Michael Rimov Centerline Computers Craig McClanahan Sun Microsystems O’Reilly Open Source Convention July 7 - 11, 2003

1. Michael RimovCenterline ComputersCraig McClanahanSun MicrosystemsO’Reilly Open Source ConventionJuly 7 - 11, 2003

2. Introduction Presentation Slides, Notes and Samples Available At:http://www.centercomp.com/beyondstruts/

3. What Defines Struts? • Lightweight Model 2 J2EE framework for the HTTP Servlet portion of the application. • NOT Meant to dictate the entire J2EE implementation.

4. Model 2 Typical Flow MVC Based Model 2 Architecture Diagram

5. Abbreviated Model

6. What Makes Struts So Extensible? • Lightweight and Focused: Doesn’t Try To Do Everything. • Well Designed: Very good separation of concerns, very clean coding implementation. • Uses Java Reflection to allow freedom of objects.

7. Case Studies

8. Case Studies • Struts and Expresso • Struts and Macromedia Flash • Struts and XML • Struts and Java Server Faces

9. Case Study: Expresso 5http://www.jcorporate.com/

10. Case Study: Expresso 5

11. Case Study: Expresso 5 Controller Extension: • Provided Application Level Security Matrix • Added in-request routing ability. • Provided mostly-Servlet Independent flow of control.

12. Case Study: Expresso 5 Struts Action: public ActionForward perform( ActionMapping mapping,ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) Expresso Version: protected void runPromptLoginState(ControllerRequest request, ControllerResponse response)

13. Case Study: Expresso 5 Model Extension: • ControllerRequest / ControllerResponse objects. • ControllerResponse is populated with Inputs/Outputs/Blocks/Transitions. • Can use Struts Beans as well. • Added Database Access Layer

14. Case Study: Expresso 5 View Extension: • Default UI Renderer • Customizable XSLT Processing Capabilities. • Compatible with Struts Views.

15. Case Study: Expresso 5 Integration Experiences: • Extremely supportive community • Reaped Performance Improvements • Partial Integrations still work well. • Easy to extend even the Struts internals.

16. Case Study:Macromedia Flashhttp://www.macromedia.com/software/flash

17. Case Study: Macromedia Flash

18. Case Study: Macromedia Flash Integration Methods: • XMLSocket and XML formatted pages. • LoadVariables and property formatted pages. • NOT covering Flash Remoting All Integration methods need some sort of template view system such as JSP or Velocity.

19. Case Study: Macromedia Flash Start Page • Tell Flash Where To Get Its Data. <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="445" height="244"> <param name="movie" value=“mymovie.swf?data=http://www.example.org/MyAction.do&next=http://www.example.org/NextAction.do"> <param name="quality" value="high"> <embed src=“mymovie.swf?data=http://www.example.org/MyAction.do&next=http://www.example.org/NextAction.do"quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="445" height="244"></embed> </object>

20. Case Study: Macromedia Flash XML Socket Method • Create Flash Starting Page • Load initial data through the ‘data’ parameter. • On-submit, the movie opens an XML Socket to the server and Struts. • Struts formats return data as XML.

21. Case Study: Macromedia Flash XML Socket Method: Drawbacks • XML Parsing on the Client Side. • XML Parsing on the Server Side • Expansion of Bandwidth

22. Case Study: Macromedia Flash Load Variables Method • Create Flash Starting Page • Load initial data through the ‘data’ parameter. • On-submit, the movie opens an http request to the server. • Struts formats return data in a “property=value” format.

23. Case Study: Macromedia Flash Load Variables Method: Drawbacks • Simple format of return data only. • Fancier formats require parsing again. Similar drawbacks as XMLSocket. • Recommended you use simple beans for rendering only • Flash 6 Only

24. Quick ActionScript Sample on (release) { LoadVars lv = new LoadVars(); LoadVars receiveVars = new LoadVars(); lv.loginName=LoginName; lv.password = Password; receiveVars.onLoad = processResult; //Not Shown Here lv.sendAndLoad(data,receiveVars,"POST"); }

25. Introducing Craig McClanahan

26. Case Study: Struts and XML

27. Case Study: Struts and XML • Most Struts apps generate HTML • With the Struts HTML tags (JSP) • With alternative presentation systems like Velocity and Freemarker • Templates accessed via RequestDispatcher. forward() call, but there's another way ... • Action.execute() -- return null to indicate that the response has been created already • Opens the door to XML-based output

