Web Frameworks
and
WebWork
Problem area
• Mixing application logic and markup is bad practise
– Harder to change and maintain
– Error prone
– Harder to re-use
public void doGet( HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response )
{
PrintWriter out = response
response.getWriter();
getWriter();
out.println( ”<html>\n<body>” );
if ( request.getParameter( ”foo” ).equals( ”bar” ) )
out.println(
i l ( ””<p>Foo
F iis bbar!</p>”
! / ” ));
else
out.println( ”<p>Foo is not bar!</p>” );
out.println(
p ( ”</body>\n</html>”
y );
}
Advantages
• Separation of application logic and web design through
the MVC pattern
• Integration
I t ti with
ith template
t l t languages
l
• Some provides built-in components for
– Form validation
alidation
– Error handling
– Internationalization
– IDE integration
The MVC pattern
• Breaks an application into three parts:
– Model: The domain object model / service layer
– View: Template code/markup
– Controller: Presentation logic/action classes
• Defines interaction between components to promote
loose coupling and re-use
– Each file has one responsibility
– Enables division of labour between programmers and designers
WebWork
• Sophisticated web framework
• Latest version is 2.2.6 – project merged with Struts
• Built on top of XWork – a command pattern framework
• Can be integrated with object factories like Spring
• Required libraries
– webwork
– commons-logging
l i
– velocity + velocity-tools
– servlet api
servlet-api
MVC with Front Controller
Web browser.
Displays output.
Front controller.
Maps request URLs
to controller classes.
Implemented as a
servlet. Web page
template like
JSP or Velocity.
y
Command instances/
Action classes.
classes
Interacts with backend
services of the system.
Backend services
working with the API/
data model.
Action Flow
(random.vm)
Response to client
Result
Client HTTP (getRandomString.action)
request to URL
Stack of
web.xml
interceptors
xwork.xml
k l WebWork
W bW k Stackk off
St Action
A ti classes
l
(config file) Servlet dispatcher interceptors (User code)
(GetRandomStringAction.java)
Web xml
Web.xml
• Maps URL patterns to the WebWork dispatcher
• Most typical pattern is *.action
• Located in WEB-INF/ folder
• Can redirect to the Filter- or ServletDispatcher
<filter>
<filt >
<filter-name>webwork</filter-name>
<filter-class>com.opensymphony.webwork.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
<filter-name>webwork</filter-name>
<url-pattern>*.action</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
Xwork xml
Xwork.xml
• Located in root of classpath
• Must include webwork-default.xml
• Maps URLs to action classes
• Maps result codes to results
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name="default" extends="webwork-default">
<action name=”invertString" class="no.uio.inf5750.example.action.InvertStringAction">
<result name="success" type="velocity">word.vm</result>
</action>
</package>
</xwork>
Action classes
• Java code executed when a URL is requested
• Must implement the Action interface or extend
A ti S
ActionSupport
t
– Provides the execute method
– Must return a result code (SUCCESS,
(SUCCESS ERROR
ERROR, INPUT)
– Used to map to results
• Properties
ope es seset by the
e request
eques through
oug pub
public
c se
set-methods
e ods
• Properties made available to the response through
public g
p get-methods
Action classes
HTTP request getRandomString.action?word=someEnteredWord
public class InvertStringAction
Implements Action implements Action
{
private String word;
Must correspond to public void setWord( String word ) {
request parameter, this.word = word;
exposed through set-method
set method }
private String invertedWord;
Must correspond to public String getInvertedWord() {
property name in view
view, return
t this.invertedWord;
thi i t dW d
exposed through get-method }
public String execute()
{
Execute method with
char[] chars = word.toCharArray();
user code // do some inverting here...
