How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE

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http://struts.apache.org/struts-doc-1.2.x/faqs/eclipse.html (1 of 26)24-Dec-05 8:01:05 PM

How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

* DISCLAIMER - This simple How-To shows you one of many ways to

setup a working project using
the Struts framework. This is mainly geared toward struts users who are
new to Eclipse, and
don't want to spend a lot of time figuring out the differences between their
old IDE (if any)
and this one.

I will also apologize ahead of time for the formatting of this page.

In this How-To, I will demonstrate (using Eclipse 2.0.1) how to setup,

compile, run,
and debug the struts-example web application that is bundled with the
distribution.

Next, I will modify the code to pull some data from a MySql database
using the popular
relational mapping tool OJB. (This is actually quite simple)

Let's get started

Before we begin, you will need to create a directory somewhere to store

your project.
I typically use C:\personal\development\Projects\(some project)
Once that's done, extract the struts-example.war to that directory
(using your favorite zip utility)

Delete the META-INF folder because this will be created during the build/
jar/war process.
Add a build.xml file to the project root. I use something like this:

<project name="Struts Example" default="main"

basedir=".">

<!-- This is a basic build script, only the

minimums here -->

<!-- Tell ant to use my environment variables

-->
<property environment="env"/>

<property file="./build.properties"/>

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

<!--
This build script assumes Tomcat 5 is
the servlet container.
Modify as necessary if a different
container is being used.
-->
<property name="tomcat.home"
value="${env.CATALINA_HOME}"/>
<property name="servlet.jar"
value="${tomcat.home}/common/lib/servlet-api.jar"/
>
<property name="jsp.jar"
value="${tomcat.home}/common/lib/jsp-api.jar"/>
<property name="deploy.dir"
value="${tomcat.home}/webapps"/>
<property name="build.compiler"
value="modern"/>
<property name="build.dir" value="./
WEB-INF/classes" />
<property name="src.dir" value="./
WEB-INF/src"/>
<property name="war.file"
value="struts-example"/>
<property name="war.file.name"
value="${war.file}.war"/>

<path id="project.class.path">
<fileset dir="./WEB-INF/lib/">
<include name="**/*.jar"/>
</fileset>
<pathelement path="${src.dir}"/>
<pathelement path="${servlet.jar}"/>
<pathelement path="${jsp.jar}"/>
</path>

<target name="clean">
<delete dir="${build.dir}"
includeEmptyDirs="true" />
</target>

<target name="prep">
<mkdir dir="${build.dir}"/>
</target>

<target name="compile">

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

<javac srcdir="${src.dir}"
destdir="${build.dir}"
debug="on"
deprecation="on">
<include name="**/*.java"/>
<classpath refid="project.class.path"/>
</javac>
</target>

<target name="cleanWebApp">
<delete file="${deploy.dir}/${war.file.
name}" />
<delete dir="${deploy.dir}/${war.file}"
includeEmptyDirs="true" />
</target>

<target name="war">
<war warfile="${war.file.name}" webxml="./
WEB-INF/web.xml">
<fileset dir="./" includes="**/*.*"
excludes="*.war, **/*.nbattrs, web.xml, **/WEB-
INF/**/*.*, **/project-files/**/*.*"/>
<webinf dir="./WEB-INF"
includes="**/*" excludes="web.xml, **/*.jar, **/*.
class"/>
<lib dir="./WEB-INF/lib"/>
<classes dir="${build.dir}"/>
<classes dir="${src.dir}">
<include name="**/*.properties"/
>
</classes>
</war>
</target>

<target name="deploy">
<copy todir="${deploy.dir}">
<fileset dir="./" includes="${war.
file.name}"/>
</copy>
</target>

<target name="main" depends="clean, prep,

cleanWebApp, compile, war"/>

</project>

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

1. Create a new project.

2. New Java Project

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

3. Browse for the folder you created for your project.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

4. Eclipse will detect your source folders from any subdirectories

under your project.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

5. In our case, this is where the src folder was placed.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

6. Default standard libs are automatically added depending on the

type of project.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

7. Add the existing web app jars.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

8. Now we need to add a few jars from the file system.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

9. We always need this one (servlet.jar)

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

10. Ahhhh...everything looks ok for now. You can always go back and
modify these settings
later.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

11. When everything settles down, you should see something like this
(of course, it might look different depending on your installation/
customization):

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

12. Compilation warnings and errors are detected immediately. In this

screenshot, I drill down
into the source folder, package, file, class, and double click on the
method....which
brings up the source editor. I hover the mouse over the offending
warning to see
a description of what's wrong.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

13. I changed ApplicationConfig to ModuleConfig, then saved and

now I see new errors.
You can right click and import ModuleConfig right from the error.

14. A quick look at the import section.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

15. Right click, Source, Organize Imports

16. Ahhhh...better

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

17. From the Package Explorer, right click your build.xml and run Ant:

18. Is this cool or what?

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

19. Uh Oh!

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

20. Quick look at what jars are being used to process my build.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

21. I simply removed all the existing jars from the IDE's Ant
configuration and
added all from my own installation.

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

22. Can't forget that last one

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

23. Everything went ok (for me)

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

24. Time to test-drive

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How to setup a basic Struts project using Eclipse IDE - Apache Struts

Copyright (c) 2000-2005, The Apache Software Foundation - Comments?

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