JBoss Developer Studio provides the following when working with Struts.

JBoss Developer Studio includes a New Struts Project Wizard that radically simplifies the process for getting started with a new Struts project. You just need to follow these 4 steps:

Figure 4.2. Selecting Struts Wizard

Figure 4.3. Creating Struts Project

Figure 4.4. Registering The Project at Server

Figure 4.5. Selecting Tag Libraries

After the project is created, you should have the following project structure (if you used the KickStart template):

Figure 4.6. Project Structure

For detailed information on migration projects to JBoss Developer Studio see Migration Guide.

With JBoss Developer Studio you can add Struts capabilities (including Struts libraries, tag libraries and a Struts configuration file) to any existing Web application project in your Eclipse workspace. By adding a Struts Nature to your project, you can now edit files using JBoss Developer Studio editors, such as the Struts configuration editor and the JBoss Tools JSP editor.

Right-click the project and select JBoss Tools > Add Struts Capabilities from the context menu. This will start the process of adding all necessary libraries and files to make this a Web JSF project.

Figure 4.7. Adding Struts Capabilities

The wizard will first show you the web.xml file location and the project name.

Figure 4.8. Choosing Project Location

After hitting Next, you will see the following screen. This screen simply means that you need to add at least one Struts module to your project to make this project a Struts project. Adding a Struts module means that a new struts-config.xml will be added to your project and registered in the web.xml file. In addition, all required Struts libraries will be added. To add a Struts module, select the Add Struts Support button.

Figure 4.9. Project Modules

Here you can select what Struts version, Servlet class, URL pattern and TLDs to add to this project.

Figure 4.10. Selecting Struts Support Options

When done, you will see the default Struts module configuration information. See how to Edit Struts modules.

Figure 4.11. Project Configuration Information

On the last screen you can set the different folders for your project as well as register this application with a servlet container.

Figure 4.12. Registering the Project at Server

When done, you can open the struts-config.xml file. (The Struts configuration is shown below in the Tree viewer).

Figure 4.13. Struts-config.xml File

The Diagram mode graphically displays the Web flow of the application defined in the Struts configuration file.

Figure 4.14. Diagram Mode

Just by right-clicking anywhere on the diagram, you can use a context menu to create the building blocks of a Struts application:

Figure 4.15. Diagram Context Menu

Along the upper-left side of the editor is a stack of seven icons for changing the behavior of the cursor in the diagram. The first icon switches to the default regular selection cursor, the second to the marquee selection cursor and the third to the new connection cursor. The last four icons switch the cursor to an insert cursor for each type of Struts build block listed above (and in the order listed).

For instance, clicking on the first of these four icons (the one with the gears) will switch the cursor to insert actions. Clicking anywhere in the diagram with this cursor has the same effect as right-click and selecting Add > Action... from the context menu with the regular cursor active. It's just more efficient to use this cursor if you're adding more than one action at once.

Figure 4.16. Insert Actions Cursor

In the Tree mode, the different elements of the Struts application are organized into functional categories on the left-hand side and a form for editing the properties of currently selected items on the right-hand side.

Figure 4.17. Tree Mode

You can also right-click on any node in the category tree and perform appropriate operations through a context menu. For instance, by right-clicking on the action-mappings category node, you can add new actions to the application.

Figure 4.18. Tree Context Menu

In the Source mode, you have complete editing control of the underlying XML coding:

Figure 4.19. Source Mode

You can take advantage of code assist:

Figure 4.20. Code Assist

The editor will also immediately flag any errors:

Figure 4.21. Errors in Source Mode

Finally, you can use the Outline view with the editor to easily navigate through the file:

Figure 4.22. Outline View

To create a new Tiles files, right click any folder and select New > Tiles File.

Figure 4.23. Creating a New Tiles File

In the Tree mode, the different elements of the Tiles file are organized into functional categories on the left-hand side and a form for editing the properties of currently selected items on the right-hand side.

Figure 4.24. Tree View

To edit the file, simply right click any node and select among the available actions:

Figure 4.25. Editing in Tiles Editor

The Diagram mode is shown below:

Figure 4.26. Diagram Mode

To create new definitions, simply right click anywhere in the diagram:

Figure 4.27. Creating New Definition

You can also use the Diagram toolbar to make editing easier:

Figure 4.28. Diagram Toolbar

The Tiles editor also comes with a Source view that gives you full control over the source. Any changes here will immediately appear in other viewers when you switch to them.

Figure 4.29. Source View

Content assist is available in the Source mode:

Figure 4.30. Content Assist in Source Mode

Any errors are immediately reported as shown below:

Figure 4.31. Errors Reporting

You can also use the Outline view together with the editor's Source mode. Selecting any node in the Outline view will jump to that place in the source.

Figure 4.32. Outline View

JBoss Developer Studio supports working with Struts projects that have multiple modules. You can easily do the following:

During Struts project import, if the project has multiple modules, you will see a screen with all existing modules. You can select each module and edit its details.

Figure 4.40. Configuring Project Modules

To edit modules in an existing project, right click the project and select JBoss Tools > Modules Configuration.

Figure 4.41. Choosing Modules Configuration

You will see the same screen as above where you will be able to select a module and edit its details:

Figure 4.42. Modules Configuration

Adding a new module is very simple. First switch to Web Project view. Expand your project to the Configuration folder. Under that folder you should see the current modules. Right click on Configuration and select New > Struts Config.

Figure 4.43. Adding New Modules

You will see the screen below. You can specify a new module name and also add the new Struts configuration file to web.xml file.

Figure 4.44. Adding New Modules