SPECIAL NOTE ON UPGRADING - README FIRST! - If you use the standard CANCEL BUTTON in your application and validate is set to true for that mapping, you MUST also specify "cancellable=true" in the mapping, otherwise, an InvalidCancelException will be thrown if the Cancel button is used. See the new Opt-In Cancel Handling feature for more.

                        <action path="/ActionThatCanBeCancelled"
                                validate="true"
                                cancellable="true"
                                ...
                         </action>
                    

Introduction

This section contains release notes for changes that have taken place to the seven new subprojects known as "Struts Classic" since Version 1.2.9 . To keep up-to-date on all changes to Struts, subscribe to the (commits at struts.apache.org) list. To preview our plans for upcoming changes, please visit the Roadmap page .

Notes on upgrading are maintained in the Wiki Upgrade pages . The wiki is a community maintained resource - please feel free to add your input so that everyone can benefit from the collective experience.

For the version requirements of each library, see the Installation chapter .

Highlights of Changes

The purpose of this section is to highlight the new features since the Version 1.2.8 release. For more detail, see the Project Info reports for each subproject, which include a complete changelog and list of external dependencies.

You can also access to the Apache Struts source repository and change logs directly through both web browser and Subversion client interfaces.

People

On the volunteer front, eight new committers accepted invitations to join us. We welcome Wendy Smoak , Gary VanMatre , Sean Schofield , Greg Reddin , Laurie Harper , Richard Feit , Jason Carreira , and Patrick Lightbody .

We also welcome Wendy Smoak and Gary VanMatre to the Apache Struts PMC (Project Management Committee).

Struts Library

Since Struts 1.2.8, we have subdivided Struts into several subprojects, each with its own release cycle. The set of seven subprojects derived from Struts 1.2 is sometimes referred to as "Struts Classic". The Struts Classic subprojects are Action, Applications, EL, Extras, Site, Taglibs, and Tiles. These subprojects will all inherit version 1.3.0, but, thereafter, subproject revisions will increment independently of each other.

Since many teams will use Struts with one or more extensions, we are bundling the jars for extensions that utilize the framework into a single distribution called "Struts Library".

The Apache Struts subprojects, including the website, are being built with Maven. But, of course, you can continue to build your own projects any way you like!

Dependency Changes

Struts Applications

The applications have been moved into their own subproject, the builds have been "Mavenized", but the set of example applications is essentially unchanged.

• In MailReader, fix invalid password limit error.
• The examples application's config files (struts and validation) in the Validator module have been split into up into one per example page.

• In taglib-exercises, add html-cancel page to demonstrate new Opt-In Cancel Handling.

• In all applications, update configuration for new cancellable property as needed.

Struts

Major changes to the framework include

• Composable Request Processor
• Arbitrary configuration properties
• Catalog and Command Elements
• Opt-In Cancel Handling
• Enhanced Global Exception Handlers
• Extends attribute
• "isCommitted" Exception Handling
• Postback Actions
• Wildcard ActionConfig properties

                    public void process(HttpServletRequest request,
                    HttpServletResponse response)
                    throws IOException, ServletException {

                    processLocale(request, response);
                    if (!processRoles(request, response, mapping)) {
                    return;
                    }
                    /// ...
                    ActionForward forward =
                    processActionPerform(request, response,
                    action, form, mapping);
                    processForwardConfig(request, response, forward);
                    }
                

                    <chain name="process-action">
                    <command className= "...SelectLocale"/>
                    <command className= "...AuthorizeAction"/>
                    <!-- ... -->
                    <command className= "...CreateAction"/>
                    <command className= "...ExecuteAction"/>
                    </chain>
                

                    <controller
                    processorClass="org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor"
                    />
                

                    <action path="/EditSubscription"
                    extends="Editor">
                    <set-property key="foo" value="bar"/>
                    </action>

                    public ActionForward execute(
                    ActionMapping mapping,
                    ActionForm form,
                    HttpServletRequest request,
                    HttpServletResponse response)
                    throws Exception {
                    string foo = getProperty("foo");
                    // ...
                