invertedWord = buffer.toString();
Mustt return
M t a result
lt code
d
return SUCCESS;
(defined in Action) }
}
View
• WebWork integrates with many view technologies
– JSP
– Velocity
– Freemarker
– JasperReports
p p
• Values sent to controller with POST or GET as usual
• Values
a ues made
ade available
a a ab e too the
e view
e by the
e co
controller
o e
View
• Velocity is a popular template engine and -language
Java Action class public
bli St
String
i getInvertedWord()
tI t dW d() {
return this.invertedWord;
}
<html>
Form action to URL <body>
mapped in xwork.xml
<form method=”post”
method= post action=
action=”invertString
invertString.action
action”>
>
<p><input type=”text” name=”word”></p>
Input name corresponding
<p><input type=”submit” value=”Invert”></p>
to set-method in action class
</form>
<p>$invertedWord</p>
Velocity
ypparameter
corresponding to </body>
get-method in action class
</html>
Xwork xml advanced (1)
Xwork.xml
• Different result codes can be mapped to different results
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name="default" extends="webwork-default">
<action name=”invertString" class="no.uio.inf5750.example.action.InvertStringAction">
<result name="success" type="velocity">word.vm</result>
<result name=”input” type=”velocity”>input.vm</result>
</action>
</package>
</xwork>
Xwork xml advanced (2)
Xwork.xml
• Static parameters can be defined
• Requires public set-methods in action classes
• WebWork provides automatic type conversion
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name="default"
name= default extends=
extends="webwork-default">
webwork-default >
<action name=”invertString" class="no.uio.inf5750.example.action.GetRandomStringAction">
<result name="success" type="velocity">random.vm</result>
<param name=”numberOfChars”>32</param>
</action>
/ ti
</package>
</xwork>
Xwork xml advanced (3)
Xwork.xml
• Xwork.xml files can include other files
– Files are merged
• F
Facilitates
ilit t b breaking
ki complex
l applications
li ti iinto
t
manageable modules
– Specified files are searched for in classpath
– Configuration can be separated in multiple files / JARs
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name=”default" extends=”webwork-default”>
<!–
! Default
D f lt action
ti mappings
i -->
</package>
<include file=”xwork-public.xml”/>
<include file=”xwork-secure.xml”/>
</xwork>
Xwork xml advanced (4)
Xwork.xml
• Actions can be grouped in packages
• Useful for large systems to promote modular design
• A package can extend other packages
– Definitions from the extended package are included
– Configuration
Config ration of commons elements can be centrali
centralized
ed
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name="default" extends="webwork-default">
<action name=”invertString” class=”no.uio.no.example.action.InvertStringAction”> <!– mapping omitted -->
</action>
</package>
<package name=”secure” extends=”default”>
<!– Secure action mappings -->
</package>
</xwork>
Xwork xml advanced (5)
Xwork.xml
• Actions can be grouped in namespaces
• Namespaces map URLs to actions
– Actions identified by the name and the namespace it belongs to
– Facilitates modularization and maintainability
<xwork>
<include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name=”secure" extends=”default” namespace=”/secure”>
<action name=”getUsername” class=”no.uio.inf5750.example.action.GetUsernameAction”>
<result name=”success” type=”velocity”>username.vm</result>
</action>
/ ti
</package>
</xwork>
Interceptors
• Invoked before and/or after the execution of an action
• Enables centralization of concerns like security, logging
<xwork>
<include file="webwork
file= webwork-default.xml
default xml"/>
/>
<package name="default" extends="webwork-default">
<interceptors>
<interceptor name=”profiling” class=”no.uio.example.interceptor.ProfilingInterceptor”/>
</interceptors>
<action name=”invertString” class=”no.uio.no.example.action.InvertStringAction”>
<result name=”success” type=”velocity”>word.vm</result>
yp y
<interceptor-ref name=”profiling”/>
</action>
</package>
</xwork>
Provided interceptors
• Interceptors perform many tasks in WebWork
– ParametersInterceptor (HTTP request params)
– StaticParametersInterceptor (config params)
– ChainingInterceptor
• Many interceptor stacks provided in webwork-default.xml
– defaultStack
– i18nStack
– fileUploadStack and more…
Interceptor stacks
• Interceptors should be grouped in stacks
• A default interceptor stack can be defined
– Should include the WebWork default stack
<xwork> <!– include file and p
package
g omitted -->
<interceptors>
<interceptor name=”profiling” class=”no.uio.example.interceptor.ProfilingInterceptor”/>
<interceptor name=”logging” class=”no.uio.example.logging.LoggingInterceptor”/>
<interceptor-stack name=”exampleStack”>
<interceptor-ref name=”defaultStack”/>
<interceptor-ref name=”profiling”/>
<interceptor-ref name=”logging”/>
</interceptor-stack>
</interceptors>
<default-interceptor-ref
p name=”exampleStack”/>
p
</xwork>
Result types
• Determines behaviour after the action is executed and
the result is returned
• Several
S l resultlt ttypes bundled
b dl d with
ith W
WebWork
bW k
• Dispatcher (JSP)
– Default
Defa lt - will
ill generate a JSP view
ie
• Velocity
– Will generate a Velocity view
• Redirect
– Will redirect the request to the specified action after execution
• Chain
– Same as redirect but makes all p
parameters available to the
following action
Result types
Chain result type.
