'adding' a url to an existing URL to make them more readable with Struts2/Java EE

Question

I want to change my ugly url which looks like:

/search.action?category=1

to a nice readable URL which looks like

/my-first-category

I'm using Struts 2, Java EE on Tomcat.

I've tried URL configs in struts like this:

    <action name="my-first-category">
        <result type="redirect">search.action?category=1</result>
    </action>

Which does a redirect, and once the user visits the page they see the ugly URL in the address bar, not the nice readable one.

The same thing happens with this mapping:

    <action name="12345">
       <result type="redirectAction">
            <param name="actionName">search</param>
            <param name="category">1</param>
        </result>
    </action>

Do you know how to achieve what I need to be able to do?

Do you need to keep the old, "ugly" URLs? – Steven Benitez Sep 03 '11 at 20:10 — Steven Benitez, Sep 03 '11 at 20:10

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

2

One thing you can use is NamedVariablePatternMatcher in struts2. a discussion about its features can be found here

NamedVariablePatternMatcher in Struts2

else you can use URL-Rewriting for your URLS by which they can be converted as a user friendly and readable format. tuckey URL is one of the most widely used URL filter for the same

URl-Rewriting

edited May 23 '17 at 11:43

Community

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1

answered Sep 03 '11 at 13:50

Umesh Awasthi

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Your first link is messed up. Try this: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4772737/hidden-features-of-struts-2-framework/4837917#4837917 – Steven Benitez Sep 03 '11 at 20:13
great - tuckey URL will do what i want, with a bit of magic (i.e. work) – nasty pasty Oct 05 '11 at 03:13

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

You're better off creating clean, restful URLs from the start, rather than trying to mask the "ugly" ones later. To expand on the NamedVariablePatternMatcher approach that umesh mentioned, here's an example that shows how to set that up:

struts.xml

<struts>    
  <constant name="struts.enable.SlashesInActionNames" value="true"/>
  <constant name="struts.mapper.alwaysSelectFullNamespace" value="false"/>
  <constant name="struts.patternMatcher" value="namedVariable"/>

  <package ...>
    <action name="categories/{category}" ...>
      ...
    </action>
  </package>
</struts>

Example Action

public class SearchAction extends ActionSupport {
  private Integer category;

  public void setCategory(Integer category) {
    this.category = category;
  }
}

This would yield URLs like:

/categories/1
/categories/2
/categories/3

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

I would suggest checking out the Struts 2 Rest Plugin architecture.

Apache Struts 2 Documentation REST Plugin

I've begun moving a lot of my new projects to REST style as it supports a more friendly URL project model.

You might also be interested in the following post:

Struts 2: parameters between Actions

This demonstrates how to pass parameters in your action via the struts.xml. You can set parameters from your action class or set static parameters by hard coding them in the xml file.

score -2 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 03 '11 at 09:38

-2

try to use frames they are very common and used in *.tk and in *.co.cc domains

wish this helps

answered Sep 03 '11 at 09:38

Ahmed Nematallah

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'adding' a url to an existing URL to make them more readable with Struts2/Java EE

4 Answers4

struts.xml

Example Action