                        <action path="/ActionThatCanBeCancelled"
                                validate="true"
                                cancellable="true"
                                ... >
                        <exception
                                key="errors.invalidCancel"
                                type="org.apache.struts.action.InvalidCancelException"
                                path="/InvalidCancelException.jsp"/>
                         </action>
                    

                    <controller
                    inputForward="true"
                    catalog="Foo"
                    command="FooBar"
                    />
                

                    <struts-config>
                    <form-beans>
                    <form-bean name="registrationForm"
                    type="org.apache.struts.action.DynaValidatorForm">
                    <form-property name="firstName" type="java.lang.String"
                    />
                    <form-property name="lastName" type="java.lang.String"
                    />
                    </form-bean>

                    <form-bean name="managerRegistrationForm"
                    type="org.apache.struts.action.DynaValidatorForm"
                    extends="registrationForm">
                    <form-property name="department"
                    type="java.lang.String" />
                    </form-bean>
                    </form-beans>
                    ...
                    </struts-config>
                

                    <exception
                    key="GlobalExceptionHandler.default"
                    type="java.lang.Exception"
                    path="/ErrorPage.jsp">
                    <set-property key="INCLUDE_PATH" value="/error.jsp"/>
                    </exception>

                    <exception
                    key="GlobalExceptionHandler.default"
                    type="java.lang.Exception"
                    path="/ErrorPage.jsp">
                    <set-property key="SILENT_IF_COMMITTED" value="true" />
                    </exception>
                

                    <html:form
                    onsubmit="return validateLogonForm(this);">
                

                    <action path="/Save*"
                    name="Save{1}"
                    extends="BaseSave">
                    <set-properties key="Save" value="{1}"/>
                    </action>
                

Struts EL

Aside from addressing deprecations, there were a few minor changes to Struts EL.

• Remove reference to html:html's locale attr in TestELHtmlTag
• Fixed the "errorKey" being set incorrectly set to null in the release() method (for HTML form field tags).
• Added "onselect" attribute to TextTag and TextareaTag.

Struts Extras

This subproject was extracted from the Actions and Plugins packages of Struts 1.2. The code itself is unchanged except for one minor issue.

• ModuleConfigVerifier has been modified to use Commons Logging in line with the rest of Struts.

Struts Site

The new Site subproject hosts the top-layer of the Struts website, and serves as a portal to the other subprojects.

Struts Taglibs

We're changed the way we generate our reference documentation for the taglibs, but we think you will find the new reference just as useful as the old. Otherwise, we made only minor fixes to the trusty Struts Taglibs.

• Update error message for when value is null to specify the id of the bean being defined.
• Updated tag to filter value field to prevent it from breaking HTML if the value has reserved characters in it.
• Changed logic so that the "must specify only one of..." message only get's thrown if the user is specifying more than one of the available options. The code was throwing the message if the user didn't specify any at all and should be flowing down to the "no value specified" error message. Update "can contain only one of..." message to specify which bean has the error.
• Update FormTag to provide better debug message in the scenario where an action mapping is missing a form bean name.
• Update TagUtils to provide a more specific error message in the case where properties on a formbean are not found. Basically this change handles the scenario where the Constants.BEAN_KEY value was being displayed as the bean name. Now, the actualy bean name will be displayed.
• Changing rendering of the form name to use the 'id' attribute when in in XHTML strict mode. If an 'id' is already identified with the 'tyleId' attribute, an exception is thrown.
• Changed dynamic focus javascript to choose form using 'id' attribute in XHTML mode
• Changed the "action" attribute of the Form taglib to be optional. If omitted, the original URI of the request is used.
• Filter anchors out when determining action mapping name.
• Fix MessagesTag so that non-resource messages are possible for multiple messages, instead of just the first one.
• Fix MessagesTag so that it displays an error message if a resource key is not found rather than throwing a NullPointerException.
• Added escape for single quotes and new lines in javascript values.
• Fixed the mis-leading warning message indicating a missing form when dynamicJavascript is false in the JavascriptTag.
• Added "onselect" attribute to TextTag and TextareaTag (standard and nested versions).
• Fixed indexed behaviour to check for JSTL's LoopTag rather than LoopTagSupport to verify JSTL.

Struts Tiles

Tiles is being refactored into a standalone package that can be used with or without Struts. For more on how this affects Tiles users, see the Tiles subproject site.