Does Struts Offer for the Model?

7. Struts View Components
What Is a View?
What Are ActionForms?
Using ActionErrors
Performing Presentation Validation
Using the DynaActionForm Class
Looking Ahead to JavaServer Faces

8. JSP Custom Tag Libraries
Custom Tags Overview
Tag Libraries Included with Struts
Using JavaBeans with Struts Tags
Struts HTML Tags
Logic Tags
Bean Tags
Nested Tags
Other Useful Tag Libraries
The JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL)

9. Extending the Struts Framework
What Are Extension Points?
General Extension Points
Controller Extension Points
Extending View Components
Downsides to Extending the Framework

10. Exception Handling
Java Exception Handling
Performance Impact of Exception Handling
System Versus Application Exceptions
Using Chained Exceptions
Exception Handling Provided by Struts
Tying Up the Loose Ends
Conclusion

11. The Validator Framework
The Need for a Validation Framework
Installing and Configuring the Validator
Using an ActionForm with the Validator
Creating Your Own Validation Rules
The Validator and JSP Custom Tags
Internationalizing the Validation
Using the Validator Outside of Struts

12. Internationalization and Struts
What Is Internationalization?
Support for I18N in Java
Internationalizing Your Struts Applications
Exception Handling and Internationalization

13. Struts and Enterprise JavaBeans
Implementing the Storefront Service Using EJB
Interfacing Struts to EJB
Conclusion

14. Using Tiles
Understanding Templates
Installing and Configuring Tiles
Using Tiles
The Tiles Tag Library
Using Definitions
Internationalization Support with Tiles

15. Logging in a Struts Application
Logging in a Web Application
Using the Servlet Container for Logging
Jakarta Commons Logging
Using the log4j Package
Using Commons Logging in JSP Pages
The Performance Impact of log4j
Third-Party log4j Extensions
Java 1.4 Logging API

16. Packaging Your Struts Application
To Package or Not to Package
Packaging the Application as a WAR File
Building Your Struts Applications with Ant
Creating an Automated Build Environment
Restarting Your Server Remotely

17. Addressing Performance
What Is Good Performance?
Performance Versus Load Testing
Performance- and Stress-Testing Tools
Testing the Storefront Application
Performance and Scalability Gotchas

18. JavaServer Faces
Struts and JavaServer Faces
Overview of JSF Architecture
Installing and Running the Example Struts-Faces Application
Converting Existing Struts Applications to JSF
Further Reading

A. Changes Since Struts 1.0

B. Downloading and Installing Struts

C. Resources

Index
About the Author
Chuck Cavaness is a graduate from Georgia Tech with degrees in computer engineering and computer science, has built Java-based enterprise systems in the healthcare, banking, and B2B sectors. Working at an Internet company to design and develop software architecture, Chuck has spent many frustrating hours figuring out the dos and the don’ts of web applications. With each enterprise system he’s developed, Chuck has learned several valuable lessons about building “real-world” web applications, information that he’s made available to developers who haven’t had the opportunity to work on large systems.

Chuck is the co-author of Special Edition Using Java 1.3 and Special Edition Using EJB 2.0, both available from QUE.

Tags:Jakarta-Struts, OReilly-Media
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