The Struts-Faces Integration Library (Version 1.0) README File $Id: README.txt,v 1.17 2004/09/03 05:13:57 craigmcc Exp $ ============ INTRODUCTION: ============ This package contains an add-on library that supports the use of JavaServer Faces (JSF) user interface technology in a Struts based web application, in place of the Struts custom tag libraries. As a proof of concept, it also includes the canonical "struts-example" example web application, converted to use JSF tags, as well as tags from the JSP Standard Tag Library (JSTL), version 1.0 or later. It also includes a very basic Tiles based application, modified in a similar manner. The Struts-Faces Integration Library should work with any implementation of JavaServer Faces, version 1.0 or later. It has primarily been tested against version 1.1 of the JavaServer Faces reference implementation, available at: http://java.sun.com/j2ee/javaserverfaces/ ======================== NEW AND REVISED FEATURES: ======================== Struts-Faces Integration Library (Version 1.0): ---------------------------------------------- This release of the Struts-Faces Integration Library (Version 1.0) has the following new features relative to the previous (0.4) release: * As of the nightly build 20040902, the URI for the struts-faces tag library has changed. You should now be using: <%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="http://struts.apache.org/tags-faces" %> instead of: <%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/tags-faces" %> * It is now possible to mix pure JavaServer Faces pages, and those using the struts-faces integration library, in the same webapp. Previously, it was required to use only Struts-based handlers for form submits. * All attributes of the component tags in the Struts-Faces integration library have been "value binding enabled", meaning you can use value binding expressions ("#{...}") to calculate attribute values dynamically. * It is now possible to use the Struts-Faces Integration Library in conjunction with application modules using Tiles. * You many now use a managed bean named "struts" at the beginning of any value binding expression in order to gain access to request, session, and application scope objects provided by Struts. See the Javadocs for the implementation class (org.apache.struts.faces.util.StrutsContext) for more information about what objects are available. * You may now use either prefix mapping (/faces/*) or extension mapping (*.faces) for the JavaServer Faces controller servlet. * In addition to the tag that operates as a direct replacement for , you may also consider using the new tag that exposes a MessageResources instance as a request attribute containing a Map. This makes the messages included in the instance available via value binding expressions (or JSP 2.0 EL expressions). For example, the logon.jsp page of the example application includes: ... ... ... to create the header text for the logon form. You may either specify the application scope key for the MessageResources bunde you want, or omit the "messages" attribute to load the default MessageResources for the current application module. * You can leverage advanced JavaServer Faces features in a Struts based web application. For example, the converted "Mail Reader" example includes using the for multi-row input as well as output. * If your Struts application stores a Locale in the session attribute named Globals.LOCALE_KEY (i.e. using the usual Struts technique for establishing a user specific locale), this setting will be copied to the UIViewRoot of the corresponding JSF view, which will therefore cause it to change the Locale used by JSF components and renderers also. * New command link component (and associated tag that mirrors the functionality of the standard component, but works when inside a Struts component. This release of the Struts-Faces Integration Library (Version 1.0) has the following revised features relative to the previous (0.4) release: * The "focus" attribute on the tag should work properly in all cases now. * Integration with the Validator Framework should work properly in all cases now. ======================== CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE: ======================== Top Level Directory: ------------------- build.xml -- Ant build script (only required for building from source). build.properties.sample -- Sample "build.properties" file that may be customized (only required for building from source). LICENSE.txt -- The Apache Software License, under which all software included in this bundle is licensed. LICENSE-JSF.txt -- The license for the JavaServer Faces reference impementation, which applies to the included jsf-api.jar and jsf-impl.jar files. NOTICE.txt -- Attribution notices for software included in this distribution. README.txt -- This README file. Directory "conf": ---------------- struts-faces.tld -- The JSP tag library descriptor file for the Struts-Faces integration tag library. Directory "docs": ---------------- struts-faces.html -- Reference documentation for the Struts-Faces integration tag library. api/ -- Javadocs for the classes included in the Struts-Faces integration library (org.apache.struts.faces.