Struts-Layout is a tag library for Struts which provides skinnable tags that display panels, input fields, form modes,tables, pagers, treeviews, sortable lists, popups, calendars, etc. Struts-Layout 1.1 adds AJAX suggest, modifiable datagrid, and a number of improvements.

The aim of the tags is for the developer to have neither need to write nor even know HTML. Struts-Layout is a four years old project. For those who don't want to switch from Struts to JSF, it is a good companion.

A free eclipse plugin, with preview, validation and quick fix, will be soon available.

Struts-Layout
http://struts.application-servers.com/

Changelog
http://struts.application-servers.com/changelog/1-1.html

Ajax Suggest tutorial
http://struts.application-servers.com/suggest/index.html

Struts-Layout Eclipse plugin screenshots http://struts.application-servers.com/tools/index.html

This is a much needed tag library for struts. it was such a nightmare having to create my own calender utility. finally theres a great standard tool that makes calenders look nice and easy to use.

The article "Ajax Suggest tutorial" desn't give any useful information about AJAX. what is role of the Ajax in while using the actionSuggest.

How to load a tree using Ajax, is any body aware of this?

the developer have neither need to write nor even know HTML

That's a shame but it seems to be the way some people like to work.

Personally I think learning to use HTML effectively along with CSS and the DOM is the way we should be developing web applications.

Ian
Todo Lists

the developer have neither need to write nor even know HTML

That's a shame but it seems to be the way some people like to work.Personally I think learning to use HTML effectively along with CSS and the DOM is the way we should be developing web applications.IanTodo Lists

yes you can. this is a way. but struts and librarys also another way.

the developer have neither need to write nor even know HTML

That's a shame but it seems to be the way some people like to work.Personally I think learning to use HTML effectively along with CSS and the DOM is the way we should be developing web applications.IanTodo Lists

True. It is very important to understand HTML, CSS and the DOM.

However, it is about levels of abstraction. To get good reuse it is important to be able to re-use portions of your HTML accross different pages. If you raise the level of abstraction enough, then you don't describe your pages at the HTML level, but at a higher level.

Surely you don't think that the old BASIC or Assmebler was more effective than what Pascal or C gave you (the ability to wrap things in procedures). Sadly, a lot of web apps today are written mixing HTML with code, and using only INCLUDE (the goto of web programming) as their reuse mechanism.

Tag files are much better reuse/abstraction mechanisms. Kudos to Tapestry and Enhydra as well for having recognized this long before there were such things as tag files or ASP.Net.

the developer have neither need to write nor even know HTML

I think this sentence is incomplete because it's better to say that the *beginner* developer have neither need to write nor even know HTML/CSS/DOM.
BUT the *senior* developer is still needed to customize the renderer in Struts-Layout, and will use his HTML/CSS/DOM knowledge.
That's very VERY important for productivity and development costs to be able to separate programming tasks.

You can find a more precise and still short description of Struts-Layout advantages here.

Struts-layout tags allows to include the following widgets in jsps:

Input fields

struts-layout can generate all of the usual input element (text, textarea, combo box, checkbox, file upload) and also a date pick-up calendar . All the tags have the following features:

    * Internationalized label
    * Indication of errors next to the field
    * Indication of required field
    * Pluggable data formatter
    * Runtime access definition: not display, display if not null, display read only, display writeable
    * Runtime modification of the css style used to display the label
    * Customization of the generated HTML code

Lists

    * Internationalized headers
    * Sort on the server or on the client
    * Pager
    * Row color alternance
    * Links
    * Editable columns
    * Rows selection
    * Pluggable data formatter
    * Emphasizing of specific rows
    * Nested lists
    * Customization of the generated HTML code

Others

    * Breadcrumbs
    * Menu
    * Tabbed panels
    * Treeview

BUT, more important, Struts-Layout allows deep configuration, surely the most difficult to implement in a good open source taglib for widgets, because it will be needed in so many different usage contexts.

Skin : struts-layout components looks can be highly customized, first by modifying a css file, then by implementing custom Java classes to generate the html. All the configuration options defines a skin, which can be choosen at runtime.

Display modes : struts-layout allows to define at runtime which input fields are readonly, writeable and their styles. struts-layout introduices the following vocabulary:
A form display mode is a form use case (like : "typing new data").
A field display mode defines the states of an input field in the different form display mode.

Authorization : struts-layout policy framework allows to plug struts-layout in any system defining user profiles and rights. This makes possible to display or not fields, or bigger screen parts in function of the authenticated user.

Data formatting : struts-layout allows to format easily the data displayed in a page with formatters .

EL support : struts-layout has basic EL support on the attributes specified in the documentation.

Tool : the free Eclipse Plugin for Struts-Layout is now available ! See here.

I take a look at the demo. Not impresive at all. The fist impression is that look & feel is awfull. Then control layout is bad (what does layout represent in the name of the library?). Date picker sucks, there are much better options for multiple selection controls then simple list box and check box group (look at Oracle ADF Faces), I encounter few errors while playing with demo...

There are much better presentation libraries out there, to number a few I remember from recent TSS news and other sources:
- Oracle ADF faces
- Backbase Presentation Client
- ColdTags suite
- Tapestry
- Our own home grown JSP tag library (grid, selection, miltiple selection, combo box, menu, tree, date picker, color picker, buttons, tab control, expandable block, etc...)

It looks interesting, but the licensing is not particularly favourable:
http://struts.application-servers.com/license.html

It is effectively a GPL license with a commercial variant available at a negotiated price - it needs to be a little more slick before it's commerically viable.

