Programming Jakarta Struts, 2/e

Description:

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