Welcome to the Struts Framework! The goal of this project is to provide an open source framework useful in building web applications with Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) technology. Struts encourages application architectures based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design paradigm, colloquially known as Model 2 in discussions on various servlet and JSP related mailing lists.

Struts includes the following primary areas of functionality:

• A controller servlet that dispatches requests to appropriate Action classes provided by the application developer.
• JSP custom tag libraries, and associated support in the controller servlet, that assists developers in creating interactive form-based applications.
• Utility classes to support XML parsing, automatic population of JavaBeans properties based on the Java reflection APIs, and internationalization of prompts and messages.

Struts is part of the Jakarta Project, sponsored by the Apache Software Foundation. The official Struts home page is at http://jakarta.apache.org/struts.

The Kickstart FAQ quickly answers the most common questions about Struts.

A concise Users Guide is also provided with the distribution. The User Guide introduces the Model View Controller architecture, and how it relates to the major components of Struts. Several Developer Guides are also provided, to help you get started with the Struts tag extensions and utility packages.

For more detail about a specific class or package, the Struts Javadocs are comprehensive and carefully maintained. It is strongly recommended that you refer to the Javadoc for each class as you begin to use it, to be sure important features and options are not overlooked. What you don't know, can't help you.

Of course, the only true documentation is the code itself. If you have any questions about how Struts actually works, do not hestate to use the source. For the complete, buildable source code to the entire Struts framework, see the "src" folder in the Struts 1.0.2 source distribution.

The Struts Resources page provides links to everything else written about Struts, including books, articles, tutorials, and sample applications. There are also links to public sites "Powered by Struts".

The production release of Struts 1.0.2 is available in a convenient binary distribution and also with complete source code. In addition, a library distribution is available, which contains the latest Struts binaries without the sample applications, providing a smaller, faster download.

• Struts 1.0.2 Binary Distribution
• Struts 1.0.2 Library Distribution
• Struts 1.0.2 Source Code Distribution

Check the Release Notes for a summary of the changes since the Struts 1.0.1 release.

For developers who are helping to develop Struts, or who just want "the latest bits", the latest development version is made available each morning. Use at your own risk!

• Download the source directly via Anonymous CVS.
• Download nightly binary distributions from here.
• Download nightly source distributions from here.

Access to the CVS source repository for Struts is available through both web browser and CVS client interfaces.

In addition to the Struts distribution, you will need to ensure that you have downloaded and installed all of the prerequisite software applications. Then, follow the appropriate instructions to build Struts from the source distribution, or install and use a Struts binary distribution in your web application.

Tracking of bug reports and new feature requests for Struts is hosted at http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/. Please select Struts from the product list, along with the details of which component of Struts you feel this report relates to, and details of your operating environment. You will automatically be notified by Email as the status of your bug report changes.

There are a number of ways to get more involved in the Struts community, including contributing to the future development of Struts. Check out the following resources:

• STRUTS-USER Mailing List - Subscribe to this list to communicate with other developers that are using mailing list to communicate with other developers that are using Struts for their own applications, including questions about the installation of Struts, and the usage of particular Struts features. [Subscribe] [Unsubscribe]
• STRUTS-DEV Mailing List - Subscribe to this mailing list to communicate with other developers interested in expanding and improving the functionality supported by Struts itself. [Subscribe] [Unsubscribe]
• Bug Reports and Feature Requests Use the Bug Reporting System to submit these reports.
• Patches and Modules - You can contribute patches and new modules to Struts by posting them to the STRUTS-DEV mailing list. After discussion and acceptance, one of the existing Committers will add your contribution to the Struts source code base (with credit to you, of course).
• Become A Committer - If you wish to contribute directly to the development of Struts, and have commit access to the CVS source repository, you can be nominated (or nominate yourself) for Committer status on this project. The rules by which committers are voted on are listed at the Jakarta web site.