*). Directory "lib": --------------- struts-faces.jar -- The compiled classes (and embedded tag library descriptor) for the Struts-Faces integration library. Directory "src": --------------- conf/ -- Source files for the generated TLD and tag library documentation (only required for building from source), as well as the faces-config.xml file used to register custom components and renderers. example/ -- Source files for the "struts-example" application that has been converted to use JavaServer Faces components. You can compare this to the corresponding sources in a standard Struts release to see what had to be changed. example2/ -- Source files for a Tiles-based example application that has been converted to use JavaServer Faces components. java/ -- Source files for the Struts-Faces integration library classes (only required for building from source). The following packages (under org.apache.struts.faces) contain the necessary code: application -- Integrate with ActionListener, custom PropertyResolver, custom RequestProcessors component -- Custom JavaServer Faces component implementations (only Form for now) renderer -- Custom JavaServer Faces renderer implementations taglib -- Custom JavaServer Faces component tag implementations util -- Miscellaneous utility classes Directory "web": --------------- example/ -- JSP and web application configuration files for the "struts-example" application that has been converted to use JavaServer Faces components. You can compare this to the corresponding sources in a standard Struts release to see what had to be changed. example2/ -- JSP and web application configuration files for a Tiles-based example application. Directory "webapps": ------------------- struts-faces.war -- The converted example application, ready to be deployed on a Servlet 2.3 / JSP 1.2 container. struts-faces2.war -- The Tiles-based example application, ready to be deployed on a Servlet 2.3 / JSP 1.2 container. ================================ RUNNING THE EXAMPLE APPLICATIONS: ================================ The following steps are required to deploy and run the example application (struts-faces.war) included in this distribution. A similar process is necessary to run the second (struts-faces2.war) example as well. Install A Java Development Kit: ------------------------------ The Struts-Faces integration library requires a Java Development Kit (not the Java Runtime Environment), version 1.3 or later. It was tested against Sun's JDK 1.4.2 release, available at: http://java.sun.com/j2se/ Install a Servlet Container: --------------------------- The Struts-Faces integration library has been tested against Tomcat 4.1.29 and 5.0.25, but should run in any container that supports the Servlet 2.3 (or later) and JSP 1.2 (or later) specifications. Note that these version levels are higher than what Struts requires for itself -- they correspond to the minimum requirements specified by JSF 1.0. If you attempt to run the example programs in a servlet container that has an early access or beta version of JavaServer Faces installed already (such as the Java Web Services Developer Pack, version 1.2 or 1.3), you must take one of the following two actions before you can successfully use the new Struts-Faces Integration Library and the corresponding final release of JavaServer Faces. Either: * Replace any existing version of JavaServer Faces in your container, following the container's specific instructions for this process (and leave the JavaServer Faces JARs out of your web application); or * Remove any existing version of JavaServer Faces in your container, following the container's specific instructions for this process, and plan on including the JavaServer Faces JARs with your webapp. If you plan to build the example application from scratch, be sure to include the property setting "build.standalone=true" in your local "build.properties" file. Install The Struts-Faces Integration Library Distribution: --------------------------------------------------------- Stable releases of the Struts-Faces integration library (when released) will be available at: http://jakarta.apache.org/site/binindex.cgi You can also download nightly builds from: http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-struts/nightly/struts-faces/ In either case, source code is included in the distribution, so no separate source distribution is needed. Deploy The Example Application: ------------------------------ Follow the standard instructions for your container to deploy the struts-faces.war web application archive. For the JWSDP 1.2 or 1.3 release, or for any standard Tomcat 4.1.x or 5.0.x release, you have the following choices: * Drop the "struts-faces.war" file into the "webapps" subdirectory of the servlet container release, and wait a few moments for the container to recognize the new application and deploy it for you. * Use the dynamic deployment Ant commands, as described below. Execute The Example Application: ------------------------------- By default, the application will be installed at context path "/struts-faces", so the URL to access it will typically be something