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$ mvn archetype:generate -B \
                         -DgroupId=tutorial \
                         -DartifactId=tutorial \
                         -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.struts \
                         -DarchetypeArtifactId=struts2-archetype-blank \
                         -DarchetypeVersion=2.1.6<version>
$ ls
tutorial/
$ cd tutorial
$ ls
pom.xml         src/

Depending on the state of your local system you may see Maven downloading various libraries (known as "downloading the internet", which is what it seems Maven does sometimes). Be patient--Maven is basically setting up your required libraries automatically.
<version> - is the version of Struts 2 you want to use and archetype was released for, eg. 2.1.8.1 .

Staging repository

If the above command will fail because of missing archetypes in central repository, you can try to use staging repository like below

mvn archetype:generate -B \
                       -DgroupId=tutorial \
                       -DartifactId=tutorial \
                       -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.struts \
                       -DarchetypeArtifactId=struts2-archetype-blank \
                       -DarchetypeVersion=<version>
                       -DarchetypeCatalog=http://people.apache.org/builds/struts/<version>/m2-staging-repository/ 

Project Structure

The source code structure follows the normal Maven directory structure. The blank-archetype does not include all of the directories listed in the Maven structure reference page.

Our project's structure looks like this:

...

Once we've run the application we can see that it works by visiting localhost:8080/tutorial/example/HelloWorldWelcome.action as a sanity check.

...

The application consists of a few test actions demonstrating simple validation and package-level property (resource) files. The most interesting URLs are as follows (assuming we used groupId=tutorial):

Application Configuration

The default Struts 2 configuration file is contained in src/main/resources/struts.xml. It includes an additional configuration file, src/main/resources/example.xml. The application's mappings are contained in the example.xml file. The struts.xml file sets some constants.

See the struts.xml page for more information about the struts.xml file. For more information regarding what's contained in typical struts.xml files start at the Configuration Elements page, which contains links to a bunch of information. See the Configuration Files page for more information regarding additional Struts 2 configuration files, including links to the files that set all the Struts 2 default configurations.

Welcome.action

The mapping for this action is handled by a "catch-all" mapping in example.xml:

<action name="*" class="tutorial2.example.ExampleSupport">
  <result>/example/{1}.jsp</result>
</action>

This mapping is the last mapping contained in example.xml--anything not handled by mappings appearing before it in example.xml will be caught by this mapping. This mapping will look for JSP files in src/main/webapp/example/*.jsp. Since there's a Welcome.jsp in that directory, we're all set. See the Wildcard Mappings page for more information on how Struts 2 can use wildcard mappings.

HelloWorld.action

The mapping executes the HelloWorld action, contained in src/main/java/tutorial/example/HelloWorld.action. This action retrieves a message from a package-level properties file, contained in src/main/resources/tutorial/package.properties. See the Localization page for more information about how Struts 2 handles message resources (it's pretty cool).

Login.action

This is another wildcard mapping:

<action name="Login_*" method="{1}" class="tutorial2.example.Login">
  <result name="input">/example/Login.jsp</result>
  <result type="redirectAction">Menu</result>
</action>

In the application the Login action is reached via a link, but not directly to /tutorial/example/Login.action. The link is actually /tutorial/example/Login_input.action. Reaching the Login action this way bypasses validation: if we hit the Login action directly we'll get a validation error.

The validation configuration is contained in /src/main/resources/tutorial/example/Login-validation.xml. It checks for the presence of the username and password properties (form values). It uses messages stored in the package.properties file (in the same directory). See the Validation page for more information regarding Struts 2 validation.