blob: 4776a8d918031b0108254a48f9c77bbc5732e435 [file] [log] [blame]
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8"/>
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"/>
<meta name="Date-Revision-yyyymmdd" content="20140918"/>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en"/>
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">
<title>Velocity</title>
<link href="//fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Source+Sans+Pro:300,400,600,700,400italic,600italic,700italic" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
<link href="//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.0.3/css/font-awesome.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="/css/main.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="/css/custom.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="/highlighter/github-theme.css" rel="stylesheet">
<script src="//code.jquery.com/jquery-1.11.0.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/bootstrap/js/bootstrap.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/community.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<a href="http://github.com/apache/struts" class="github-ribbon">
<img style="position: absolute; right: 0; border: 0;" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/github/ribbons/forkme_right_red_aa0000.png" alt="Fork me on GitHub">
</a>
<header>
<nav>
<div role="navigation" class="navbar navbar-default navbar-fixed-top">
<div class="container">
<div class="navbar-header">
<button type="button" data-toggle="collapse" data-target="#struts-menu" class="navbar-toggle">
Menu
<span class="sr-only">Toggle navigation</span>
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
<span class="icon-bar"></span>
</button>
<a href="/index.html" class="navbar-brand logo"><img src="/img/struts-logo.svg"></a>
</div>
<div id="struts-menu" class="navbar-collapse collapse">
<ul class="nav navbar-nav">
<li class="dropdown">
<a data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" class="dropdown-toggle">
Home<b class="caret"></b>
</a>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<li><a href="/index.html">Welcome</a></li>
<li><a href="/download.cgi">Download</a></li>
<li><a href="/releases.html">Releases</a></li>
<li><a href="/announce-2021.html">Announcements</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/">License</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.apache.org/foundation/thanks.html">Thanks!</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.apache.org/foundation/sponsorship.html">Sponsorship</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" class="dropdown-toggle">
Support<b class="caret"></b>
</a>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<li><a href="/mail.html">User Mailing List</a></li>
<li><a href="https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/WW">Issue Tracker</a></li>
<li><a href="/security.html">Reporting Security Issues</a></li>
<li class="divider"></li>
<li><a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/Migration+Guide">Version Notes</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/Security+Bulletins">Security Bulletins</a></li>
<li class="divider"></li>
<li><a href="/maven/project-info.html">Maven Project Info</a></li>
<li><a href="/maven/struts2-core/dependencies.html">Struts Core Dependencies</a></li>
<li><a href="/maven/struts2-plugins/modules.html">Plugin Dependencies</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" class="dropdown-toggle">
Documentation<b class="caret"></b>
</a>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<li><a href="/birdseye.html">Birds Eye</a></li>
<li><a href="/primer.html">Key Technologies</a></li>
<li><a href="/kickstart.html">Kickstart FAQ</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/Home">Wiki</a></li>
<li class="divider"></li>
<li><a href="/getting-started/">Getting Started</a></li>
<li><a href="/security/">Security Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="/core-developers/">Core Developers Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="/tag-developers/">Tag Developers Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="/maven-archetypes/">Maven Archetypes</a></li>
<li><a href="/plugins/">Plugins</a></li>
<li><a href="/maven/struts2-core/apidocs/index.html">Struts Core API</a></li>
<li><a href="/tag-developers/tag-reference.html">Tag reference</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/FAQs">FAQs</a></li>
<li><a href="http://cwiki.apache.org/S2PLUGINS/home.html">Plugin registry</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="dropdown">
<a data-toggle="dropdown" href="#" class="dropdown-toggle">
Contributing<b class="caret"></b>
</a>
<ul class="dropdown-menu">
<li><a href="/youatstruts.html">You at Struts</a></li>
<li><a href="/helping.html">How to Help FAQ</a></li>
<li><a href="/dev-mail.html">Development Lists</a></li>
<li><a href="/contributors/">Contributors Guide</a></li>
<li class="divider"></li>
<li><a href="/submitting-patches.html">Submitting patches</a></li>
<li><a href="/builds.html">Source Code and Builds</a></li>
<li><a href="/coding-standards.html">Coding standards</a></li>
<li><a href="https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/WW/Contributors+Guide">Contributors Guide</a></li>
<li class="divider"></li>
<li><a href="/release-guidelines.html">Release Guidelines</a></li>
<li><a href="/bylaws.html">PMC Charter</a></li>
<li><a href="/volunteers.html">Volunteers</a></li>
<li><a href="https://gitbox.apache.org/repos/asf?p=struts.git">Source Repository</a></li>
<li><a href="/updating-website.html">Updating the website</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="apache"><a href="http://www.apache.org/"><img src="/img/apache.png"></a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</nav>
</header>
<article class="container">
<section class="col-md-12">
<a class="edit-on-gh" href="https://github.com/apache/struts-site/edit/master/source/tag-developers/velocity.md" title="Edit this page on GitHub">Edit on GitHub</a>
<a href="index" title="back to Tag Developers Guide"><< back to Tag Developers Guide</a>
<h1 id="velocity">Velocity</h1>
<p>Velocity is a templating language for Java.</p>
<p>For more information on Velocity itself, please visit the <a href="http://velocity.apache.org/">Velocity website</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Velocity is similar to <a href="freemarker">FreeMarker</a>, as both are template languages that can be used outside
of a Servlet container. The framework uses FreeMarker internally since it has better error reporting.
