Struts in Action: Building Web Applications with the Leading Java Framework (Paperback)

~ (Author), Cedric Dumoulin (Author), George Franciscus (Author), David Winterfeldt (Author), Craig R. McClanahan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It doesn't just talk about how to configure and develop with Struts. It's a web application manifesto." -- Slashdot.org

"The author's approach to making the reader a Struts expert is effective . . . Go from Struts beginner to Struts expert." -- JavaRanch.com

"The clarity of Struts in Action is even more appealing when compared to The Struts Framework and Mastering Jakarta Struts." -- Dr. Dobb’s Journal

Product Description

Struts solves the most common problems of web development. By basing your application on the Struts web application framework, you can reuse proven solutions and focus on what's unique to your own case. Struts is an open-source product distributed by the Apache Software Foundation.

is a comprehensive introduction to the Struts framework. It covers initial design, data validation, database access, dynamic page assembly, localization, product configuration, and other important areas. It shows you how to use both JSP tags and Velocity templates. It carefully explains the Struts architecture and control flow, as well as how to extend framework classes.

Differences between Struts 1.1 and Struts 1.0. are pointed out and a case-study illustrates the 1.0 to 1.1 transition. The book shows you dozens of proven design techniques, patterns, and strategies, many of them not found elsewhere. By providing you with practical examples of realistic uses of Struts this book helps you learn through action.

What's Inside

+ Struts 1.1 and 1.0
+ Jakarta Validator and Tile packages
+ Jakarta Scaffold toolkit
+ Velocity templates
+ HTTP, Java Servlets, and JSP tags
+ Dynamic web programming
+ Servlet centric application designs
+ Working with databases and data services
+ Design and development patterns
+ Tons of examples

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Product Details

• Paperback: 630 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (November 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110502
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110502
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (69 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #473,548 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good solid Struts tutorial, November 19, 2003

By	Vinit Carpenter "j2eegeek.com/blog" (Brookfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Struts in Action is a good book that has some flaws. I had this book pre-ordered on Amazon from the minute I heard about its publication. The lead author Ted Husted is very active in the Struts development community and still manages a great Struts resource site.

I read the book right away and spent a few weeks going over all the examples in the book. My overall feeling is that this is a good book but it suffers from a lot of the same thing that affects other Struts book. These books were published right around the release of Struts 1.1 and so they are on the fence where they talk about Struts 1.0 and 1.1. Since I had used Struts 1.0 before, the sections that described the changes from 1.0 to 1.1 was very helpful.

Like other books, there is some mention of JSTL but not any details. The section on tag libraries is extensive and well written.

I just went through all my Struts books again as I had to teach a 6 week class on Struts. I went through the five Struts books I owned and I settled on 'Programming Jakarta Struts' by Chuck Cavaness as my finalist. Struts in Action is really a good book but I felt the Chuck Cavaness did a better job of acting as a tutorial. So if you only want to buy one Struts book, I would recommend the Chuck Cavaness book. However, if you want more than one, I would highly recommend this book as your second book on Struts.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars yes, Yes, YES, OH.... what a letdown., December 23, 2002

By	Danilo Gurovich "[e-mail]" (Northridge, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased Struts in Action because the web contains horribly incomplete and obtuse information about struts. I have to search through three or more sites to find what I'm looking for, and then test and wonder if I got it right.

After reading the reviews I thought this book thinking would be right on the mark, and after reading the first couple of chapters I was going to write a glowing review but....

So close. It's a great book with 1/3 of the information missing. The big picture is here, it's just not explained fully, or pieces are left out. Struts in Action starts beautifully, explaining the struts-config files, the details behind the struts-basic app, and an excellent later chapter about struts-tiles. This book just falls flat extending and scaling this knowledge in any depth. I was hoping for DETAILS about the struts taglibs, and I was let down by how it glosses over even some of the less granular points, such as what are the important and more oft-used attributes for each tag, and multiple examples of these tags in use (i.e how does the html:text tag use labels? How do I set a static checkbox to selected? Why was the html:form tag left out of the appendix?). It seems that the author just assumes that once you know the basics and go over the code, you can do anything. Well, that's why I was reading this book, because I expected it to be full of examples and code. He does such a fabulous job with the config file, and then loses focus.

Still, out of the current Struts books, Ted's is BY FAR the most detailed, authoritative, and useful, and for these reasons worthy of an extra star.

I'd still recommend this book, but unfortunately it's only as complete as the typically incomplete information on the Jakarta site. If you know nothing about struts, this will get you going. If you already know something but want to extend your knowledge in breadth and depth past the struts-config, you may be let down.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Broken code and bad examples, January 29, 2003

By	Thomas H. Kiermaier (Dayton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

The book abounds with incorrect examples. Since the book puports to guide the user to a greater understanding of Struts through the liberal use of examples, the books lack of accuracy is unforgivable. Spending time attempting to work through examples which simply do not work is rather frustrating. One of the selling points of the book is the use of the "free" private website where users can interact with the author who is allegedly a "Struts expert". Contrary the the books pronoucement, I've noticed that most messages go unanswered. In a few rare cases, the author actually answers a question. Mostly he simply instructs users to subscribe to the Struts mailing list. I would like to remind both the publisher and author(s) of section xxxii in the chapter entitled "About This Book" where it is stated, and I quote "Purchase of Struts In Action includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the lead author and from other users."