Architecting Web Apps with JSF and Struts

Semester IV
Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts
AWAJS Course Overview

Session T1 L1 T2 L2 T3 L3 L6
Assignments/Mock
Topic
MVC Design Pattern Introduction to Struts Controller Components Model and View Components Introduction to JSF JSF Tag Library
Module 1, 2 3, 4 5, 6
L7
Assignment Eval
ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts
AWAJS - Session 2
Module 1: MVC Design Pattern Module 2: Introduction to Struts
Module 1
MVC DESIGN PATTERN
Objectives
MVC Architecture
MVC Pattern Relationship between components Logical Layers in Web Application
Model View Controller
Evolution of MVC Architecture Non-MVC Applications
MVC Pattern
Design Pattern
Designing a reusable software is a difficult task A Design pattern helps in reusable software
MVC [Model-View-Controller]
Main concern of MVC is to separate the data (model) and the user interface (view) Separation is achieved by introducing an controller component Controller defines as how the user interface should react to a user input
What is MVC?
User
View
Controller
Model
MVC Architecture
Object maintaining application state
Model
Components for data visualization
View
Controller
Components that process user Interaction, consult Model and present a view
Relationship between Components

View and Controller
Controller is responsible for creating or selecting view
Controller
Request
Step 1
Incoming request is directed to Controller
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Relationship(cnt)
Model and Controller
Controller depends on model If a change is made to the model then there might be required to make parallel changes in the Controller
Controller
Model
Step 2
Controller processes request and forms a data Model
11
Relationship(cnt)
Model and View
View depends on Model If a change is made to the model then there might be required to make parallel changes in the view
Controller
Step 3
Model is passed to View
View
12
Relationship(cnt)
Controller
View
Step 4
View transforms Model into appropriate output format
13
Relationship(cnt)
Controller
View
Response
Step 5
Response is rendered
14
Logical Layers in Web Application

Model [Business Process Layer] View [Presentation Layer]
Controller [Control Layer]
15
MVC - Model
Model
Models data and behavior behind business process Manages Information - If Changes Contains data and Related Functionality Maps Real-World Entities Performing DB Queries Calculating Business Process Encapsulates Domain Logic which are independent of Presentation
16
MVC - Controller
Controlle r
Serves logical connection between users interaction and the business process It receives and Translates input to request on model or view Input from user and instructs the model and view to perform action Responsible for making decision among multiple presentation Maps the end-user action to the application response
17
MVC - View

View
Obtains data from model & presents to the user Represents Output/Input of the application Display results of Business Logic Free Access to Model Reads Data from Model Using Query Methods
18
Logical Layers in Web Application

public class DbBean{ public string userName { public string password { } get; set; } get; set; }
Model
<form method="post" action="Login"> <input type="text" name="txtUserName"></td> <input type="text" name="txtUserName"></td> <td>${u.userName} </td> <td>${u.userPassword} </td>
View
protected void processRequest(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)throws ServletException, IOException { String userName = request.getParameter("txtUserName"); String userPassword = request.getParameter("txtPassword"); User u = new User(); UserBO ubo = new UserBO(); u.setUserName(userName); u.setUserPassword(userPassword);
Controller
19
Non-MVC and MVC Apps
NO MVC
Model 1 Architecture
20
MVC Model 1
21
MVC Model 1
Composed of a series of interrelated JSP pages JSP pages handle all aspects of the application like presentation, control, and business process Business process logic and control decisions are hard coded inside JSP pages Next page selection is determined by hyperlink or action of submitting a form
<a href=find.jsp> Search </a> <form action=find.jsp> </form>
22
MVC Model 1
23
MVC Model 1
24
MVC Model 1
Advantages
Lightweight design for small, static application Suitable for small applications having very simple page flow, little need for centralized security control/logging Separation of presentation from content
Limitations
Navigation Problem to change name of JSP file have to change in many location Difficult to maintain an application large java code being embedded in JSP page Not suitable for large and complex applications
25
MVC Model 2
26
MVC Model 2
Use Servlet and JSP together (Model 2) JSP pages are used only for presentation Servlet handles initial request, partially process the data, set up beans, then forward the results to one of a number of different JSP pages Servlet serves as a gatekeeper
Provides common services, such as authentication authorization, login, error handling, and etc
Servlet serves as a central controller

