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Info

title	About SiteMesh

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.

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Can use Struts tags in Sitemesh decorator templates

Usage

ActionContextCleanUp

Under the framework'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. The primary purpose of the ActionContextCleanUp is to provide SiteMesh integration. The clean-up filter tells the dispatcher filter exactly when to remove obsolete objects from the request. Otherwise, the ActionContext may be removed before the decorator attempts to access it.

Warning

title	Order Matters

If ActionContext access is required within the decorators, the ActionContextCleanUp filter must be placed at the beginning of the filter-chain.

Sitemesh decorators can be written in FreeMarker as well as Velocity and JSP

Usage

From 2.2+ the new com.opensymphony.sitemesh.webapp.SiteMeshFilter filter and Struts org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.listener.StrutsListener context listener must be added to web.xml, like:

{snippet:id=description|javadoc=true|url=org

.apache.struts2.dispatcher

.ActionContextCleanUp}

.ng.listener.StrutsListener</listener-class>
</listener>

Code Block

	xml
	xml


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

Info

title	Javadoc: (org.apache.struts.action2.dispatcher.ActionContextCleanUp)

Wiki Markup

FreeMarker and Velocity Decorators

The plugin provides an extension of the SiteMesh PageFilter to assist with integration with Velocity and FreeMarker servlets. Our filters These servlets provide the standard variables and Struts Tags that you used to create views in your favorite favourite template language.

FreeMarker

The FreeMarkerPageFilter extends the SiteMesh PageFilter to allow direct access to framework variables such as $stack and $request.

In the web.xml, the VelocityPageFilter should be placed between the ActionContextCleanUp and the FilterDispatcher.

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title	Javadoc: (org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.FreeMarkerPageFilter)

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From 2.2+ the recommended way to use Freemarker with Sitemesh is through the org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.FreemarkerDecoratorServlet servlet, which can be configured like this in web.xml:

Code Block

	xml
	xml


<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>

Velocity

...

From 2.2+ the recommended way to use Velocity with Sitemesh is through the

org.apache.struts2.sitemesh.

...

VelocityDecoratorServlet servlet, which can be configured like this in web.xml:

Code Block

	xml
	xml


<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>

Full integration with SiteMesh 2 + Freemarker 2.4.2 + Velocity 1.3 , including Struts 2 Tags, ValueStack, and FreemarkerManager statics.

Such configuration is available as from Struts 2.2.0, please refer to WW-3296 for me details.

Code Block

	xml
	xml


    <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>

Velocity

The VelocityPageFilter extends the SiteMesh PageFilter to allow direct access to framework variables such as $stack and $request.

...

Example

Here is an example of how to configure the filter chains in web.xml:

Code Block

	xml
	xml


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


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

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

<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>
    <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>

Struts 2.1 web.xml filter chain example:

Code Block

	xml
	xml


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

<filter>
    <filter-name>sitemesh</filter-name>
    <filter-class>com.opensymphony.module.sitemesh.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-mapping>

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

You do not need the struts2-sitmesh-plugin if you are using JSP for your decorators.
Here are the only only changes needed to web.xml

Code Block

	xml
	xml


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

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

Wiki Markup

{snippet:id=example.freemarker.filter.chain|javadoc=false|lang=xml|url=struts2/apps/showcase/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml}

Settings

This plugin doesn't support any global settings.

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Versions Compared

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Key

Usage

ActionContextCleanUp

Usage

FreeMarker and Velocity Decorators

FreeMarker

Velocity

Full integration with SiteMesh 2 + Freemarker 2.4.2 + Velocity 1.3 , including Struts 2 Tags, ValueStack, and FreemarkerManager statics.

Velocity

Example

Settings