Developers may also like that FreeMarker supports JSP taglibs. However, both are good alternatives to JSP.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2 id="getting-started">Getting Started</h2>
<p>Getting started with Velocity is as simple as ensuring all the dependencies are included in your project’s classpath.
Other than that, <code class="highlighter-rouge">struts-default.xml</code> already configures the <a href="../core-developers/velocity-result">Velocity Result</a>.</p>
<p><strong>struts.xml</strong></p>
<div class="language-xml highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nt">&lt;action</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"test"</span> <span class="na">class=</span><span class="s">"com.acme.TestAction"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;result</span> <span class="na">name=</span><span class="s">"success"</span> <span class="na">type=</span><span class="s">"velocity"</span><span class="nt">&gt;</span>test-success.vm<span class="nt">&lt;/result&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/action&gt;</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p><strong>test-success.vm</strong></p>
<div class="language-html highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code><span class="nt">&lt;html&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;head&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;title&gt;</span>Hello<span class="nt">&lt;/title&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/head&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;body&gt;</span>
Hello, ${name}
<span class="nt">&lt;/body&gt;</span>
<span class="nt">&lt;/html&gt;</span>
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>Where <code class="highlighter-rouge">name</code> is a property on the Action class. That’s it!</p>
<p>There are few more details of interest, such as how templates are loaded and variables are resolved.</p>
<h2 id="template-loading">Template Loading</h2>
<p>The framework looks for Velocity templates in two locations (in this order):</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>Web application</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Class path</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>The ordering is designed so that a default set of templates can be placed in a JAR (perhaps shared between applications).
If a template needs to be overridden, a different version can be placed in the web application.</p>
<p>Unlike JSPs, templates can be loaded from a JAR. Templates are a great way to support “plugins”, since the entire
module can be delivered in a single JAR, and the views easily customized by the host application.</p>
<h2 id="variable-resolution">Variable Resolution</h2>
<p>In Velocity, there are three sources for variables, searched in a specific order.</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>The value stack</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The action context</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Built-in variables</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>Since the action context is resolved after the value stack, you can reference the variable without the typical preceding
marker (<code class="highlighter-rouge">#</code>) that has to be used with the JSP <code class="highlighter-rouge">s:property</code> tag. Omitting the marker can be convenient, but it can also
trip you up, if used carelessly.</p>
<div class="highlighter-rouge"><div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight"><code>#surl "id=url" "value=http://www.yahoo.com"
Click &lt;a href="${url}"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;!
</code></pre></div></div>
<p>The Stuts2-Velocity integration layer provides several implicit variables.</p>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Variable</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>stack</td>
<td>The value stack itself, useful for calls like ${stack.findString(‘ognl expr’)}</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>action</td>
<td>The action most recently executed</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>response</td>
<td>The HttpServletResponse</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>res</td>
<td>Same as response</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>request</td>
<td>The HttpServletRequest</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>req</td>
<td>Same as request</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>session</td>
<td>The HttpSession</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>application</td>
<td>The ServletContext</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>base</td>
<td>The request’s context path</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h2 id="configuring-velocity">Configuring Velocity</h2>
<p>You can configure Velocity by placing configuration items in <a href="../core-developers/velocity-properties">velocity.properties</a>.</p>
</section>
</article>
<footer class="container">
<div class="col-md-12">
Copyright &copy; 2000-2018 <a href="http://www.apache.org/">The Apache Software Foundation </a>.
All Rights Reserved.
</div>
<div class="col-md-12">
Apache Struts, Struts, Apache, the Apache feather logo, and the Apache Struts project logos are
trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation.
</div>
<div class="col-md-12">Logo and website design donated by <a href="https://softwaremill.com/">SoftwareMill</a>.</div>
</footer>
<script>!function (d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (!d.getElementById(id)) {
js = d.createElement(s);
js.id = id;
js.src = "//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}
}(document, "script", "twitter-wjs");</script>
<script src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js" async="async" defer="defer"></script>
<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>(function (d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s);
js.id = id;
js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1";
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script>
</body>
</html>