Creating Struts portlets and projects

Creating Struts portlets and projects

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The Struts portlet project structure is dictated by the Struts Portlet Framework (SPF) support provided by WebSphere Portal and included in the Rational Software Delivery Platform.
You can create Struts portlet projects by using the New Portlet Project wizard. A default Struts-type portlet and a Web diagram file will be added in the process of creating the project. The wizard automatically generates Struts portlet configuration files and the necessary updates to the web.xml file, portal.xml file, and adds all of the SPF tag libraries and JAR files to the project, in the directory structure that is required.
The following types of resources that are defined by the Struts Portlet Framework are included in the project:

JARs

IBM API portlet

All the *.jar files with the exception of Blank.jar in the SPFLegacyBlank.war.

JSR 168 API portlet

All the *.jar files with the exception of Blank.jar in the SPFStandard.war.

Configuration files

struts-config.xml

struts-config-mode.xml (for different modes/markup)
Target Directory: WEB-INF
The <controller> element that defines the Request Processor class is automatically generated in the Struts configuration file.

Deployment descriptors

portlet.xml

web.xml
Target directory: WEB-INF

IBM API portlet
The following modifications are made to the standard web.xml file:

The servlet com.ibm.wps.portlets.struts.WpsStrutsPortlet is added.
Web-app, servlet, and servlet-mapping tags have ID attributes with string values, suffixed with a unique ID to prevent conflicts with other portlets.
WpsStrutsPortlet is configured using a prefix-based mapping, with an extension-based servlet-mapping defined in the struts-servlet-mapping init parameter of the servlet. An extension-based mapping should be used when including Struts links.
To run a Struts portlet project as an standalone application, change the servlet-mapping entry from an extension-based servlet-mapping (*.do) to a prefix-based mapping (for example, a URL pattern such as /app/*).
Note: You cannot use the same configuration for a Web project and a portlet application.
Extension-based mapping is required and is defined in the initial parameter for the WpsStrutsPortlet, for the parameter struts-servlet-mapping.
Portlet mode configuration information is included in the portlet.xml file. Since (for SPF) mode and markup are treated as Struts modules, these modules are also defined as part of the initial parameter for the WpsStrutsPortlet.
Welcome-file list support for Struts modes is supplied.
Struts portlet-related init-param values are supplied.

JSR 168 (standard) API portlet
The following items are included in the portlet.xml file:
The following portlet is added...
com.ibm.portal.struts.portlet.StrutsPortlet

Note that this is not a servlet entry; it is defined solely in the portlet.xml file.
Portlets are uniquely identified with a tag contained within the definition to prevent conflicts with other portlets.
Extension-based mapping (such as *.do) is required, and is defined in the initial parameter for the StrutsPortlet, struts-servlet-mapping.
Portlet mode configuration information is included in the portlet.xml file. Since (for SPF) mode and markup are treated as Struts modules, these modules are also defined as part of the initial parameter for the StrutsPortlet.
Struts portlet-related init-param values are supplied.
The initial page for the supported struts modes are defined in the portlet.xml file as part of the portlet preferences for this portlet. For example:
<portlet-preferences>
  <preference>
    <name>com.ibm.struts.portal.page.view.html</name>     
    <value>index.jsp</value>
  </preference>
  <preference>
    <name>com.ibm.struts.portal.page.edit.html</name>     
    <value>html/edit/index.jsp</value>
  </preference>
</portlet-preferences>
IBM API portlet conventions

The following sample configuration and deployment descriptor file snippets show representative tagging used within Struts portlet projects:
struts-config.xml

The following controller section is added to all struts configuration files:
<controller processorClass="com.ibm.wps.portlets.struts.WpsRequestProcessor"> </controller>

web.xml
This shows a sample Struts portlet servlet that is added to the the web.xml file. (Struts portlet-specific values in bold.):
<servlet id="Struts_Unique_Servlet_Name">
     <servlet-name>Struts</servlet-name>
     <display-name>Struts Portlet</display-name>
     <servlet-class>com.ibm.wps.portlets.struts.WpsStrutsPortlet</servlet-class>

   
     <init-param>
       <param-name>config</param-name>
       <param-value>/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml</param-value>
     </init-param>
     <init-param>
       <param-name>struts-servlet-mapping</param-name>
       <param-value>*.do</param-value>
     </init-param>     


