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1. Include the struts-tiles-plugin as a dependency in your web application. If you are using maven2, the dependency configuration will be similar to:

   Code Block
   xml xml
   <dependency> <groupId>org.apache.struts</groupId> <artifactId>struts2-tiles-plugin</artifactId> <version>${version.tiles}</version> </dependency>

2. Register the tiles listener. This listener will typically either be the standard tiles listener (org.apache.tiles.listener.TilesListener) or the Struts2 replacement (org.apache.struts2.tiles.TilesListener). The latter provides tighter integration with Struts features such as freemarker integration.

   Code Block
   xml xml
   <listener> <listener-class>org.apache.struts2.tiles.StrutsTilesListener</listener-class> </listener>

3. All package definitions which require tiles support must either extend the tiles-default package or must register the Tiles Result type definition.

   Code Block
   xml xml
   <result-types> <result-type name="tiles" class="org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult"/> </result-types>

4. Configure your actions to utilize a tiles definition:

   Code Block
   xml xml
   <action name="sample" class="org.apache.struts2.tiles.example.SampleAction" > <result name="success" type="tiles">tilesWorks</result> </action>

5. Instead of xml configuration you can use annotations

   Code Block
   language java
   @Result(name = "success", type="tiles") @TilesDefinition(extend = "fooLayout", putAttributes = { @TilesPutAttribute(name = "header", value = "/WEB-INF/tiles/header.jsp"), @TilesPutAttribute(name = "body", value = "/WEB-INF/tiles/body.ftl") }) public class FooAction extends ActionSupport {

6. You have to define Tiles Definitons in a tiles.xml file. That can be placed in resources or in WEB-INF.

   Code Block
   language xml
   <!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 3.0//EN" "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_3_0.dtd"> <tiles-definitions> <definition name="fooLayout" template="/WEB-INF/tiles/layout.jsp"> <put-attribute name="title" value="Tiles Sample"/> <put-attribute name="header" value=".header"/> <put-attribute name="body" value=".bodyp"/> </definition> <definition name="tilesWorks" extends="fooLayout"> <put-attribute name="header" value="/WEB-INF/tiles/header.jsp"/> <put-attribute name="body" value="/WEB-INF/tiles/body.jsp"/> </definition> </tiles-definitions>

Accessing Struts attributes

As from Struts version 2.5.3 it's possible accessing defined I18N keys and values on a ValueStack using S2 prefix when defining an expression in tiles definition, e.g.:

<definition name="home" extends="logged-in">
  <put-attribute name="title" expression="S2:home.title"/>
  <put-attribute name="body" value="/WEB-INF/tiles/home.jsp"/>
</definition>

In such case Tiles will delegate evaluation of the expression to Struts and first a key from I18N resources will be looked for and then ValueStack will be evaluated. If both evaluations return null, the expression will be returned.

Example

This example shows a Tiles layout page using Struts tags:

{snippet:url=struts2/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/tiles/layout.jsp|lang=xml}

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