28. Struts and XML: General Approach • Form submitted to Action, as usual • Action creates result beans, as usual, or renders XML objects • Action renders XML directly (or forwards to an XML-generating template) • Template incorporates dynamic data from result beans or rendered XML objects • XSLT stylesheet(s) transform to HTML or other markup language

29. Struts and XML: Resources • JSP and JSTL can be used directly instead of HTML tags • Two Popular Struts and XML Extensions: • StrutsCX • Http://it.cappuccinonet.com/strutscx/ • Stxx • http://www.openroad.ca/opencode/ • More information online, on the Struts Resources pages: • http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/resources/

30. Case Study: Struts andJavaServer Faces

31. Case Study: JavaServer Faces • What Is JavaServer Faces? • Server-side user interface component framework for Java-based web apps • Under development in the Java Community Process (JSR-127) • Currently at Public Draft 2 in the process • Early Access 4 of Reference Implementation is available • http://java.sun.com/j2ee/javaserverfaces/

32. JavaServer Faces: Goals • Accessible to corporate developers • Usable via tools and by hand • Usable with and without JSP • Usable with and without HTML • Usable with servlet and portlet APIs • Can be adopted immediately • Minimum platform: Servlet 2.3, JSP 1.2 • Final 1.0 version: 4QCY2003

33. JavaServer Faces: Features • Extensible UI component model • Flexible rendering model • Standard HTML renderkit included • Event and listener model • Validation framework • Basic page navigation support • Internationalization and accessibility

34. JavaServer Faces: Sample Page <f:use_faces> <h:form formName=”logonForm”> <h:panel_grid columns=”2”> <h:output_text value=”Username:”/> <h:input_text id=”username” length=”16” valueRef=”logonBean.username”/> <h:output_text value=”Password:”/> <h:input_secret id=”password” length=”16” valueRef=”logonBean.password”/>

35. JavaServer Faces: Sample Page <h:command_button type=”submit” label=”Log On” actionRef=”logonBean.logon”/> <h:command_button type=”reset” label=”Reset”/> </h:panel_grid> </h:form> </f:use_faces>

36. JavaServer Faces: Managed Bean <managed-bean> <managed-bean-name> logonBean </managed-bean-name> <managed-bean-class> mypackage.mybeans.LogonBean </managed-bean-class> <managed-bean-scope> request </managed-bean-scope> </managed-bean>

37. JavaServer Faces: Bean Class public class LogonBean { // No base class! // The usual property getters/setters public String getUsername() { ... } public void setUsername(String username) { ... } public String getPassword() { ... } public void setPassword(String password) { ... }

38. JavaServer Faces: Bean Class ... // Getter returns “Action” for button public Action getLogon() { // Anonymous inner class used here return new Action() { public String invoke() { // Invoke method on bean class return (logon()); } }; }

39. JavaServer Faces: Bean Class ... protected String logon() { // Business logic can access form fields // as instance variables if (username/password combo is ok) { return (“success”); // Logical outcome } else { return (null); } } }

40. JavaServer Faces: Navigation <navigation-rule> // Wildcard and global patterns ok <from-tree-id> /logon.jsp </from-tree-id> <navigation-case> <from-action-ref> // Optional logonBean.logon </from-action-ref> <from-outcome> // Optional success </from-outcome> <to-tree-id> /mainmenu.jsp </to-tree-id> </navigation-case> </navigation-rule>

41. JavaServer Faces and Struts • So, is JavaServer Faces Replacing Struts? • NO!!! • Struts 1.1 is and remains very popular • Struts will continue to innovate & advance • Then, can I use them together? • YES!!! • With the Struts-Faces Integration Library • http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-struts/ release/struts-faces/

42. JavaServer Faces And Struts • Replaces Struts HTML Tags With More Powerful JavaServer Faces Components • Continue to use struts-config.xml file • Integrates with Struts RequestProcessor • Supports Standard Struts Features: • Form Beans and Actions • Validator Framework • Tiles Framework (coming soon ...)

43. JavaServer Faces and Struts • To use the library with an existing app: • Get the JavaServer Faces RI • Drop it and struts-faces.jar into your /WEB-INF/lib directory • Change HTML tags on one page at a time • Tweak your forward paths, and • Don't touch your form beans or actions • MVC works ... what a concept :-).

44. Conclusion

45. Presentation Information Michael Rimov: rimovm@centercomp.com Craig McClanahan:craigmcc@apache.org Slides, Notes and Sample Code Available http://www.centercomp.com/beyondstruts/