Apache Struts 2 Framework for Java Developers

An overview of our development environment for Struts 2:

Windows 10

JAVA 8 JDK

Tomcat 8.5.x

Eclipse

Maria DB

with external links to the official installation and setup documentation attached.

A walkthrough of downloading and installing the Oracle Java Development Kit 8 on Windows 10

A walkthrough of downloading and installing the Eclipse IDE for Enterprise Java Developers in Windows 10. An external link to the Eclipse command line runtime options is attached in the resources section.

A walkthrough of downloading, installing and configuring Tomcat 8.5.x in Windows 10

An overview of setting up Tomcat within the Eclipse IDE in order to run and debug Java Web Applications.

An overview of downloading, installing and running the Maria DB in Windows 10, using the Administrator Command Prompt.

Resource links:

https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/10.4.7/

https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installing-mariadb-windows-zip-packages/

https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mysql_install_dbexe/

An overview of setting up a JDBC Connection Profile to the Maria DB and accessing the database from within the Eclipse Data Source Explorer

1. Creating a basic Struts 2 Web Application program with the help of Eclipse.

2. Create a new Dynamic Web Project (Generate web.xml)

3. Set Apache Tomcat as the target runtime

4. Set Web App Context Root in Eclipse

5. Download and install Struts 2 libraries in WEB-INF/lib

6. Add index.jsp

7. Add a struts.xml configuration file

1. Re-use our struts2-basic template created with Eclipse in the previous lesson

2. Create a server page input form to accept “Your Name” (View)

3. Create an Action class to control the interaction (Controller)

4. Create a server page to display custom Hello “Your Name”

5. Create a mapping in struts.xml to couple action and view (Declarative Architecture)

• URL Tag

• Form Tag

• Property Tag

• Mapping an Action to a class

• Mapping a result to a view

• Writing controller logic in the Action class

• Re-use our hello-world project

• Create a the Insurance Agent Model Object

• Create the Insurance Agent Enrollment Form

• Create a new Action Class that will enroll the Insurance Agent

• Create new Response JSP

• Create a mapping in struts.xml to couple action and view

• Re-use our form-processing project

• Add a validate method to our Insurance Agent Register Action

• Write code to validate Insurance Agent fields

• Expand struts.xml to handle input validation errors

• Write the code to display the validation errors in our Register.jsp

• Re-use our form-validation project

• Create a message resource file for our Register Action

• Use the key-value pairs in our message resource file in register JSPs and Action

• Expand the property files so we can use them in packages

• Write a Spanish Language resource file for registering our Spanish speaking agents

• Re-use our i8n resource file project

• How to specify and handle Global Exceptions

• How to specify and handle an exception for a specific Action

• How to log exceptions in a log file

• How to display an Exception in the browser

• Re-use our Exception Handling project

• Debug a Struts 2 Application using the Eclipse IDE

• Use the Struts 2 Configuration Browser Plugin

• Use the Struts 2 debugging Interceptor

• Use logging

• Re-use our exception handling project

• Look at the Interceptor Layer for our Register Action

• Add specific Struts 2 Interceptors to our Register Action

• Run our Struts 2 Interceptors for the Register Action

• Discuss writing our Interceptors

• Re-use our Struts 2 Spring project

• Expand in-memory service store class (ads states to the database)

• Implement the Preparable Interface in our Register Action (get states)

• The implemented Prepare method will always be called by the Prepare Interceptor (also on validation fails)

• Update our Register Input form with State Drop Down tags

• Run our Register Action to show how the State Drop Down tag is used.

• Re-use our interceptors project

• Review the SessionAware Interface

• Add the SessionAware Interface to our Register Action

• Store the Registered Insurance Agent Data in the Session

• Display the Insurance Agent Data stored in the session

• Re-use our http-session project

• Create an in-memory service store class (database)

• Add the Spring Configuration to web.xml

• Add the service store class to the spring configuration file applicationContext.xml

• Use the Maven Repository to figure out transitive dependencies to add to LIB

• Run our Spring App to demo in-memory store

1. Create the application using the Maven WAR Archetype

2. Change the generated Archetype WAR Application to a Struts 2 Web App

3. Write the Login Action and Interceptors

4. Set up and populate our Maria DB

5. List Insurance Agents with Spring JDBC Template

6. Create Insurance Agents with Spring JDBC Template

7. Update Insurance Agents with Spring JDBC Template

8. Delete Insurance Agents with Spring JDBC Template

1. Create Insurance Admin Application from Maven WAR Archetype

2. Set up Eclipse Repository for the latest Maven WAR

3. Update web.xml to 3.1

4. Run the Maven Archetype Generated  web application

• Re-use our i8n resource file project

• How to specify and handle Global Exceptions

• How to specify and handle an exception for a specific Action

• How to log exceptions in a log file

• How to display an Exception in the browser

• Create Insurance DB using MariaDB Command Line

• Stop Old DB, Start new DB with MariaDB Command Line

• Re-use our refactored Maven Archetype Project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud2)

• Set up Eclipse DB Connection

• Populate Insurance DB inside Eclipse with SQL Scripts

• Re-use our previous project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud3)

• Add the Administrator Class (POJO Bean)

• Add the Administrator Service to authenticate Administrators (In Memory DB)

• Expand Login Action to use Administrator Service Authentication

• Use Struts Validation in login.jsp

• Change Login Action to store valid logged in Administrator in a Session Object

• Add a global Interceptor that will check for a valid Administrator in the Session

• Re-use our created project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud4)

• Create Insurance Agent Model Object (match MariaDB table)

• Create Insurance Service Interface (Get All Insurance Agents)

• Add spring configuration (web.xml, pom.xml, Spring Config class)

• Implement the Insurance Service using Spring JDBC Template

• Test the implementation with a Main method test driver

• Add the Insurance Action and Display List JSP

• Re-use our created project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud5)

• Update our MariaDB Tables with Auto Increment PK Keys

• Add State Model Object and expand Service to get the States

• Alter Insurance Agent Model Object to include State Object

• Test creating Agent and getAgent() method with Main Driver

• Re-use our created project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud6)

• Create a JSP form to show an Insurance Agent with State Drop Down

• Add Insurance Action method to populate the form (show)

• Test JSP and action in Tomcat Service with Eclipse

• Re-use our created project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud8)

• Update Agents List Form with an Insert Action Link

• Fix our Active and Expensed bugs from previous lecture

• Expand the Insurance Action method to save to be able to a DB Insert

• Test JSP and action in Tomcat Service with Eclipse

• Re-use our created project (struts2-insurance-admin-crud9)

• Update Agents List Form with a Delete Action Link

• Fix any Spring JDBCTemplate bugs identified previously (Insert Agent)

• Expand the Insurance Action class with a delete method (JDBCTemplate Delete Method, Main method test driver)

• Test JSP and Struts 2 Action in Tomcat Service with Eclipse

1. Understand the Architecture and History of the Apache Struts 2 Framework

1. Setting up our Development Environment with JDK 8, Eclipse, Tomcat and MariaDB

1. Getting started with Struts 2 core components with code examples

1. Build a working Struts 2 ”CRUD” Application with JSP, Struts 2 Actions, the Spring JDBC Template and MariaDB