Struts: An Insiders View October 2004

Abstract Struts is the de facto standard framework for Java web applications, but where did it come from, and where is it going? Who makes the decisions? What's on the roadmap? How can we help? And what about JavaServer Faces? Friend or foe? This session discusses the "nuts and bolts" of Struts development. Come and see how the sausages are made. :)

Insiders view Who makes the decisions Where we are going Were we came from JSF: Friend or foe?

How to be an insider Follow the mailing list Inspect the code No hidden forums or closed meetings Everything that happens, happens on the list.

Who makes the decisions Mailing lists are public One closed list for project management (not development) Struts is owned by the Apache Software Foundation ASF is run by a Board of Directors Directors are elected by Members (like me) Board delegates to Vice President and PMC Each project has its own PMC

Who makes the decisions User: Anyone who uses the product Developer: Anyone who helps Committer: Anyone with write access PMC Member: Committers with binding votes

Who makes the decisions Why not count all the votes? The ASF is a meritocracy Them that do the work, make the decisions.

Who makes the decisions Action Items Product changes Showstoppers – must fix issues Release Plans Release Grades Voting flavors +1 +/- 0

Where are we going Struts 1.1 is superceded by Struts 1.24 Struts 1.1 – Release candidate scheme Struts (beta 1) Struts (beta 2) Struts (beta 3) Struts (release candidate) Struts (final)

Where we are going Milestone release scheme Major.minor.milestone Alpha Beta General Availability Vote to promote or demote

Where we are going Struts Some new features Better module support ValidWhen, other enhancements Wildcard mappings Cancel handlers Removes deprecations to date

Where are we going Struts triggers Moving version control to Subversion Building with Maven Divvying Struts into subprojects Adding new subprojects Struts Chain Request Processor

Where are we going Version control enables collaboration Subversion - “compelling replacement” Directory renames Global revision number and log entry Efficient handling of binary files Most current CVS features Servers for Unix, Windows, and Apache HTTP

Where we are going Subversion: Why not? IDE Tools Inertia wush.net Low cost, high quality host Struts, iBATIS, private projects

Where we are going Building with Apache Maven Project management and comprehension Project infrastructure Stock suite of reports Documentation plugin Acquires and shares JARs Likes fine-grained artifacts

Where are are going Divvying Struts into subprojects struts-core struts-el struts-faces struts-site struts-taglib

Where we are going Divvying Struts into subprojects Apps folder struts-blank struts-examples struts-mailreader struts-tiles-examples

Where we are going Adding new subprojects struts-control-flow Cocoon’s Control Flow struts-scripting Perl, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, et al. Both available now at struts.sf.net

Where we are going Struts 1.3 Servlet 2.3 and JSP 1.2 Struts-Chain Portlet Support (JSR 162)

Where we are going Servlet 2.3 and JSP 1.2 Preferred platform Needed for enhancements Need for Portlets and JSF

Where we are going Struts-Chain Struts 1.1 Request Process pluggable Struts 1.3 Request Processor configurable Commons Chain of Responsibility Can be used for business logic

Where we are going Portlet Support (JSR 168) Sub-applications into portal application Apache Jetspeed Alternate catalog for Request Processor

Where we are going Struts Next Generation Request Processor Action/View Context Form Context

Where are we going Form context

Where we are going Struts Next Generation Request Processor Action/View Context Form Context Testability

Where did Struts come from? The Problem with JSP by Jason Hunter Craig scratched an itch A framework was born

Where did Struts come from Why is Struts successful? Helpful mailing list JavaDocs Extensible architecture Linkage with Tomcat and Sun

JSF: Friend or Foe?

Kissing cousins.

JSF: Friend or Foe? Kissing cousins. JSF is a front controller with a tag library. Populate a control from a JavaBean Capture input back to a JavaBean Call a Java method to process the JavaBean

JSF: Friend or Foe? JSF uses POJO Struts uses ActionForms/Action JSF uses a rich component model Struts uses a simple value model

JSF: Friend or Foe JSF 1.0 == Struts 1.0 No Tiles No Validator

JSF: Friend or Foe Do you need to migrate to JSF now, because it can do more than Struts? Will you eventually want to migrate to JSF because it is certain to become better?

JSF: Friend or Foe Struts-Faces Integration Library JSF front end Struts back end

Struts University Series