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Apache Struts 2 Documentation
Struts 2 Blank Archetype
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The Struts 2 Blank Archetype ("blank-archetype") provides a minimal, but complete, Struts 2 application. It demonstrates some of the most basic Struts 2 concepts.

#### Features

- XML-based configuration, demonstrates including additional config file
- Example actions
- Package-level resource bundle
- XML-based validation
- Unit-testing

Contents

## Creating Our blank-archetype Project

We'll run the following command from our project's parent directory (this is shown using Unix-style commands).

Depending on the state of your local system you may see Maven downloading various libraries (known as "downloading the internet", which is what it seems Maven does sometimes). Be patient--Maven is basically setting up your required libraries automatically.
<version> - is the version of Struts 2 you want to use and archetype was released for, eg. 2.1.8.1 .

### Staging repository

If the above command will fail because of missing archetypes in central repository, you can try to use staging repository like below

## Project Structure

The source code structure follows the normal Maven directory structure. The blank-archetype does not include all of the directories listed in the Maven structure reference page.

Our project's structure looks like this:

Directory | Description
--- | ---
`src` | All project source
`¦- main` | Primary source directory
`¦ ¦- java` | Java source code
`¦ ¦ `- tutorial` | Package defined by `groupId` parameter
`¦ ¦ `- example` | The example actions from the archetype
`¦ ¦- resources` | Resources (config, property, and validation files, and so on
`¦ ¦ `-tutorial` | Package defined by `groupId` parameter
`¦ ¦ `- example` | Example property and validation files from archetype
`¦ `- webapp` | Web application files (HTML, JSP, etc.)
`¦ `- WEB-INF` | Typical WEB-INF folder
`¦ `- example` | Files from archetype
``- test` | Test code (unit tests etc.)
``- java` | Java-based test code
``- tutorial` | Package defined by `groupId` parameter
``- example` | Test code from archetype

### Structure Difference From Non-Maven Projects

One big change for folks not used to the Maven structure is the separation of Java source code and resource files. For example, in a non-Maven project our directory structure might look like this:

`src` | All project source
`¦- tutorial` | Tutorial package
`¦ `- example` | Example package
`¦ ¦- Login.java` | Login action source
`¦ ¦- package.properties` | Resource file
`¦ `- Login-validation.xml` | Validation file
``- struts.xml` | Struts 2 config file
`web` | Web app files
`¦- WEB-INF` | Typical WEB-INF folder
``- index.html` | An HTML file

It can take a little while to get used to, but ultimately it provides good separation of "types" of things, and becomes second-nature pretty quickly. Note that it's possible to use a non-Maven directory layout with Maven projects, but this can be challenging at some points.

## Building The Project

There are several different ways we can go about building our project, from simple compilation up to actually running the web application--all from within Maven.

### Compilation

will create a `target` directory containing the compiled classes. By itself this isn't terribly useful.

### Testing

Running

will compile the application and run the included unit tests. Blank-archetype's unit tests are not extensive, but provide a simple starting point for writing more complex, application-specific tests.

One we've run the Maven test command we'll notice there's a `target/surefire-reports` directory. The Maven Surefire Plugin is how Maven runs our unit tests. By default it will create test results in XML and text formats in the `target/surefire-reports` directory. These files can be examined to get further information regarding the failed tests.

### Assembling (Creating a WAR)

### Running

We can run blank-archetype using the Jetty server via the Maven Jetty Plugin by executing the Jetty plugin's `run` command:

Once we've run the application we can see that it works by visiting `localhost:8080/tutorial/example/Welcome.action` as a sanity check.

## Application Documentation

The application consists of a few test actions demonstrating simple validation and package-level property (resource) files. The most interesting URLs are as follows (assuming we used `groupId=tutorial`):

URL | Description
--- | ---
`/tutorial/example/Welcome.action` | Handled by wildcard mapping
`/tutorial/example/HelloWorld.action` | Handled by explicit mapping, demonstrates package-level properties
`/tutorial/example/Login.action` | Handled by explicit mapping with method wilcard (see the `Login.action` documentation for information regarding how to access this URL)

### Application Configuration

The default Struts 2 configuration file is contained in `src/main/resources/struts.xml`. It includes an additional configuration file, `src/main/resources/example.xml`. The application's mappings are contained in the `example.xml` file. The `struts.xml` file sets some constants.

See the struts.xml page for more information about the `struts.xml` file. For more information regarding what's contained in typical `struts.xml` files start at the Configuration Elements page, which contains links to a bunch of information. See the Configuration Files page for more information regarding additional Struts 2 configuration files, including links to the files that set all the Struts 2 default configurations.

### `Welcome.action`

The mapping for this action is handled by a "catch-all" mapping in `example.xml`:

This mapping is the last mapping contained in `example.xml`--anything not handled by mappings appearing before it in `example.xml` will be caught by this mapping. This mapping will look for JSP files in `src/main/webapp/example/*.jsp`. Since there's a `Welcome.jsp` in that directory, we're all set. See the Wildcard Mappings page for more information on how Struts 2 can use wildcard mappings.

### `HelloWorld.action`

The mapping executes the HelloWorld action, contained in `src/main/java/tutorial/example/HelloWorld.action`. This action retrieves a message from a package-level properties file, contained in `src/main/resources/tutorial/package.properties`. See the Localization page for more information about how Struts 2 handles message resources (it's pretty cool).

### `Login.action`

This is another wildcard mapping:

In the application the Login action is reached via a link, but not directly to `/tutorial/example/Login.action`. The link is actually `/tutorial/example/Login_input.action`. Reaching the Login action this way bypasses validation: if we hit the Login action directly we'll get a validation error.

The validation configuration is contained in `/src/main/resources/tutorial/example/Login-validation.xml`. It checks for the presence of the `username` and `password` properties (form values). It uses messages stored in the `package.properties` file (in the same directory). See the Validation page for more information regarding Struts 2 validation.