Tutorials : The Power of Three - Eclipse, Tomcat, and Struts :

A more complex Struts application

In order to be able to develop a Struts application we need to go one step further. This is evident if we, for example, import the struts-validator war-file in a new Tomcat project. Several of the class files will be flagged with errors:

These errors will disappear when we add the Struts jar-files to the classpath. Right click the project, select Properties, Java Build Path, Libraries. Click the "Add JARs..." button and add all the jar files from the lib directory:

Press "OK" and the flags will disappear. Again, try the Validator after having reloaded Tomcat, by using this address:

http://localhost:8080/StrutsValidation

On the page that is shown, you may try several of the Validator features available in Struts.

Since this project is more "real-life" than the other ones we have used in the article, you might want to see the debugging features in a more realistic environment. Try for example to set a breakpoint in the Action class MultiRegistrationAction:

In the browser select the link "Multi-page Registration Form", and fill in some values in the HTML form, and press Save. The Eclipse debugger is now active, and the Action class's variables may be inspected--and changed-- for example the form fields:

If you change something in the MultiRegistrationAction class and save it, you'll see Tomcat re-loading several files, for example the Validator's XML-files. Not every changed file will force a reload, however. If you change struts- config, you'll have to reload it manually, as described above.

Conclusion

When considered separately Eclipse, Tomcat, and Struts are all great software products. Used together their value is further increased to give you a very solid development environment, with a lot of the features that you need and should expect from development tools of today. If you further add a few other tools like Log4J (for logging), JUnit and StrutsTestCase for unit test, and also implement some solid error handling, you really have what's needed to work productively.

But you'll have to try it out for yourself, and my advice is to use the time needed to get to know the tools. Eclipse has a lot of very useful features, like code-completion, refactoring and source formatting. Read the help files and try the features out.

When we look at Struts, then its full potential only becomes apparent when you work with it. My advice is to read articles on the web or buy one of the good books on Struts. See the resources section for hints.

Happy coding! 

Resources

• The home of Eclipse: www.eclipse.org
• The home of Tomcat: jakarta.apache.org/tomcat
• The home of Struts: jakarta.apache.org/struts
• The Sysdeo Tomcat plug-in: www.sysdeo.com/eclipse/tomcatPlugin.html
• Previous articles from JavaBoutique about Struts:
  - " Stepping through Jakarta Struts"
  - " Coding your second Jakarta Struts Application"
  - " Introducing: the Struts bean and logic Tag Libraries"
  - " Stepping through the Struts 1.1 Validator"
  - " StrutsTestCase: The Tool for Struts Unit testing"
• One of the best books about Struts is " Programming Jakarta Struts" by Chuck Cavaness.

Keld is currently working as a web architect for one of the largest IT companies in Denmark. He battled with the mainframes during the 70's when they were the size of a gymnasium and had the power of your PalmPilot. He also struggled with CASE-tools in the 90s and now explores the cutting edge technology of the Web. While not busy at his computer he likes to vacation on the Greek islands.

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