Page History

SiteMesh is a

web-page

layout

and

decoration

framework

and

web

application

integration

framework

to

aid

in

creating

large

sites

consisting

of

many

pages

for

which

a

consistent

look/feel,

navigation

and

layout

scheme

is required.

<filter>
    <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <filter-class>com.opensymphony.sitemesh.webapp.SiteMeshFilter</filter-class>
</filter> 
...
<listener>
    <listener-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.listener.StrutsListener</listener-class>
</listener> 

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.FreemarkerDecoratorServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
 	<param-name>default_encoding</param-name>
 	<param-value>UTF-8</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet> 

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.ftl</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping> 

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.VelocityDecoratorServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
 	<param-name>default_encoding</param-name>
 	<param-value>UTF-8</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet> 

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.ftl</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping> 

    <filter>
        <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>

    <filter>
        <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
        <filter-class>com.opensymphony.sitemesh.webapp.SiteMeshFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>

    <filter>
        <filter-name>struts-execute</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsExecuteFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
        <dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
        <dispatcher>FORWARD</dispatcher>
        <dispatcher>INCLUDE</dispatcher>
    </filter-mapping>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts-execute</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.FreemarkerDecoratorServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>default_encoding</param-name>
            <param-value>UTF-8</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.ftl</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>JspSupportServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.views.JspSupportServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.listener.StrutsListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts-execute< required.

Integrating WebWork with SiteMesh is amazingly simple: you don't have to do anything in fact. WebWork stores all its value stack information in the request attributes, meaning that if you wish to display data that is in the stack (or even the ActionContext) you can do so by using the normal tag libraries that come with WebWork. That's it!



h2. Passing data around

One thing to note is when you want to pass a value from a decorated page to a decorator using the *<ww:set>* tag, you need to specify a scope (request, session, application) if the decorated page is invoked directly (not a result of an action).  By default if no action has been executed and no scope was specified, the set value will only availlable from the same PageContext. Look [here|set] for more information.



h2. Localization

WebWork provides easy to use i18n functionality to SiteMesh decorators. Now using the *<ww:text/>* tag works seemlessly. In the event where you need to reference an i18n string, use the _id_ attribute as documented in the [Text] tag. An example of such situation is given below. 

Typically embedding i18n in to form elements would be done using the following:
{code:xml}
<ww:textfield label="%{getText('com.acme.login.text')}" name="login"/>
{code}

However, due to the way WebWork and SiteMesh work, you would need to seperate the above code in to two tags.

{code:xml}
<ww:text id="login" name="com.acme.login.text"/>

<ww:textfield label="#login" name="login"/>
{code}



h2. Custom Decorators

In WebWork's [Architecture], the standard filter-chain optionally starts with the *ActionContextCleanUp* filter, followed by other desired filters. Lastly, the *FilterDispatcher* handles the request, usually passing it on to the ActionMapper. 

{warning:title=Warning}
_If_ ActionContext access is required within the decorators, the *ActionContextCleanUp* filter _must_ be placed at the beginning of their filter-chain. This tells the FilterDispatcher when, exactly, to clean-up the request. Otherwise, the ActionContext may be removed before the decorator attempts to access it.
{warning}


h3. Velocity 

If you are using Velocity for your SiteMesh decorators, we recommend using the VelocityPageFilter. This is an extension of the SiteMesh PageFilter, which should be placed in the web.xml in between the *ActionContextCleanUp* and the *FilterDispatcher*. Now the Velocity decorators will have access to WebWork variables such as $stack and $request.

{code:xml|title:web.xml}
    <filter>
    	<filter-name>webwork-cleanup</filter-name>
    	<filter-class>comclass>org.opensymphonyapache.webworkstruts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.ActionContextCleanUp<StrutsExecuteFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>


<filter>
    <filter>
	<filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
	    <filter-class>com.opensymphony.webworksitemesh.sitemeshwebapp.VelocityPageFilter<SiteMeshFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
    </filter><url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter><filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>webwork<name>struts-execute</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<listener>
    <filter<listener-class>comclass>org.opensymphonyapache.webworkstruts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher</filter-class>ng.listener.StrutsListener</listener-class>
</listener>

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    </filter>
{code} 


h3. FreeMarker 

If you are using FreeMarker for your SiteMesh decorators, we recommend using the FreeMarkerPageFilter. This is an extension of the SiteMesh PageFilter, which should be placed in the web.xml in between the *ActionContextCleanUp* and the *FilterDispatcher*. Now the FreeMarker decorators will have access to WebWork variables such as ${stack} and ${request}.

{code:xml|title:web.xml}
    <filter>
    	<filter-name>webwork-cleanup<<servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.FreemarkerDecoratorServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>default_encoding</param-name>
        <param-value>UTF-8</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-velocity</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.VelocityDecoratorServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>default_encoding</param-name>
        <param-value>UTF-8</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-freemarker</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.ftl</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>sitemesh-velocity</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.vm</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts-execute</filter-name>
    	<filter-class>comclass>org.opensymphonyapache.webworkstruts2.dispatcher.ActionContextCleanUp<ng.filter.StrutsExecuteFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>

<filter>
    <filter>
	<filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
	    <filter-class>com.opensymphony.webworkmodule.sitemesh.FreeMarkerPageFilter<filter.PageFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts-prepare</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter>/filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts-execute</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts2-prepare</filter-name>
    <filter-name>webwork<class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareFilter</filter-name>class>
</filter>

<filter>
    <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <filter-class>com.opensymphony.webwork.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher</filter-class>.sitemesh.webapp.SiteMeshFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts2-execute</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsExecuteFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts2-prepare</filter-name>
    </filter>
{code} 
<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    <dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
    <dispatcher>FORWARD</dispatcher>
    <dispatcher>INCLUDE</dispatcher>
</filter-mapping>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts2-execute</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>