like: http://localhost:8080/struts-faces/ The example application is functionally identical to the canonical struts-example.war application included in standard Struts 1.1 releases. When first started, the only valid username/password combination is "user" and "pass". ==================== BUILDING FROM SOURCE: ==================== If you wish, you can build the Struts-Faces integration library, and the sample application, from the source code included in this distribution. Follow these steps: Install An Ant Distribution: --------------------------- If you have downloaded the JWSDP 1.2 or 1.3 release described above, Ant is already included. Otherwise, download Apache Ant, version 1.5.4 or later, from: http://ant.apache.org/bindownload.cgi Install this environment as described in the Ant documentation, and ensure that Ant's "bin" directory is on your PATH. Configure Your Build Properties: ------------------------------- Copy the "build.properties.sample" file in the top level directory to a file named "build.properties", and customize the settings that are specified there. Build The Sources: ----------------- The simplest way to build is to execute: ant clean dist to recreate the entire distribution in the "dist" subdirectory. Use the "ant -projecthelp" command to see what other targets are available. ======================================================= USING THE STRUTS-FACES LIBRARY IN YOUR OWN APPLICATIONS: ======================================================= Using the Struts-Faces integration library in your own Struts-based web applications is straightforward, and requires the following steps: * Add the "struts-faces.jar" file from the "lib" subdirectory of this release into the "/WEB-INF/lib" subdirectory of your webapp. * Add the following JAR files from the JavaServer Faces reference implementation's "lib" directory to your application's "/WEB-INF/lib" directory: jsf-api.jar, jsf-impl.jar, or install them in your servlet container's shared folder. (You can also use any other JSF implementation that has been certified to be compatible with the JSF specification.) * Add the following JAR files, containing the JSTL release (or from the JavaServer Faces release) to your application's "/WEB-INF/lib" directory: jstl.jar, standard.jar, or install them in your servlet container's shared folder. * Add the servlet definition for the JavaServer Faces servlet into your web application's deployment descriptor (/WEB-INF/web.xml): faces javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet 1 * If you have a element on your declaration of the Struts controller servlet, modify the value to be "2" or greater so that FacesServlet is initialized first. * Add the servlet mapping for the JavaServer Faces servlet into your web application's deployment descriptor (/WEB-INF/web.xml): faces *.faces * The tag library in the Struts-Faces integration library (as well as those in the JavaServer Faces reference implementation) are embedded in the JAR files themselves, and rely on the ability of a Servlet 2.3 (or later) container to automatically recognize them. Therefore, there is no need to copy the TLD files into the WEB-INF subdirectory of your web application. * Modify the JSP pages of your web application to use the JSTL, JavaServer Faces, and Struts-Faces integration library tags, instead of the traditional Struts tag libraries. This migration can occur one page at a time, as you become familiar with the new technologies. You will want to note the following points in particular: - Include the following tag library directives at the top of your page in order to declare them: <%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" %> <%@ taglib prefix="f" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" %> <%@ taglib prefix="h" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" %> <%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="http://struts.apache.org/tags-faces" %> - The Struts-Faces tag library (prefix "s" above) contains replacements for functionality in the existing Struts HTML tag library that are not directly provided by JavaServer Faces components. You should convert your existing use of the Struts HTML variants of these tags to use the Struts-Faces version instead. (Functionality and attributes should be basically compatible, so this is usually just a matter of changing the tag prefixes.) - In particular, you must use the Struts-Faces version of the form tag () in order to activate standard Struts features like automatic creation of the form bean, and looking up the appropriate action to invoke based on the "action" attribute. - Replace the use of tags from the Struts HTML library with user interface component tags provided by the JavaServer Faces reference implementation, by other third party libraries, or by your application itself. For example, on the logon.jsp page, the username field was changed from: to the following JavaServer Faces Component tag: - JavaServer Faces provides its own mechanisms for internationalizing user interfaces. These can be used directly; however, to ease the transition for existing Struts-based web applications, the Struts-Faces integration library