Struts 2 Format Examples
In this section you will learn how to format Date and numbers in Struts 2
Framework. Our Struts 2 Format Examples are very easy to grasp and you will
learn these concepts in very small time.
If you start developing any real world web application,
at some point of time you will delve into the problem of displaying the date and
number in some specific format. You can easily write your code and then format
the output as string in your action class. But there is some drawback it like:
- Your code are not aware of i18n. It will be very difficult
to adapt to different locals.
- Your action class are also clutter with unnecessary
code.
Struts 2 in-built formatting functionality can save you
from above problem. You can use s:text tag built-in formatting functionality to
format your date and numbers.
Steps to Develop Example code
Write Action class
In the action class we are creating three fields:
private String productName;
private Double productCost;
private Date orderDate;
The values in these variables will be used for
displaying on the jsp page. Here is the code of action class (OrderBean.java):
package net.roseindia;
import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;
import java.util.Date;
/**
* <p> Validate a user login. </p>
*/
public class OrderBean extends ActionSupport {
private String productName;
private Double productCost;
public String execute() throws Exception {
setOrderDate(new Date());
setProductName("ICE Cream");
setProductCost(102.08);
return SUCCESS;
}
// ---- Order Date property ----
/**
* <p>Field to store Today's Date.</p>
* <p/>
*/
private Date orderDate;
/**
* <p>Provide Today's Date.</p>
*
* @return Returns the Todays date.
*/
public Date getOrderDate() {
return orderDate;
}
/**
* <p>Store new Date</p>
*
* @param value The Order date to set.
*/
public void setOrderDate(Date value) {
orderDate = value;
}
public Double getProductCost() {
return productCost;
}
public void setProductCost(Double productCost) {
this.productCost = productCost;
}
public String getProductName() {
return productName;
}
public void setProductName(String productName) {
this.productName = productName;
}
}
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The execute method of action class populates Product
Name, Product cost and Order date.
public String execute() throws Exception {
setOrderDate(new Date());
setProductName("ICE Cream");
setProductCost(102.08);
return SUCCESS;
}
Writing JSP page
In the following jsp page (struts2format.jsp)
you can view the actual usage of the tag.
<%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="/struts-tags" %>
<html>
<head>
<title>Struts 2 Format Example!</title>
<link href="<s:url value="/css/main.css"/>" rel="stylesheet"
type="text/css"/>
</head>
<body>
<s:form action="Struts2Format" method="POST">
<tr>
<td align="right">Product Name:</td>
<td>
<b><s:text name="product.name">
<s:param name="value" value="productName"/>
</s:text>
</b>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Product cost:</td>
<td>
<s:text name="product.cost" >
<s:param name="value" value="productCost"/>
</s:text>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="right">Order Date:</td>
<td>
<b><s:text name="product.orderDate">
<s:param name="value" value="orderDate"/>
</s:text>
</b>
</td>
</tr>
</s:form>
</body>
</html>
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Please note that the formatting for product.name, product.cost
and product.orderDate are defined in the package.properties message
resource file.
Defining the formatting in properties file
In Struts 2 the formatting is defined in the message
resource file (package.properties). The package.properties file is saved in the
directory (package) where your action class resides. Here is the content of package.properties
file:
product.cost= USD {0,number,##0.00}
product.orderDate = {0,date,dd-MMM-yyyy}
product.name = {0}
So, you can easily define or change the formatting of
output just modifying the properties file.
Modification in struts.xml
Add the following line in struts.xml file:
<action name="Struts2Format" class="net.roseindia.OrderBean">
<result>/pages/struts2format.jsp</result>
</action>
To test the program, compile and package the code and
then start tomcat. Type http://localhost:8080/struts2tutorial/roseindia/Struts2Format.action
in the browser to view the result. Your browser should show the following
output:
In this section you learnt how to use Struts 2 Format
functionality.
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