Tutorials : Create an XML Web Application with Struts, Xerces, and Xalan :

The Sample Code

Because this is just demo application, it does not persist all entered information. Entered information will be kept in HttpSession and is be lost once you close your browser. All contact information (name and e-mail) is be kept in the objects of the Java class shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: This Java class contains the contact info.

Every Action class prepares a result Java Bean. Figure 4 shows how such a class will look for ListingScreenAction.

Figure 4: This Java class contains the contact info.

These Java Beans are converted into an XML document by the XML/XSLT controller.

In general, the configuration of the Web application will be similar for almost any other application using the Struts framework. The only thing different is the XML/XSLT controller, which you need to add to /WEB-INF/web.xml:

<web-app>
        ...
	<servlet>
		<servlet-name>xmlxslt</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>com.prokhorenko.XMLHandler</servlet-class>
		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
	</servlet>                                        
	...
	<servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>xmlxslt</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>/XMLHandler</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>
	...
</web-app>

Hands-on with the Code

ant 

Once deployed, open your browser, type http://localhost:8080/mvx, and you'll see the initial page, from which you will be able to set contacts book owner, add new contact record, and list all records. Take your time and click through it. It doesn't really differ from any other Web application using Struts and JSPs, but it's much more portable with the presentation view!

All the XSLT stylesheet templates are in *.xsl files. You may want to change them or load them with nicer HTML/CSS design.

After you finish exploring, you may want to see how this demo application looks in pure XML. To do so, edit the war/src/com/prokhorenko/Constants.java file and set the xmlOutputOnly variable to value true:

...
    public final static boolean xmlOutputOnly   =  true;
...

Remember that each Web project needs to be designed and architected depending exactly on its own requirements. XML/XSLT is not a panacea for every Web application, but it can be a really helpful solution.

Resources

How to Add Java Applets to Your Site

New on the Java Boutique:

New Review:

Time Management Made Easy with the Quartz Enterprise Job Scheduler
Why not just use the Java timer API? This open source scheduling API boasts simplicity, ease-of-integration, a well-rounded feature set, and it's free!

New Applet:

Reverse Complement
Reverse Complement is a simple applet that converts DNA or RNA sequences into three useful formats.

Elsewhere on internet.com:

WebDeveloper Java
Lots of Java information on webdeveloper.com

WDVL Java
Thorough Java resource at the Web Developer's Virtual Library.

ScriptSearch Java
Hundreds of free Java code files to download.

jGuru: Your View of the Java Universe
Customizable portal with online training, FAQs, regular news updates, and tutorials.