supports the tag, which is functionally equivalent to the previous tag. - Optionally, replace the use of tags from the Struts BEAN and LOGIC libraries with corresponding functionality from JSTL tags. This is recommended, because JSTL tags are more powerful than their Struts library counterparts, and the expression language syntax is the same as that used for value reference expressions. * Modify your struts-config.xml file to include identification of the custom request processor implementation class to be used, by adding the following element in the appropriate location (typically just before any existing and elements), one of the following controller element declarations. If your application module does *not* use Tiles: If your application module *does* use Tiles: * For each JSP page that you have modified to use JavaServer Faces components instead of traditional Struts tags, modify any elements in your webapp's struts-config.xml file to include "/faces" in front of the path to that page (if you are using prefix mapping), or a ".faces" extension (if you are using extenaion mapping. For example, change: to this: * In most circumstances, you should not need to make any changes in your Actions, or the business logic classes invoked by your actions. They are still invoked as part of the standard Struts request processing lifecycle, and are still expected to return an ActionForward (or null) defining what view layer technology should be invoked next. NOTE: If you have a command component whose "immediate" property is set to "true", it will be processed as it would in a pure JavaServer Faces based application. Only command components with immediate="false" (which is the default value), that are nested inside a Struts-Faces tag, will be forwarded through the normal Struts request processing lifecycle. * If your application contains cancel buttons rendered by the tag, you should replace them with an that has an "id" attribute set to "cancel" in order for this button to be recognized by Struts as a cancel button. * If your application itself provides additional UIComponent and/or Renderer implementations, you must register them with the default JavaServer Faces RenderKit before they can be used. The simplest way to do this is to define a "faces-config.xml" file that contains the declaration for your custom classes. Such a file can be included either in the "/WEB-INF" directory of your web application, or in the "META-INF" directory of a JAR file included in "/WEB-INF/lib". (The Struts-Faces Integration Library itself uses the latter technique to register its custom components automatically for any web application that includes "struts-faces.jar" in its "/WEB-INF/lib" directory.) ================= KNOWN LIMITATIONS: ================= The following items identify functionality areas that have not yet been fully implemented or tested: * Use of the Struts-Faces integration library in multiple application modules (likely to not work without the addition of a Filter to set the correct module configuration instance). * Use of the "forwardPattern" or "pagePattern" attributes on the element. * Use of the Struts Nested tag libraries. * Use of the Struts-EL tag library (although this should be unnecessary, since you are free to use JSTL tags directly). * Use of a custom RequestProcessor subclass. The Struts-Faces integration library provides its own custom subclasses (org.apache.struts.faces.application.FacesRequestProcessor or org.apache.struts.faces.application.FacesTilesRequestProcessor), which must be used (or subclassed) for the integration to operate successfuly. * The JavaServer Faces specification describes several restrictions on combining JSF component tags and other JSP source elements (including custom tags from other tag libraries) on the same page. See Section 9.2.8 of the JSF spec for more information. =============== DEVELOPER NOTES: =============== The CVS sources for the Struts-Faces integration library include a System Integration test suite that is comprised of a test web application (default context path is "/struts-faces-systest") and a client application based on the HtmlUnit package from SourceForge. To execute the test suite: * Update your build.properties file as needed to declare appropriate values for the "htmlunit.home" and "junit.home" properties. * Update your build.properties file as necessary for deploying applications to a standalone Tomcat instance. You should be able to successfully use the "example.install" and "example2.install" targets. * Compile and deploy the system integration application by executing the Ant target "systest.install". * Execute the test client by executing the Ant target "sysclient.execute". * When you have finished testing, you can remove the test application by executing the Ant target "systest.remove". * Before committing any changes to the integration library, be sure that the system integration tests can be succesfully executed. * If you add new functionality to the integration library, you should also add or enhance the system integration tests to catch potential future regressions as the library is updated by you, or others, in the future.