Struts displaytag tutorial: Sort / Pagination data using displaytag in Struts
- By Viral Patel on June 9, 2009
- Struts, Tutorial
Struts display tag library is an open source suite of custom tags that provide high-level web presentation patterns which will work in an MVC model. The library provides a significant amount of functionality while still being easy to use. Displaytag can handle column display, sorting, paging, cropping, grouping, exporting, smart linking and decoration of a table in a customizable XHTML style.
In the following example we will see how to dispaly data using display tag and to do pagination and sorting. We will use Eclipse as an IDE for our example.
Step 1: Create Eclipse dynamic web project and copy JAR files
Start Eclipse and goto File -> New -> Project -> Dynamic Web Project
Following is the list of required JAR files to be added in Java Class Path of your project. Download displaytag JAR files from http://displaytag.sourceforge.net/1.2/download.html.
Step 2: Create Action, Form and Bean class
Once the project is created, create 3 java files ForbesData, UserAction and UserForm in package net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag.
Copy following content into ForbesData.java file.
package net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class ForbesData {
private int rank;
private String name;
private int age;
private double netWorth;
public ForbesData() {
}
public ForbesData(int rank, String name, int age, double netWorth) {
this.rank = rank;
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
this.netWorth = netWorth;
}
public ArrayList<ForbesData> loadData() {
ArrayList<ForbesData> userList = new ArrayList<ForbesData>();
userList.add(new ForbesData(1, "William Gates III", 53, 40.0));
userList.add(new ForbesData(2, "Warren Buffett", 78, 37));
userList.add(new ForbesData(3, "Carlos Slim Helu & family", 69, 35));
userList.add(new ForbesData(4, "Lawrence Ellison", 64, 22.5));
userList.add(new ForbesData(5, "Ingvar Kamprad & family", 83, 22));
userList.add(new ForbesData(6, "Karl Albrecht", 89, 21.5));
userList.add(new ForbesData(7, "Mukesh Ambani", 51, 19.5));
userList.add(new ForbesData(8, "Lakshmi Mittal", 58, 19.3));
userList.add(new ForbesData(9, "Theo Albrecht", 87, 18.8));
userList.add(new ForbesData(10, "Amancio Ortega", 73, 18.3));
userList.add(new ForbesData(11, "Jim Walton", 61, 17.8));
userList.add(new ForbesData(12, "Alice Walton", 59, 17.6));
userList.add(new ForbesData(12, "Christy Walton & family", 54, 17.6));
userList.add(new ForbesData(12, "S Robson Walton", 65, 17.6));
userList.add(new ForbesData(15, "Bernard Arnault", 60, 16.5));
userList.add(new ForbesData(16, "Li Ka-shing", 80, 16.2));
userList.add(new ForbesData(17, "Michael Bloomberg", 67, 16));
userList.add(new ForbesData(18, "Stefan Persson", 61, 14.5));
userList.add(new ForbesData(19, "Charles Koch", 73, 14));
userList.add(new ForbesData(19, "David Koch", 68, 14));
userList.add(new ForbesData(21, "Liliane Bettencourt", 86, 13.4));
userList.add(new ForbesData(22, "Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud", 54, 13.3));
return userList;
}
public int getRank() {
return rank;
}
public void setRank(int rank) {
this.rank = rank;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
}
public double getNetWorth() {
return netWorth;
}
public void setNetWorth(double netWorth) {
this.netWorth = netWorth;
}
}
Copy following content into UserForm.java
package net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag;
import java.util.ArrayList;
public class UserForm extends org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm {
private ArrayList<ForbesData> forbesList;
public ArrayList<ForbesData> getForbesList() {
return forbesList;
}
public void setForbesList(ArrayList<ForbesData> forbesList) {
this.forbesList = forbesList;
}
}
Copy following content into UserAction.java
package net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import org.apache.struts.action.Action;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionForward;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping;
public class UserAction extends Action {
private final static String SUCCESS = "success";
public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws Exception {
UserForm userForm = (UserForm) form;
ForbesData actorData = new ForbesData();
userForm.setForbesList(actorData.loadData());
return mapping.findForward(SUCCESS);
}
}
Step 3: Create JSPs, struts-config.xml and web.xml
Create index.jsp and user.jsp in WebContent folder and struts-config.xml and web.xml in WebContent/WEB-INF folder.
Copy following content into appropriate files.
index.jsp
<%@page contentType="text/html"%> <%@page pageEncoding="UTF-8"%> <jsp:forward page="userAction.do"/>
user.jsp
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<%@taglib uri="http://displaytag.sf.net" prefix="display" %>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<title>The World's Billionaires 2009</title>
<link href="css/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
<h2>The World's Billionaires 2009 - Forbes List</h2>
<display:table export="true" id="data"
name="sessionScope.UserForm.forbesList"
requestURI="/userAction.do" pagesize="10" >
<display:column property="rank" title="Rank" sortable="true" />
<display:column property="name" title="Name" sortable="true" />
<display:column property="age" title="Age" sortable="true" />
<display:column property="netWorth" title="Net worth ($BIL)"
sortable="true" />
</display:table>
</body>
</html>
struts-config.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE struts-config PUBLIC
"-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 1.2//EN"
"http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/dtds/struts-config_1_2.dtd">
<struts-config>
<form-beans>
<form-bean name="UserForm"
type="net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag.UserForm"/>
</form-beans>
<global-exceptions>
</global-exceptions>
<global-forwards>
<forward name="welcome" path="/Welcome.do"/>
</global-forwards>
<action-mappings>
<action input="/" name="UserForm" path="/userAction"
scope="session" type="net.viralpatel.struts.displaytag.UserAction">
<forward name="success" path="/user.jsp" />
</action>
<action path="/Welcome" forward="/welcomeStruts.jsp"/>
</action-mappings>
<message-resources parameter="com/vaannila/ApplicationResource"/>
</struts-config>
web.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"> <servlet> <servlet-name>action</servlet-name> <servlet-class> org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet </servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>config</param-name> <param-value>/WEB-INF/struts-config.xml</param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>debug</param-name> <param-value>2</param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>detail</param-name> <param-value>2</param-value> </init-param> <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>action</servlet-name> <url-pattern>*.do</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping> <session-config> <session-timeout>30</session-timeout> </session-config> <welcome-file-list> <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file> </welcome-file-list> </web-app>
Step 4: Execute the project
We are done with the project. Now execute the project in eclipse or create a WAR file and run it in Tomcat.
