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Apache Struts 2 Documentation
Simple Setup
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If for some reason the blank template or archetype doesn't work out, we can just setup an application from scratch.

## Setup the Web Application File Structure

    /tutorial/
    /tutorial/META-INF/
    /tutorial/WEB-INF/
    /tutorial/WEB-INF/classes/struts.xml
    /tutorial/WEB-INF/lib/
    /tutorial/WEB-INF/lib/minimum JARs + any plugin JARs + plugin dependencies
    /tutorial/WEB-INF/web.xml

- Copy to your `webapp/lib` directory
  - the required JARs (see next section),
  - any Struts plugin JARs,
  - any plugin dependencies.

To customize the Struts templates (how HTML is rendered from the tags), copy into the application's `webapp` directory the framework's `/src/java/template` directory.

## Install the Minimum Set of Libraries and Configuration Files

The following files are a minium requirement for your application.

Filename | Description
--- | ---
`struts2-core.jar` | Framework library itself, found in distribution root directory
`xwork.jar` | XWork 2 library on which Struts 2 is built (version 2.0 or later)
`ognl.jar` | Object Graph Navigation Language (OGNL), the expression language used throughout the framework
`javassist.jar` | Java bytecode manipulation library used by OGNL
`freemarker.jar` | All UI tag templates are written in Freemarker (also a good option for your own views)
`commons-logging.jar` | Commons logging, which the framework uses to support transparently logging to either Log4J or JDK 1.4+
`commons-fileupload.jar` | The Commons FileUpload package makes it easy to add robust, high-performance, file upload capability to your servlets and web applications.
`commons-io.jar` | Commons IO is a library of utilities to assist with developing IO functionality.
`commons-lang3.jar` | Commons Lang3 is used to simplify usage of common tasks and code shortcuts to to stay DRY
`web.xml` | Java web application configuration file that defines the filters (and other components) for your web application
`struts.xml` | Framework configuration file that defines the actions, results, and interceptors for your application

If any Struts 2 Plugins are included, then other JARs may be needed too. For example, the optional Spring Plugin requires the Spring JARs to be present.

## Setup the Web Application Deployment Descriptor (`web.xml`)

Create an `web.xml` file in `[webapp]/WEB-INF` (or merge into it the framework resources).

web.xml

    <?xml version="1.0"?>
    <!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
    "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd">

    <web-app>
      <display-name>My Application</display-name>
      <filter>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsExecuteFilter</filter-class>
      </filter>

      <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
      </filter-mapping>
    </web-app>

The standard `web.xml` registers a FilterDispatcher to enable framework functionality for your requests.

If other packages are being used, like SiteMesh or Spring, then other filters may need to be configured too

See also: web.xml

## Setup the Struts Configuration (`struts.xml`)

Create a skeleton `struts.xml` file in `/$APP/WEB-INF/classes`.

struts.xml

    <!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC
        "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"
        "http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">

    <struts><!-- Configuration for the default package. -->
    	<package name="default" extends="struts-default">
             ...
    	</package>
    </struts>

For now, the `struts.xml` just defines a default package (with the <package> section) where framework elements like `actions`, `results` and `interceptors` are registered.

See also: struts.xml

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