Flux - The Smart Struts Config Generator

Edit Rules

This reference describes what and how you may or may not edit in the struts-config-<module>.xml files generated by Flux. The general principle from which these rules are derived is that you may change the configuration in any way as long as it does not contradict the more abstract UML model.

Action Element Attributes

The following table lists all attributes an action element can possibly have. The blue descriptions of the attributes have been taken from the struts-config_1_1.dtd. For each type of action mapping that Flux can generate the inner table says if you may add the corresponding attribute, change its value or delete it and which constraints you must obeye when doing so.

attribute

Name of the request-scope or session-scope attribute that is used to access our ActionForm bean, if it is other than the bean's specified "name". Optional if "name" is specified, else not valid.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

className

The fully qualified Java class name of the ActionMapping subclass to use for this action mapping object. Defaults to the type specified by the enclosing <action-mappings> element or to "org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping" if not specified. ["org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping"]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

forward

Module-relative path of the servlet or other resource that will process this request, instead of the Action class specified by "type". The path WILL NOT be processed through the "forwardPattern" attribute that is configured on the "controller" element for this application module. Exactly one of "forward", "include", or "type" must be specified.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	No	Yes	No	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

include

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

input

Module-relative path of the action or other resource to which control should be returned if a validation error is encountered. Valid only when "name" is specified. Required if "name" is specified and the input bean returns validation errors. Optional if "name" is specified and the input bean does not return validation errors.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	If you use it set the controller element's attribute "inputForward" to "true" and use the name of a local forward child element as the input attribute's value. That way this type of branch is covered by the UML model.
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

name

Name of the form bean, if any, that is associated with this action mapping.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	None
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

path

The module-relative path of the submitted request, starting with a "/" character, and without the filename extension (usually *.do) if extension mapping is used.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

parameter

General-purpose configuration parameter that can be used to pass extra information to the Action object selected by this action mapping.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	None
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

prefix

Prefix used to match request parameter names to ActionForm property names, if any. Optional if "name" is specified, else not allowed.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

roles

Comma-delimited list of security role names that are allowed access to this ActionMapping object. Since Struts 1.1.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

scope

The context ("request" or "session") that is used to access our ActionForm bean, if any. Optional if "name" is specified, else not valid.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

suffix

Suffix used to match request parameter names to ActionForm bean property names, if any. Optional if "name" is specified, else not valid.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

type

Fully qualified Java class name of the Action subclass [org.apache.struts.action.Action] that will process requests for this action mapping. Not valid if either the "forward" or "include" attribute is specified. Exactly one of "forward", "include", or "type" must be specified.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	No	Yes	No	None	Change the generated default if you can re-use an existing class.
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA	see AA
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

unknown

Set to "true" if this object should be configured as the default action mapping for this module. If a request does not match another object, it will be passed to the ActionMapping object with unknown set to "true". Only one ActionMapping can be marked as "unknown" within a module. [false]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

validate

Set to "true" if the validate method of the ActionForm bean should be called prior to calling the Action object for this action mapping, or set to "false" if you do not want the validate method called. [true]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page States (PS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Final State (FS)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

Action Element Children

Forward Elements

Nested forward elements must not be added to or deleted from an action mapping. You may, however, add, change and delete nested elements of such generated forward elements (icon, display-name, description, set-property). You may also add, change or delete attributes of such generated forward elements as defined in the following table (the mapping types 'Page State' and 'Final State' are not listed in the inner tables because these types never have nested forward elements):

className

Fully qualified Java class name of ActionForward subclass to use for this object. ["org.apache.struts.action.ActionForward"]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	Yes	Yes	Yes	None	Try to avoid.
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

contextRelative

Set this to "true" if, in a modular application, the path attribute starts with a slash "/" and should be considered relative to the entire web application rather than the module. Since Struts 1.1. [false]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

name

The unique identifier for this forward. Referenced by the Action object at runtime to select - by its logical name - the resource that should complete the request/response.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

path

The module-relative or context-relative path to the resources that is encapsulated by the logical name of this ActionForward. If the path is to be considered context-relative when used in a modular application, then the contextRelative attribute should be set to "true". This value should begin with a slash ("/") character.

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	Yes	No	You may only change it by appending query parameters following a '?'. No other changes are allowed.	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

redirect

Set to "true" if a redirect instruction should be issued to the user-agent so that a new request is issued for this forward's resource. If true, RequestDispatcher.Redirect is called. If "false", RequestDispatcher.forward is called instead. [false]

Mapping Type	Add	Change	Delete	Constraints	Recommendations
Page Events (PE)	No	No	No	None	None
Action Activities (AA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	None
Module Activities (MA)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE
Page Preprocessings (PP)	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE	see PE

Other Child Elements

You can add, change and delete all other types of child elements an action element can have (icon, display-name, description, exception and set-property).

Other Parts of the Config File

Flux does not touch anything but the action elements between the opening and the closing <action-mappings> element. So you are free to arbitrarily modify all other parts of the struts-config-<module>.xml files (data-sources, form-beans, global-exceptions, global-forwards, controller, message-resources, plug-in).

You can also change the attributes of the collection tag <action-mappings> itself at will.

XML Comments

Don't add  comments anywhere between the opening and the closing <action-mappings> element. They will not be preserved on re-generation. Comments in other parts of the file survive.

Order

The order of action mappings, nested elements and attributes is partially determined by Flux. It groups action mappings by type (Page Events, Action Activities, Module Activities, Page Preprocessings (optional), Page States, Final State, Non-modelled Action Mappings). Within each group action elements are ordered alphabetically by their path attribute. Nested forward elements are ordered by their name attribute.