Struts - Taglib directive in a JSP page for .tld provided by Struts

Question

I am developing a Struts based application. I am new to Struts. I want to use html tags , specified in a taglib directory provided by Struts, in a JSP page.

But don't know how to use it. I know how to use taglib directive but I came to know from sources that the .tld file has been embedded in a .jar file after version 1.2.8. I am using Struts version 2.1.8.

I don't know in which .jar file the struts-html.tld file is located.

Answer 1

I'm using the Struts 1.3.10 for this illustration:

1. Download the latest struts library here (http://struts.apache.org/download.cgi#struts1310). Remember, the Full Distribution is that what you have to download as it contains a war file with the Struts TLD's.
2. On your web application, copy all the lib in the archive file you downloaded to your /WEB-INF/lib folder.
3. For JSTL libraries (which works well with struts) go here (http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jstl/)
4. Once you have your Struts TLD's and JSTL Tld's, put them under the /WEB-INF/tld/ folder (it must be situated in the /WEB-INF/ folder).
5. On web.xml add the following stuff (under the <web-app> element)

(there is an issue with XML tags and lists on SO)

<jsp-config>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-bean.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-html.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-logic.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-nested.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-nested.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-tiles.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-tiles.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/sslext.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/sslext.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>/WEB-INF/struts-layout.tld</taglib-uri>
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/struts-layout.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <!-- Sun's JSTL -->
    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/fn&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/fn.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/fmt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/fmt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/fmt-1-0&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/fmt-1_0.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/fmt-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/fmt-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/fmt-1-0-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/fmt-1_0-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/core&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/c.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/core-1-0&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/c-1_0.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/core-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/c-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/core-1-0-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/c-1_0-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/sql.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql-1-0&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/sql-1_0.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/sql-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql-1-0-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/sql-1_0-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/x&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/x.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/x-1-0&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/x-1_0.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/x-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/x-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>

    <taglib>
        <taglib-uri>http://java.sun.com/jstl/x-1-0-rt&lt;/taglib-uri&gt;
        <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/tld/x-1_0-rt.tld</taglib-location>
    </taglib>
</jsp-config>

This tells that once you call your TLD from the JSP, your webapp will look for the matching <taglib-uri> then look for it's location on <taglib-location> and find relevant class to call.

On your JSP, now you can do this:

<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld" prefix="html" %>
<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld" prefix="bean" %>
<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld" prefix="logic" %>
<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/struts-layout.tld" prefix="layout"%>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/fmt" prefix="fmt" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/fn" prefix="fn" %>

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

BalusC is correct: you just need the JAR files in /WEB-INF/lib and a proper taglib in each JSP. One thing that tripped me up initially was the sensitive JSP syntax; spaces between some elements are important. Per the Stripes documentation, each taglib for the Stripes TLD should look like:

<%@ taglib prefix="stripes"

uri="http://stripes.sourceforge.net/stripes.tld" %>

(Minus the linebreak...silly blockquotes.)