Act as a state machine or an event dispatcher to decide upon the appropriate logic to handle the request
27
MVC Model 2
Servlet-centric Scenario
28
MVC Model 2
Advantages
Easier to build, maintain and extend Single point of control (Servlet) for security & logging
Limitations
Increase Design Complexity
29
Model 1 and Model 2 Comparison
30
Web application Requirements

Business Logic Implementation
Data Access
User Interaction User Interface Display

31
Module 2
INTRODUCTION TO STRUTS
32
Objectives
Need of a framework Struts MVC Architecture Components of Struts
33
What is the Framework?

Framework is a set of classes and interfaces that helps in building an application A good framework should provide generic behaviors that can be utilized across many different types of applications The classes and interfaces in Java are also considered as a framework, but these are in fact libraries.
34
Characteristics of a Framework
Consist of various classes or components which gives an abstraction of a specific concept
Provide an organized pattern of an application
Characteristics of a Framework Gives definition of how these classes or components work with each other to provide a solution to a problem
Components and classes can be reused
35
Role of a Framework
Framework captures the design decisions that are common to an application domain Role
36
Need of a Framework
Required for developing rapid, extensible, loosely coupled and highly cohesive applications Needed to incorporate the following features in software design process
Modularity - Encapsulating the application specific details, which may change and separate it from a stable interface Extensibility - Ease with which a new behavior can be added depending upon the application domain Reusability - By defining generic components that can be reapplied to create new applications Inversion Of Control (IOC) - Design pattern which reduces the tight coupling between associating object by creating separate event handler objects.
37
What is Struts?
Struts is an open source java-based web application framework Offer a unified framework based on MVC 2 Architecture Developed by Craig Mcclanahan and supported by Apache Software Foundations Jakarta group This framework resides in the web tier, and the struts application are hosted by a web container Basically consist of two entities
First, It is an MVC application Second, It has a set of utilities and libraries as tool set to build web applications
38
The major components of Struts framework

Basic framework Provide the MVC 2 functionality Helps to view logic in JSP
Validator-Plugin Sub-framework, Sub-framework allows facilitates validation of the reuse of as well as data on server presentation side on the client code
Components of Framework
Tag Libraries
Tiles-Plugin
39
Strut Control flow

Struts uses MVC architecture and hence follow the same control flow. The control flow is as follows: Initially the user sends a request to the controller servlet through a view. The controller servlet looks up the requested URI in the XML configuration file and determines the name of the Action class that will process the business logic. The Action class acts on the model component as per the application's logic. On completion of processing the request, the Action class returns the results to the ActionServlet class. Based on the results provided, ActionServlet class 1 decides which view to be forwarded with these results. The selected view displays the result thus completing the request - response cycle.
40
Struts MVC Components

Model component View component Controller component
41
Struts View Components

JSP Pages
They contain static HTML and JSP library tags to generate dynamic HTML page. The JSP contains code for user interaction.The static and the dynamic HTML generated page is sent to the browser. Struts provide JSP tag library which Form creating HTML channel for data transfer allow beans provide a forms for capturing data between the view and control and also displaying the data. layers of struts application. When a Struts application receives an HTML form it takes the data from the incoming form and populates the corresponding FormBean. The Controller accesses the data using the getter method of FormBean.
JSP Tag Library

Struts have its own JSP tag libraries which help in development of JSP pages. These custom tags libraries provide a means to create HTML forms whose data will be captured in Form Beans and These allow internationalisation of Java application by display the data stored in Form Beans. There are having application content placed into central utility tags which helps to implement conditional repository called bundles. Thus, the content are not logic,coded in the application and is read from the hard iteration and many more.
bundle by the application during execution. The advantage of using resource bundles for storing the application content is that it can be changed without recompiling the application.
Struts View Components
Form Bean
Resource Boundles
42
Struts Model Components

