Project IT2290 J2EE (Lionel Grp)!!!!, project discussion for module grp 4

[lionel]

Project Discussion for IT2290 HAS BEEN STARTED!

[lionel]

hey guys! thanks for coming for the group meeting today, have done quite alot in just one day at meeting, finished our URS and started on the DMID planning phase as well, good work team!!! But!!!! CAN ANYONE TELL ME why we have to implement STRUTS??? I abit blur blur.... tks tks!

[devianitinkumar]

yes lionel, it is indeed a good work by the team mates... We finished quite a lot.... Anyways i will try to answer you your question.... Though i am not extremely sure what we need to implement STRUTS but i will share with u what i think...

AS you know Struts is a Model-View-Controller implementation that uses servlets and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technology.

and in STRUTS, it separates the model (application logic that interacts with a database) from the view (HTML pages client sees) and the controller (information being passed between view and model)

STRUTS also provide controller which is a servlet (ActionServlet) and this writes the templates for view or presentation layer (in jsp).

so with this Struts can help you control change in your Web project and promote specialization.

i really hope i'm being able to answer your question....if there is anything you are not sure of you can always ask me

[tobiasteo]

Hey all! I'm here to add on Why do we Need to implement STRUTS, based on my understanding, books and the net research.

I'm sure we have a clearer idea of STRUTS after Devia's explanation on it. I would like to bring in JSP Models 1 & 2 to have a comparison with STRUTS. Both have their pros and cons, but STRUTS is the better of the two Models.

Though JSP Model 1 is easily to develop/fast start-up, it's hard to maintain the codes due to presentation and logic mixed together.
On the other hand, JSP Model 2 has a clear separation of presentation and logic. The difficulty is, it is complex in nature, which require more time to design the layout.

I'm mentioning the other Models so to help us identify why STRUTS is more ideal and why it should be implemented in our project.

This model takes a systematic approach in completing tasks. It cleanly separates the Model and View, yet not complex to maintain as each tasks is carefully delegated to the Model, View and Controller.

In relevance to our project, our application has to be three-tier or MVC model. Considering the functional requirements as well, STRUTS will play a big role in dividing our documents, in a systematic way, that we'll be able to focus on our own roles w/o affecting the others files when problems arise.

[rufiah89]

hey people... thanx for the explanation.. i shall contribute abit of mine... i shall say, wat's gonna be written here, is somehow the continuation of devia's

so as u all noe, to use STRUTS in our project, we need to implement 4 diff things:-
1. JSP
2. Action form bean
3. Action Fowards
4. Action.

what we've been doing in our practical for JSP is diff in term of the tag... for struts, its already pre-defined.. (for eg on the tag, u can read thru slide 15 of lecture notes)

in the jsp page itself, there's these bean called ACTION FORM BEAN which is use for accessing and validating of data... the data will then be stored in ACTIONFORM which can then be retrived at later stage..

ActionForwards... in short, is to proceed the user to another page from the current page.. theres two kind of action - GLOBAL AND LOCAL.

lastly is ACTION... it is a java class in which we put alll our coding to perform task like execute()....


hopefully, this is somehow useful to our group during the implementation period... good day everyone gaah

[lionel]

wahh, you guys said so much i nothing much left to say, oh well~ see what i can do....

lets see, STRUTS can be used to decrease couplings in application, which is a good thing, from what we learn in OOAD last sem which i believe that many of you still remember (i guess), its isnt just about a different in tags between HTML and STRUTS, Eg: <html:link> and <a>...

the following is a example how how STRUTS is implemented if you cant understand the diagram in the book on slide 10

Attached Image (Click thumbnail to expand)

[lionel]

anyone still have any questions on STRUTS or on the project? Remember! STRUTS is very important! *sounds familiar?*

[devianitinkumar]

Yes i have one question which i am not too sure...

Are we suppose to download any sort of program in order to use STRUTS. The reason of me asking is because i have visisted a few sites and they have links showing download this particular software, to use STRUTS...

Are we suppose to really download this software .... how do we go about implementing.. I understand the theory part but not too sure of how to go about implementing in our projects.....

Can anyone explain it to me?

[samann]

from what i know right we will be using the IBM program to code our stuff.... i don't think we will be needing additional program to do Struts.

[samann]

oh ya i too have a question on Struts....how are we going to use Struts in our project and does anyone how any websites on a actual website using Struts so i can get a better view of the Struts.
Thanks in advance for anyone who can post a link for me to refer to.... :dance:

[tobiasteo]

I have a doubt to raise too.

Now that we've been using the IBM Rational Software Development Platform for some weeks, are we going to just use this program for coding and all?

Starting up of the program requires some time. Would be better for us to use some existing software like Eclipse to view/edit our files, then save the project on the web server only when we do the testings?

As we all know, we are not limited to use the current platform only. Should we stick to it which allows us to proceed faster or try new software that might increase our effiency in work?

Lastly, regarding implementation in STRUTS. Most of us might not have came across using it. But I'm sure there're many examples out in the internet. Using STRUTS...we have to practice a lot before getting it to work for our project. Coding have to be done earlier to have more time for debugging issues.

[lionel]

Regarding tobias post, i think it will be best if we use the IBM software to test it out, use software like JCreator or Notepad to edit minor stuff, i have not tried eclipse much but i do know that it creates some unwanted codes sometimes, so please take note, but i don't mind doing all in the IBM software since we have to test out coding after we wrote some of them, not that we are going to write them all in one go without testing, if will be hard to debug if there were to be any error, other than compilation error, Eg: mapping of url and directing, and its difficult to test them out.... imagine you have to open and close the software everytime you edit on the coding on notepad or any other software..... bless that pc processor... oh well~ anyone else in the group wants to add on to sam's or tobias's post?

[rufiah89]

for sam...

from my research i found a few website where they implement struts...

- http://www.iphonecard.com.au - Prepaid phone cards & international calling cards calling from Australia

- http://www.juliannegiffin.com (uses Struts for logins, editing users, forums, tracking downloads etc.)

- http://www.activehotels.com (UK hotel reservation site

-http://www.theuniquepear.com - ECommerce Site

-http://www.sussexenterprise.co.uk (Chamber of Commerce for Sussex, UK)