Apache Struts API Documentation: Package org.apache.struts.tiles

Struts1.1

Use the Tiles plug-in to enable Tiles definitions. This plug-in creates the definition factory and passese it a configuration object populated with parameters. Parameters can be specified in the web.xml file or as plug-in parameters. The plug-in first reads parameters from web.xml, and then overloads them with the ones found in the plug-in. All parameters are optional and can be omitted. The plug-in should be declared in each struts-config file:

  <plug-in className=&&quot;org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesPlugin&&quot; >
    <set-property property=&&quot;definitions-config&&quot; 
	                 value=&&quot;/WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml,
                            /WEB-INF/tiles-tests-defs.xml,/WEB-INF/tiles-tutorial-defs.xml,
                            /WEB-INF/tiles-examples-defs.xml&&quot; />
    <set-property property=&&quot;moduleAware&&quot; value=&&quot;true&&quot; />
    <set-property property=&&quot;definitions-parser-validate&&quot; value=&&quot;true&&quot; />
  </plug-in>

• definitions-config: (optional)
  • Specify configuration file names. There can be several comma separated file names (default: ?? )
• definitions-parser-validate: (optional)
  • Specify if XML parser should validate the Tiles configuration file
    • true : validate. DTD should be specified in file header (default)
    • false : no validation
• moduleAware: (optional)
  • Specify if the Tiles definition factory is module aware. If true (default), there will be one factory for each Struts module. If false, there will be one common factory for all module. In this later case, it is still needed to declare one plugin per module. The factory will be initialized with parameters found in the first initialized plugin (generally the one associated with the default module).
    • true : Tiles framework is module aware
    • false :Tiles framework has one single factoy shared among modules (default)
• tilesUtilImplClassname: (optional - for advanced user)
  • Specify The classname of the TilesUtil implementation to use. The specified class should be a subclass of TilesUtilStrutsImpl. This option disable the moduleAware option.
    Specifying &"TilesUtilStrutsImpl&" is equivalent to moduleAware = false.
    Specifying &"TilesUtilStrutsModuleImpl&" is equivalent to moduleAware = true. This option is taken into account only once, when it is first encountered. To avoid problems, it is advice to specify the same values in all TilesPlugin declaration.

The TilesPlugin class creates one definition factory for each struts module.

If the flag moduleAware is false, only one shared factory is created for all modules. In this later case, the factory is initialized with parameters found in the first plugin. The plugins should be declared in all modules, and the moduleAware flag should be the same for the entire application.

Paths found in Tiles definitions are relative to the main context.

You don't need to specify a TilesRequestProcessor, this is automatically done by the plug-in. If, however, you want to specify your own RequestProcessor, it should extend the TilesRequestProcessor. The plug-in checks this constraint.

Struts1.0.x

You need to use a special servlet extending the Struts servlet. This is specified in the web.xml file of your application:

  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
	<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.tiles.ActionComponentServlet</servlet-class>   
        <!-- Tiles Servlet parameter 
		  Specify configuration file names. There can be several comma 
		  separated file names
		--> 	
	<init-param>
      <param-name>definitions-config</param-name>
      <param-value>/WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
        <!-- Tiles Servlet parameter 
		Specify if XML parser should validate the Tiles configuration file(s).
		true : validate. DTD should be specified in file header.
		false : no validation
		--> 	
    <init-param>
      <param-name>definitions-parser-validate</param-name>
      <param-value>true</param-value>
    </init-param>
     ...
  </servlet>

Without Struts

Tiles can be used without Struts. To initialize the definition factory, you can use the provided servlet. Declare it in the web.xml file of your application:

  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesServlet</servlet-class>


	<init-param>
      <param-name>definitions-config</param-name>
      <param-value>/WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>definitions-parser-validate</param-name>
      <param-value>true</param-value>
    </init-param>
   ...

The parameters are the same as for Struts1.1 or 1.0.