It looks interesting, but the licensing is not particularly favourable:http://struts.application-servers.com/license.htmlIt is effectively a GPL license with a commercial variant available at a negotiated price - it needs to be a little more slick before it's commerically viable.

Silly me, I thought this was from Jakarta, since they use the Struts name.

Shame about the license. Won't even bother to look at it now.

It is kind of odd that this project calls itself "struts" but isn't associated with Apache. Isn't that unethical?

Maybe Apache should have trade marked their incredibly popular project.

It is kind of odd that this project calls itself "struts" but isn't associated with Apache. Isn't that unethical?

This project is not called Struts. It is called Struts Layout. Don't you see the difference? Like Honda and Honda Racing Accessories. Like New York and New York pizza.

Is it free for commercial use or not?

Is it free for commercial use or not?

I use it in my projects for my clients without problems. Licence allows that.
But if you are a commercial editor, you have to ask to Improve the right to use or modify this library in your own products. That's the only real limitation.
It's a dual licencing like MySQL does.

http://www.apache.org/foundation/licence-FAQ.html#Marks

It looks interesting, but the licensing is not particularly favourable:http://struts.application-servers.com/license.htmlIt is effectively a GPL license with a commercial variant available at a negotiated price - it needs to be a little more slick before it's commerically viable.

I don't see what's wrong with the licensing - it's a perfectly viable "Apache License".

Am I missing something here? Or has the licensing on the site changed since this comment was made?

Ravi
WebmasterInABox.net

I take a look at the demo. Not impresive at all. The fist impression is that look & feel is awfull. Then control layout is bad (what does layout represent in the name of the library?). Date picker sucks, there are much better options for multiple selection controls then simple list box and check box group (look at Oracle ADF Faces), I encounter few errors while playing with demo...There are much better presentation libraries out there, to number a few I remember from recent TSS news and other sources:- Oracle ADF faces- Backbase Presentation Client- ColdTags suite- Tapestry- Our own home grown JSP tag library (grid, selection, miltiple selection, combo box, menu, tree, date picker, color picker, buttons, tab control, expandable block, etc...)

+1

I like the idea of the grid component in the server side, just have one object, with methods to get the updated, deleted & added components, but I don't like how it looks in the client side.
I'm designing a tag library for active widgets (http://activewidgets.com) which in my opinion looks better than struts-layout, but lacks that functionality that the struts-layout grid has.
The url to the project is http://awtaglib.sourceforge.net and I need more volunteers to the project (right now it is in an ugly pre-alpha stage), so if you are interested please mail me at chololo at gmail dot com.

IMHO, both DisplayTag and ValueList (my favorite) are better than Active Widgets.

DHTML Grids are much slower that old fashionned tables+CSS . And they are more fragile.

Hi,

The grid looks cool. Does it requier struts-layout or it only needs struts

Regards,
Alireza fattahi

Hi,The grid looks cool. Does it requier struts-layout or it only needs struts

It certainly requires Struts-Layout (and Struts.jar obviously). Struts.jar is lacking for complex tags/widgets, that's why Struts-Layout is important.

I agree the demo look is awful, and I welcome anyone wanting to improve it.

What you need to keep in mind is that Struts-Layout application look can be fully customized by using CSS, or implementing custom HTML renderer.

Check the IGA screenshots available at http://struts.application-servers.com/screenshots/index.html to see what can de bone with Struts-Layout.

Jean-Noel

I agree the demo look is awful, and I welcome anyone wanting to improve it.What you need to keep in mind is that Struts-Layout application look can be fully customized by using CSS, or implementing custom HTML renderer.Check the IGA screenshots available at http://struts.application-servers.com/screenshots/index.html to see what can de bone with Struts-Layout.Jean-Noel

Hey, I thought you need not know HTML and CSS.
Could you please make up your mind?

Regards,
Andrei

1. Go to the demo
2. navigate to Subjects: DemoServeurDeNews/subjects.do?reqCode=edit
3. Select a subject
4. Click Delete
5. Click Submit
6. On result page use Refresh browser button, agree to repost
7. See java.lang.NullPointerException during database update

I had a lot of problems using the layout datagrid.. a lot of bugs when used with dyna beans, very very slow with large lists, I hope all these were fixed in 1.1 :)

Another project thows Stuts in thier name tring to get attention :)

I would love to incoporate (seeing all the goodies this version can offer) but I have been in jar hell before trying to incorporate an older jar than this present one into my existing project.

Well there is no easy answer other than trying.
(isn't that always the case with softwares...cut thru the hype and try it on your own that is:)

Hi,

I found that there are validation and tiles framewrok/components added as an plugin in to strust. I think the strust layout has this maturity too. Is there any plan for this?


Regards,
Alireza Fattahi

Hi,
I found the Struts-Layout Suggest via your article. I am using it and loving it! There is a problem though! In fact two of them.

1. I would like to have a combo-box instead of the usual text box that comes with the <layout:suggest> tags. This is required since I want to show a particular string value as the label and catch an ID value in the background after the 'label' is selected, as it usually happens in the combo box in <HTML:select> tag of the struts library.

2. As soon as I use the <layout:suggest> tags, I loose the local formatting of my JSP page, which is using several css and IFRAMES!! I am not able to remedy this, even tried omitting the <html:layout> but doesn't help!!

Can you guide me how to do this?? I am posting this here since I am not able to find the email to post this to the authors of the <struts:layout>!!

I would be greatful!!

Thanks!

Hi i want to use grid into my project of time reporting I want to use editable grid.I hv tried to use Struts Layout and facing some challanges to implement dat. Tell me the coding of how to implement it with a simple examle using actionform action jsp file. Plz explain wid some example..