The properties in
GetRandomStringAction
will be available for <xwork>
InvertStringAction. <include file="webwork-default.xml"/>
<package name="default" extends="webwork-default">
<action name=”getRandomString” class=”no.uio...GetRandomStringAction”>
Redirect result type. <result name=”success” type=”chain”>invertString</result>
<result name=”input” type=”redirect”>error.action</result>
Redirects the request
q </action>
to another action after
<action name=”invertString” class=”no.uio...InvertStringAction”>
being executed. <result name=”success” type=”velocity”>word.vm</result>
</action>
</package>
Velocity result type. </xwork>
Generates a HTML
response based on a
Velocity template.
Result types
• Several provided result types integrated with ext tools
– JasperReports
– Flash
– Freemarker
• Custom result types can be defined
<xwork> public class XMLResult
<include name=”webwork-default.xml”/> implements Result
<package name=”default” extends=”webwork-default”> {
public void execute( ActionInvocation invocation )
<result-types> {
<result-type
yp name=”velocityXML”
y Action action = invocation.getAction();
g ();
class=”no.uio.inf5750.example.XMLResult”/>
</result-types> // Print to HTTPServletResponse or
// modify action parameters or whatever..
</package> }
</xwork> }
IoC
• WebWork has its own IoC container - deprecated
• Should be integrated with third party containers (Spring)
webwork.properties webwork.objectFactory = spring
<xwork> <!– Include file and package omitted -->
xwork.xml
<action
action name=”getRandomString”
name getRandomString class
class=”getRandomStringAction”>
getRandomStringAction
The class
Th l property iin
<result name=”success” type=”chain”>invertString</result>
action mappings will
</action>
refer to Spring bean ids
instead of classes.
</xwork>
beans.xml
<bean id=”getRandomStringAction”
class=”no.uio.inf5750.example.action.GetRandomStringAction”/>
Spring configuration file.
Velocity
• Velocity is a template language
– Template: basis for documents with similar structure
– Template language: format defining where variables should be
replaced in a document
• Features include:
– Variable replacement
– Simple control structures
– Method invocation
• Velocity result is included in webwork-default.xml
• Velocity is a runtime language
– Fast
– Error
E prone
Velocity
Variable replacement <html>
<head><title>$word</title></head>
<body>
#if ( $word == ”Hello” )
<div style=”background-color: red”>
Control
#elseif ( $word == ”Goodbye” )
structures <div style =background-color: blue”>
#else
<div>
#end
Method call $word.substring( 10 )
</div>
#foreach ( $word in $words )
<p>$word</p>
#end
Loop
</body>
</html>
WebWork in DHIS 2
• WebWork support project (dhis-support-webwork)
– Filters
– Application logic interceptors
– Custom results
• Webwork commons project (dhis-web-commons)
(dhis web commons)
– Java code for widgets, security, portal
– Interceptor, result configuration
– Packaged as JAR file
• Webwork commons resources project (dhis-web-
commons-resource )
– Web resources like templates, javascripts, css
– Packaged as WAR file
Web modules in DHIS 2
• Templates included in backbone template – main.vm
– Static params in WebWork configuration
• M
Mustt depend
d d on dhi
dhis-web-commons
b and
d dhi
dhis-web-
b
commons-resources
• XWork package must
– Include and extend dhis-web-commons.xml instead of webwork-
default.xml
– Have the same package name as the artifact id
– Have the same namespace as the artifact id
• Development tip: $ mvn jetty:run –war
– Packages and deploys war file to Jetty for rapid development
Resources
• Patrick Lightbody, Jason Carreira: WebWork in Action
• Velocity user guide:
– http://velocity.apache.org/engine/devel/user-guide.html
• Webwork self study
– Taglibs
– Internationalisation
– Validation
