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The Benefits of Struts
Now that you understand why the MVC pattern (Model 2) is the recommended design model for Java Web applications, the next question to ask is, “How do you make development of Model 2 applications more rapid?”
This was also the question that came to Craig McClanahan’s mind before he created Struts. Struts is a framework for developing Model 2 applications. It makes development more rapid because it solves some common problems in Web application development by providing these features:
- page navigation management
- user input validation
- consistent layout
- extensibility
Because Struts is a Model 2 framework, when using Struts you should stick to the following unwritten rules:
- No Java code in JSPs, all business logic should reside in Java classes called action classes.
- Use the Expression Language (if you are using JSP 2.0) or JSTL in JSPs to access business model.
- Little or no writing of custom tags (because they are hard to code).