Struts 2: Features and Fundamental Concepts

If you’re looking for a Java framework that can help you create JEE web applications more quickly and easily, Struts 2 is the best option. Struts 2 is an open-source framework that is widely used in the sector. Through this blog, we will learn about Struts 2: Features and Fundamental Concepts. Join FITA Academy‘s Struts Training in Chennai to learn more about Struts. It offers advanced certification training and 100% job placement assistance.

What is Struts?

Struts, a Java-based open-source framework, facilitates in the development of J2EE web applications. It promotes MVC design and extends the Java Servlet API. This improves the maintainability, extensibility, and flexibility of web applications built with industry standards like JSP, JavaBeans, and XML.

Features of Struts 2

POJO Based forms and actions:

Struts uses action classes as the application’s controller. They are responsible for responding to user input, carrying out business logic, and producing a result that includes the rendered view. It also serves as the Model class.

Improved Tags and Customization:

Struts 2 has several new types of tags, including UI tags, control tags, Data tags, which help with application development.

AJAX Functionality:

Struts 2 supports the Ajax technology, commonly used to create asynchronous requests. Transmitting the necessary field data to the server improves the application’s speed.

Easy Integration:

It integrates well with other Web frameworks such as Spring, DWR, SiteMesh, and Tiles.

Minimal Configurations:

No extra setups are necessary when using the Struts 2 application. It works with few configurations, with most parameters taking the default values without a departure.

Integrate View Technologies:

You may simply combine Struts2 with many view technologies such as XSLT, JSP, Freemarker, velocity, and so on.

Theme and Templates:

Struts 2 supports three types of themes:

XHTML
Simple
Css_xhtml

Fundamental Concepts

1. Configurations

There are two main configuration files in any struts application:

struts.xml file:

This file contains information about the configuration changes made as actions. It is primarily used to override an application’s default settings. This file is created in the WEB-INF/classes directory in most Struts projects.

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struts.properties file:

This file contains a way to change the framework’s behaviour. Because a framework employs several attributes, you can modify any of them to meet your needs.

2. Actions

As the controller in the MVC pattern, actions or action classes are important to any Struts 2 application. In another word, Action classes contain the business logic that aids in data processing.

An action file can be made in three different ways:

Simple Action Classes

Any Java class can be a Struts 2 action class, but it must have an execute() method with a String return type.

Implementing Action Interface

Implementing the com.opensymphony.xwork2.Action interface will produce a Struts 2 Action class as well. It has a single method, execute(), that must be implemented by the implementing class. By implementing this interface, you can use different constants for the result pages, such as SUCCESS, ERROR, NONE, INPUT, and LOGIN.

3. Interceptors

Interceptor is a key component of the Struts 2 framework. It is simply an object that is called during the pre- and post-processing of a request. It aids in controlling and smoothing the request and response cycle.

4. Value Stack

In the Struts2 framework, the ValueStack is the storage space where the entire application’s data is saved for processing a request. This information is stored in ActionContext objects, which use ThreadLocal to retrieve values particular to every client request thread.

5. OGNL

OGNL is an abbreviation for Object-Graph Navigation Language. It is a strong expression language, similar to JSP, largely used for referencing and manipulating data in the ValueStack. Furthermore, it facilitates in the transport and conversion of data types.

Conclusion

In this blog, we have discussed Struts 2: Features and Fundamental Concepts. To learn more about concepts and become a programming expert, you can Join Best Struts Training Institute in Chennai, which provides the best Certification Training with Placement Support.