HOWTO: Setup a shell Java Struts 2 web app using Maven 2 & Eclipse 3.4

November 26, 2008

The latest project I’m working on is a Java web app using Struts 2. I wanted to use the eclipse IDE since it’s industry standard and the Maven 2 build system for compatibility with other company projects.

I did plenty of reading, but nowhere did I find an easy step-by-step quickstart for this combination of tools.

So I’ve pieced my reading and research together and here it is:

Prerequisites

• Java
• maven 2
• eclipse 3.4.1

Create a new skeleton project

cd ~/workspace/
mvn archetype:generate -DgroupId={name of your group e.g. com.austenconstable}
    -DartifactId={name of your app} 
    -DarchetypeGroupId=org.apache.struts 
    -DarchetypeArtifactId=struts2-archetype-starter 
    -DarchetypeVersion=2.0.11.2

If you’re not sure on the latest struts 2 archetype release version check here.

Generate the eclipse project files

mvn eclipse:eclipse

Configure eclipse

mvn eclipse:configure-workspace -Declipse.workspace=/path/to/your/workspace/

Import the project into eclipse

Fire up eclipse and use File>Import…

And now all you need to do is build your app!