Struts architecture does not provide any specific constraints for the Model component. The application developer may use technology such as Enterprise JavaBean (EJB), Java Data Object (JDO) or the Data Access Objects (DAO) pattern to implement the model component.
The model layer may be broken down into three sub layers. Each of these three sublayers need not get implemented as separate classes. However, the layers depict the breakdown from the functional aspect.
43
Controller Mechanism
Controller is Java Servlet and Central point of access in web application All request for an MVC-based web application pass through the controller Enables the Controller layer to provide common processing to all requests such as security, caching, logging and so on. Controller intercepts the client request maps them to business operations, collects the results from each of the required business operations and also decide which view component needs to be called to display result.
44
Controller Mechanism
Browser
ActionServlet
RequestProcessor
Action
Model Layer
View Layer
45
Working of Struts MVC

JSP (View) Action Class 1
Action Servlet (Controller)
Action Class 2
Model
JSP (View)
Action Class 3
Implementing Struts in MVC

46
Merits of Struts
Code Extensibility
Many Struts values are represented in XML or in property files, so changes can be made to the file without recompiling the java code
Supports for Localization and Internalization

Using ResourceBundle
Simple Request Processing Mechanism

Provides several utilites, such as StructValidatorUtil, MessageResource class and so on, which simplifies the request processing mechanism
Model-View Communication
Provides a set of taglib tags which allows us to create HTML forms that directly associates with JavaBean component
Input Validation
Provide built-in capability for validation of form values
47
Limitation of Struts
Steep Learning Curve
For smaller projects the learning curve for this framework prove to be too steep
Only MVC
Only MVC based application can be created
Single ActionServlet
Only a single ActionServlet can be used in an application, which can cause configuration variance
Event Model
Doesnt support Event Model (Similar to Swing Component)
48
Alternatives to Struts
Cocoon
An Apache framework for web development and separates business logic, presentation logic and component based web development. The web application is build as a component pipeline.
WebWork
Java based Web-application framework. Provides a strong support to build reusable User Interface templates for form control, UI themes, internationalization, client and server side validations and so on.
Jakarta Velocity
Another framework similar as Struts has a capacity to do lot more beyond just creating dynamic web content. Capable of generating SQL, PostScript, and XML form templates.
49
Alternatives to Struts
Stxx
An extension of Struts framework to support XML and XSL without changing the Struts functionality
JSF
Designed to simplifies the process of building GUIs of Java Server Applications. Provides standard JSP tags and APIs which helps in managing complex HTML forms, event handling activities, and presentation of data.
Spring
New framework for J2EE applications. Different from other frameworks, because it provides a way to manage business objects. It is comprehensive and modular
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Anatomy of Struts Application

Create the required view (JSP/HTML) pages Create the ActionForm Bean Configure ActionForm Bean in struts-config.xml Create the Applications Controller component (ActionServlet) Configure ActionServlet in web.xml file Create the Controller component (Action) Define the relationships that exists between the views and Controller in struts-config.xml Configure struts-config.xml file in web.xml Build and Run the Application
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Struts Component Package

ANTLR Jakarta ORO Jakarta Commons BeanUtils
Jakarta Commons Validator
Struts component package

Jakarta Commons Logging Jakarta Commons FileUpload
Jakarta Commons Digester .
52
Tag Libraries
53
Summary
54
Summary
55

Architecting Web Apps with JSF and Struts

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Architecting Web Apps with JSF and Struts

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Semester IV

Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

AWAJS Course Overview

MVC DESIGN PATTERN

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Evolution of MVC Architecture Non-MVC Applications

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Components for data visualization

Relationship between Components

Logical Layers in Web Application

Controller [Control Layer]

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Logical Layers in Web Application

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Non-MVC and MVC Apps

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Servlet serves as a central controller

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Model 1 and Model 2 Comparison

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Web application Requirements

User Interaction User Interface Display

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

What is the Framework?

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Provide an organized pattern of an application

Components and classes can be reused

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

The major components of Struts framework

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Strut Control flow

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Struts MVC Components

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Struts View Components

JSP Tag Library

Struts View Components

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Struts Model Components

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Working of Struts MVC

Action Servlet (Controller)

Implementing Struts in MVC

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Supports for Localization and Internalization

Simple Request Processing Mechanism

Anatomy of Struts Application

ACCPi7.1, AWAJS- Architecting Web Applications using JSF and Struts

Struts Component Package

Jakarta Commons Validator