 | Dec 2006 This Technology Preview provides an extension to the Struts Tools, which are in turn extensions to the Web Tools for WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer. This Technology Preview includes a Web Diagram Editor, JSP tools, EGL extensions, and wizard-like cheat sheets.
System requirements
Hardware requirements The hardware requirements are the same as for WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer 5.0. Software requirements
- WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer 5.0, Early Availability version
- Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
Struts Tools are extensions to the WebSphere Studio Web Tools for creating Struts-based Web applications.
The Struts Tools provide the following additional functionality:
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Struts project setup
- Struts Tools extend the Web project wizard so that it can set up your project for Struts application development.
This includes making the Struts run-time jar file available, creating a servlet definition and mapping
for the Struts ActionServlet in the deployment descriptor, configuring the Struts taglib .tld files,
creating an initial Struts configuration file, etc.
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Action Wizards
- Struts Tools provide specialized wizards for creating Struts Action subclasses
and action mapping entries in the Struts configuration file.
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Form Bean Wizard
- Struts Tools provides a specialized wizard for creating Struts ActionForm subclasses and corresponding form bean entries
in the Struts configuration file.
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JSP Wizard Extensions
- Struts Tools extends the JSP Wizard to automatically include declarations for the Struts taglibs you'll use.
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JSP Editor Extensions
- Struts Tools extends the JSP Editor (PageDesigner) to support the WYSIWYG rendering of Struts tags in the "Design" page.
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Struts Configuration File Editor
- Struts Tools provides a specialized editor for editing Struts configuration files. It provides specialized editing pages
for each major section as well as a source page which fully exploits the advanced XML editing capabilities of the XML Tools
(color-coding, auto-formatting, assisted completion, etc.).
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Struts-specific Validation
- Struts Tools extends the basic and Web Tools validation infrastructure by providing Struts-specific validation
of the deployment descriptor (i.e., validation of the Struts ActionServlet servlet definition),
validation of Struts configuration files (including both XML validation against the Struts configuration file DTD
and "semantic" validation of the various attributes and entities), and Struts-specific validation of JSPs. For example,
a forward in the Struts configuration file that references a nonexistent JSP will be flagged as a broken link. Also, for example,
if a Struts JSP references an action (e.g., via an <html:form ...> tag) that ultimately references an action that does not exist
(i.e., does not have an action mapping entry in the Struts configuration file), that will be flagged.
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Web Diagram Editor
- Struts Tools provides a versatile web application diagram editor that let's you draw your Struts application as a set of nodes
(primarily JSPs and actions) connected by links and forwards. The diagram editor supports top-down development
(i.e., developing a Struts application from scratch), bottom-up development
(i.e., you can easily diagram an existing Struts application that you may have imported, and "meet-in-the-middle" development
(i.e., enhancing or modifying an existing diagrammed Struts application). In the top-down scenario, you can completely diagram
a new Struts application without creating any actual artifacts, and then create your artifacts in any order desired.
The diagram editor supports direct invocation of type-appropriate wizards
(which are pre-populated with any relevant information you've already diagrammed). In the bottom-up scenario,
the diagram editor supports incremental and full automatic diagramming of an existing Struts application.
For example, you could create a new diagram, drag and drop an existing Struts JSP onto it and have the diagram editor automatically draw
either just those nodes linked to by that JSP or, recursively, draw all JSPs and actions reachable from that JSP.
The diagram editor also supports direct invocation of type-appropriate editors, so, for example,
from an action node in a diagram you can easily go to either the corresponding action mapping entry in the Struts Configuration File Editor,
or you can directly open the Java editor on the specified target Action subclass.
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Web Structure View
- The Web Structure View provides a hierarchical (tree-like) view of your Struts application. Each Struts application
in your workspace is listed, under which are categories for the various artifacts (web pages, actions, etc.).
So, for example, you can expand an action node to see its forwards, which you can then expand to see the JSP ,
which you can then expand to see its links, etc. This is useful for understanding specific execution paths of your application.
The Web Structure View fully supports directly launching type-appropriate wizards and directly opening editors on selected items.
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EGL Extensions
- If you are an Enterprise Generation Language user (or a VisualAge Generator user), you may be interested in the EGL extensions
to the Struts Tools, which include support for automatic generation of Struts Action subclasses that can call an existing EGL program
(wherever it may be deployed). The Web Diagram Editor has also been extended to be able to directly invoke the EGL Editor
on appropriate actions in your diagram. The combination of these two features allows you to largely be unconcerned
about the underlying Struts "plumbing" and think of your actions as being implemented by your EGL programs if you desire.
Enhancements in the technology preview
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Cheat Sheets
- Cheat sheets provide step-by-step instructions and assistance for completing complex tasks. Individual steps can invoke
appropriate tools (wizards, editors, etc.) for the user. We've provided a cheat sheet to step you through designing (diagramming),
creating, and executing a simple Struts-based web application from scratch. There is also an EGL-based version of this cheat sheet.
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Web Diagram Editor
- The diagram editor has been enhanced to support form beans and arbitrary JavaBeans in the diagram. So, for example,
you can diagrammatically associate an action with the form bean it uses. The diagram editor also now more fully populates wizards
it invokes with information from the diagram.
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JSP Wizard Extensions
- The JSP Wizard Struts extensions have been enhanced to allow the creation of JSPs that contain an initial form (<html:form ...>)
based on fields in an existing form bean.
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JSP Editor Extensions
- WYSIWYG rendering of the Struts tags in the "Design" page of the PageDesigner has been enhanced.
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EGL Extensions
- When generating a new Action subclass to invoke an EGL program, we've added optional automatic generation of a new skeleton EGL program.
Installation instructions
Download the Struts Tools Technology Preview, then see the readme file.
Support
The Struts Tools Technology Preview is not supported by IBM.
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