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Apache Struts 2 Documentation
Ready, Set, Go!
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The Bootstrap tutorial walks through installing the framework and creating a simple application.

While the framework is simple to use, creating non-trivial applications assumes a working knowledge of many JEE technologies, including:

- Java
- Filters, JSP, and Tag Libraries
- JavaBeans
- HTML and HTTP
- Web Containers (such as Tomcat)
- XML

For more about supporting technologies, see the Key Technologies Primer.

In the Ready, Set, Go! lesson, we download the framework and get started on an application of our own.

## Download the Distribution

A distribution can be downloaded from the Apache Struts website. The full distribution contains the `struts2-core.jar` file,related dependencies, example applications, a copy of the documentation in HTML format, and the complete source code.

To compile it yourself, refer to Building the Framework from Source.

## Our First Application

To get started with a new application, we can use the blank template, run the Maven archetype, or set up a web infrastructure from scratch.

### Using the Blank Application

The blank web application in the distribution's `apps` directory is meant as a template. We can make a copy of the "blank.war", deploy it to our container, and use the exploded copy as the basis for our application. There is even a simple batch file in the source code directory that we can use to recompile the application in place.

### Run the Maven Archetype

For those of us using Maven as a build system, we can use the Maven Archetype to create a new application.

For directions on using the Struts 2 archetypes see the Struts 2 Maven Archetypes page.

### Setting up from scratch

If for some reason the blank template or archetype doesn't work out, it's not so hard to setup a Struts 2 application from scratch. For details, see Simple Setup.

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