</servlet>
The config parameter above is the standard way to define a Struts configuration file and modules. The struts-servlet-mapping parameter is the way for a Struts portlet to define what to use as a Struts action mapping, so that paths that should be treated as Struts actions can be recognized. This is used the same way as the "servlet-mapping" value when configuring an Apache Struts servlet. It is strongly recommended that extension mapping be used for the param-value.
The following is an example of servlet-mapping for a Struts portlet servlet. It is defined to refer to the Struts portlet, since this portlet is also a servlet.
<servlet-mapping id="Struts_Unique_ServletMapping">
      <servlet-name>Struts</servlet-name>
      <url-pattern>/Struts/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
This is an example of additional tag libraries that can be added to the web.xml file:
<taglib>
    <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-uri>
    <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
portlet.xml
This is an example of an abstract portlet defined in the portlet.xml file:
<portlet-app uid="A_Unique_ID:1" 
             major-version="1" 
             minor-version="0">

  <portlet-app-name>Struts Portlet Application</portlet-app-name>

  <portlet id="Portlet_1" 
           href="WEB-INF/web.xml#Struts_Unique_Servlet_Name" 
           major-version="1" minor-version="0">

    <portlet-name>Struts Portlet</portlet-name>

    <cache>
      <expires>0</expires>
      <shared>NO</shared>
    </cache>

    <allows>
      <maximized/>
      <minimized/>
    </allows>

    <supports>
       <markup name="html">
          <view/>
       </markup>
    </supports>

  </portlet>
</portlet-app>
This is an example of a concrete portlet defined in the portlet.xml file:
<concrete-portlet-app uid="A_Unique_ID:1.1">

  <portlet-app-name>Struts Blank Application</portlet-app-name>

  <concrete-portlet href="#Portlet_1">

    <portlet-name>Struts Portlet</portlet-name>
    <default-locale>en</default-locale>

    <language locale="en">
      <title>Struts Portlet</title>
      <title-short>Struts Portlet</title-short>
      <description>Struts Portlet</description>
      <keywords>WPS, Struts</keywords>
    </language>

    <config-param>
       <param-name>FilterChain</param-name>
       <param-value>StrutsTranscoding</param-value>
    </config-param>

    

  </concrete-portlet>

</concrete-portlet-app>
JSR 168 (standard) API portlet conventions

The following sample configuration and deployment descriptor file snippets show representative tagging used within Struts portlet projects:
struts-config.xml
The following controller section is added to all Struts configuration files:
<controller processorClass="com.ibm.portal.struts.portlet.WpRequestProcessor">
</controller>
web.xml
This is an example of additional tag libraries to be added to the web.xml file:
<taglib>
    <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-uri>
    <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
portlet.xml
This shows a sample Struts portlet added to the portlet.xml file:
<portlet>
     <portlet-name>StrutsPortletProject</portlet-name>
     <display-name>StrutsPortletProject portlet</display-name>
    <portlet-class>
        com.ibm.portal.struts.portlet.StrutsPortlet
    </portlet-class>

   
     <init-param>
       <param-name>config</param-name>
       <param-value>/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml</param-value>
     </init-param>
     <init-param>
       <param-name>struts-servlet-mapping</param-name>
       <param-value>*.do</param-value>
     </init-param>     

     
     <init-param>
       <param-name>config/html/edit</param-name>
       <param-value>/WEB-INF/struts-html-edit.xml</param-value>
     </init-param>

     
     <expiration-cache>0</expiration-cache>
     <supports>
       <mime-type>text/html</mime-type>
       <portlet-mode>view</portlet-mode>
       <portlet-mode>edit</portlet-mode>
     </supports>
     <supported-locale>en</supported-locale>
     <resource-bundle> strutsportletjsr168.nl.StrutsPorltetJSR168PortletResource  </resource-bundle>
       <portlet-info>
           <title>StrutsPortletJSR168 portlet</title>
       </portlet-info>

   <portlet-preferences>  

            

     <preference>         
       <name>com.ibm.struts.portal.page.view.html</name>         
       <value>index.jsp</value>       
       </preference>  

     

       <preference>         

       <name>com.ibm.struts.portal.page.edit.html</name>
         <value>html/edit/index.jsp</value>
       </preference>

     </portlet-preferences>

</portlet>
Note: The config parameter above is the standard way to define a Struts configuration file and modules.
Related concepts

Generating Struts portlet actions and action mapping codes
Creating data access Web applications using Struts
Struts tools for application development

Related tasks

Creating Struts portlet projects
Creating portlets
Creating Struts portlet JSP files
Creating Struts applications

Related reference

Differences between Struts 1.1 and SPF tag library classes