Welcome to Struts 2
Struts 2 is a flexible control layer based on standard technologies like Java Filters, JavaBeans, ResourceBundles, and XML, as well as various
OpenSymphony packages, like OGNL and XWork. The framework helps you create an extensible development environment for your application, based on industry standards and proven design patterns.
Work in progress!
Struts 2 is at a pre-release, pre-Alpha stage. If you are just getting started with Struts2/WebWork2, we recommend WebWork 2.2 as an entry point. WW2 is stable and production ready. When Struts 2 is released, migration paths for WebWork 2 and Struts 1 developers will be available.
See the Struts 2 release plan for details and status.
Struts 2 in a Nutshell
The framework provides its own web Controller component and integrates with other technologies to provide the Model and the View. For the Model, the framework can interact with standard data access technologies, like JDBC and EJB, as well as most any third-party packages, like Cayenne, Hibernate, or iBATIS. For the View, the framework works well with JavaServer Pages, including JSTL and JSF, as well as FreeMarker or Velocity Templates, PDF, XSLT, and other presentation systems.
The framework's Controller acts as a bridge between the application's Model and the web View. When a request is received, the Controller invokes an Action class. The Action class consults with the Model (or, preferably, a Facade representing your Model) to examine or update the application's state. To transfer data between the Model and the View, properties can be placed on the Action class, or on a plain old JavaBean.
Most often, the Model is represented as a graph of JavaBean objects. Preferably, the Model will do the "heavy lifting", and the Action will act as a "traffic cop" or adapter. The framework provides sophisticated, automatic type conversion to simplify transfering data between rich domain objects and text-only HTTP requests.
To make it easier to access dynamic data obtained by an Action, the framework includes a library of custom tags. The tags interact with the framework's validation and internationalization features, to ensure that input is correct and output is localized. The tag library can be used with JSP, FreeMarker, or Velocity.
Getting Started
The online documentation is grouped into three areas.
Our overview is your ten minute tour of Struts 2: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. |
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Our tutorials are designed to get started with the framework soon as possible. We offer an all-purpose "soup to nuts" tutorial as well as specialty tutorials on portlets and database access. |
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Our in-depth guides focus on specific components of the framework, such as Views, the Core framework, and Third-party Extensions. |
Overview
Tutorials
Guides
We started work on a new User Guide, that should simplify learning process. Please feel free to contribute!
Deprecated Guides
These guides are deprecated and were moved to https://github.com/apache/struts-site
Migration Guide
Contributors Guide
Source
- Building the Framework from Source
- Creating and Signing a Distribution
- Requirements and Use Cases -
under construction - Precise Error Reporting
- Obtaining an IDEA license
- How to Write Doc Comments for the Javadoc Tool (Sun)
Documentation
Core Guide TODOs
- Creating Resources
- Writing Validators
- Writing Type Converters
- Actions
- Writing Actions
- Writing Results
Licensing and Copyright
Errata?
To suggest a change or a correction to any part of the documentation, log in and leave a comment on the appropriate page. We are always looking for help with the documentation!
Next: FAQs