EC37 - Struts Programming
Duration2 Days (customisation)
Availability

Course Description

This course is targeted at the developer, already familiar with programming using J2EE, looking to gain a knowledge of Jakarta Struts Programming. During the course the student will build a fully featured Struts applications including advanced topics such as validation, error handling and internationalisation.

Pre-requisites

The student should be familiar with J2EE programming. This knowledge can be gained by attending course EC31.

Objectives

This course provides students with the skills to write effective Struts Applications.

While covering these in detail, the course retains a ‘high level’ overview of the MVC Design Patterns used for such development.

During the course the student will write a complete Struts application to ensure that the content has been fully understood and practical experience is gained.

On completion of this course the student will be able to:

  • understand the Model View Controller architecture
  • understand the various Struts components (Action, ActionServlet, etc)
  • understand the configuration files
  • modify struts to include plug-ins
  • understand the various form classes (ActionForm, Dyna forms, etc)
  • use the various Custom Tags that struts provides
  • configure Internationalised applications
  • use Struts Error handling
  • use the Struts Validator Framework
  • Understand and configure Tiles
  • Understand and use the various tools WSAD or RAD provide for Struts (if applicable)

Environment

Development will be performed using:

  • Eclipse
  • NetBeans
  • Websphere Studio Application Developer
  • Rational Application Developer
  • JBuilder
  • the Java Development Kit (JDK) plus a text editor

Customisation

For on-site courses (i.e. at your premises), we are more than happy to tailor the course agenda to suit your exact requirements. In many cases, we are able to build your in-house standards and naming conventions into the delivered course.

Course Details

INTRODUCTION TO STRUTS
Model 2 And Struts
Action
ActionForm
Message Resources
FIRST STRUTS APPLICATION
Creating The View Components
Creating The ActionForm Bean
Creating The Controller Components
Configuring The Application
Running Through The Application
CONFIGURATION FILES
web.xml
struts-config.xml
CONTROLLERS
Actionservlet
Action
Forward Actions
Struts Plugins
VIEW COMPONENTS
Jsps That Get Data From The Client
Presenting Data To The Client
Defining Jsps To A Struts Application - Forwards
Basic Actionform Beans
Check Boxes And The Reset Method
The DynaActionForm Bean
OTHER ACTION CLASSES
Dispatch Action
Mapping Dispatch Action
JAVASERVER PAGES STANDARD TAG LIBRARY (JSTL)
JSTL Expression Language
Core Tags
Internationalisation (I18N) Tags
Functions
STRUTS CUSTOM TAGS
HTML Tags
Logic Tags
Bean Tags
Template Tags
ADVANCED FEATURES
Map-Backed Form Beans
APPLICATION PROPERTIES AND INTERNATIONALISATION
Resource Bundles
Using The Resource Properties
Example Resource Bundle File
ERROR HANDLING
Adding Error Handling To An Application
Displaying The Errors In The Jsp
Non-Error Messages
Actionerrors Before Struts 1.2
Declarative Exception Handling
Displaying Declarative Errors In Jsps
VALIDATOR FRAMEWORK
Validator Form Beans
Validator Plugin
Configuring The Validator
Displaying Validator Errors In The Jsp
Mutiple Rules
Standard Rules
Rule Variables
Using Validation With DynaValidatorForms
Using Javascript With The Validator
TILES
Templates
Configuring Tiles
Tiles Tag Library

Course Format

Practical sessions make up a large part of the course, allowing delegates to demonstrate and reinforce the lectures given.

Examples are used extensively, ranging from simple code 'snippets' to full applications with complete ‘real world’ functionality. These are supplied at the start of the course and it is encouraged that the delegates execute and ‘experiment’ with these under the instructor’s guidance as they are introduced.

These examples are available to take away, along with the delegate’s own work.

The comprehensive Student Guide supplied is fully indexed serving as a useful reference tool long after the course has finished. Delegates will also be able to access a free help-line with technical questions relating to topics covered on the course.