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Nice one dude
Application is very helpful and the way what you people explained really good.
At a single shot we can develop the application like making coffee.
Thanks dudes… keep maintain these type of application .
Sateesh
Hi Viral,
I am encountering a problem while running it. When I add the taglib. it shows me an error at the tag where the display tag is used. I am not able to view the output. How can I correct it?
Hi Surabhi, I think you getting the error may be because required JAR files are missing or not properly added. Check the JAR file for Struts display tag and also check the version.
viral sir
how u display in jsp ?22 items found displying 1 to 10 ..where is jsp code ???pls let me know asap
regards
ujjawal
with Ajax:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <%@taglib uri="http://displaytag.sf.net" prefix="display" %> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>The World\'s Billionaires 2009</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/displaytag.css"> <style media="all" type="text/css"> @import "css/maven-base.css"; @import "css/maven-theme.css"; @import "css/site.css"; @import "css/screen.css"; @import "css/displaytag.css"; </style> <script language=\'javascript\' src="js/jquery.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script src="js/displayTagAjax.js"></script> </head> <body> <div id="ajxDspId"> <h2>The World\'s Billionaires 2009 - Forbes List</h2> <display:table export="true" id="data" name="sessionScope.UserForm.forbesList" requestURI="/userAction.do" pagesize="10" > <display:column property="rank" title="Rank" sortable="true" /> <display:column property="name" title="Name" sortable="true" /> <display:column property="age" title="Age" sortable="true" /> <display:column property="netWorth" title="Net worth ($BIL)" sortable="true" /> </display:table> </div> </body> </html>Hi Viral, this looks like an excellent tutorial! Unfortunately I’m using Struts 2. Do you have any advice on how I’d implement this in Struts2?
Thanks!
@Jake, Thanks for the comment.. I will try to write the same article for Struts 2 :)
I have a related question: I keep seeing these HTML/CODE/PHP snippets that are shown in a similar way, with line numbers, odd and even line highlighting etc. My question is: what editor works that way? i’d like to use it also and produce screenshots like that.
can someone reply to yosefus11@gmail.com?
Hi Yosefus,
For adding style sheet like odd even colors to the displaytable, you have to add following CSS classes in the CSS file that you include in JSP.
odd- assigned to the tr tag of all odd numbered data rows
even- assigned to the tr tag of all even numbered data rows
sorted- assigned to the th tag of the sorted column
order1- assigned to the th tag of the sorted column if sort order is ascending
order2- assigned to the th tag of the sorted column if sort order is descending
sortable- assigned to the th tag of a sortable column
Thus your CSS file may have entry like:
.odd {
background-color: white;
}
.even {
background-color: #FFEE88;
}
I am getting the error when I add the taglib for displaytag in user.jsp
JSP Page
I am getting compiletime error as NoClassDefFoundError.
Please help me.
I am using struts-1.2.9.jar
das
Hi Smita,
For using Displaytag library, you need to include its jar files in classpath. Check if your classpath has these jars:
displaytag-1.2.jar
displaytag-export-poi-1.2.jar
displaytag-portlet-1.2.jar
Hi,
I want to add edit/delete link in display:table tag.When i click on the link for particular row (e.g. data for row having name field as ’smits’ should be displayed on the form) the data should be displayed in text so that i can edit it.
Can you plese give me some sample code for edit and delete row from display:table also from database.
Please help me out
Hi,
Can you please tell me how to use edit and delete link in tag using struts?
Please tell me Asap.
Thanks,
Harshal
Sorry I forgot to mension using display:table tag in struts.
Thanks,
Harshal
Nice Work dude
Hi,
I get an warning when i use the above jsp page .
This works out but gives another problem tag lib not found .
I added all the tag libraries in the class path
i use this in the jsp page
I got this error :
org.apache.jasper.JasperException: The absolute uri: http://displaytag.sf.net cannot be resolved in either web.xml or the jar files deployed with this application
@Majid – Please check the version of displaytag jar you using. Include the correct version. I have used version 1.2 of DisplayTag. You may want to check the correct url in your jar file.
Hi Viral,
Appriciate your help to convert pagination style in
{ First | Prev | 1 2 3 4 | Next | Last }
or
{ First | Prev | (page 1, Item 1-10 ) in select/drop down | Next | Last }.
Simply wann to remove brackets i.e.
[First/Prev] 1, 2, 3, 4 [Next/Last]
@ashish: You can configure the pagination links by changing the property in
displaytag.propertiesfile. For overriding the default properties, you need to create a file calleddisplaytag.propertiesand place it in classpath. And change the property paging.banner.full which by default is:[<a href="{1}" rel="nofollow">First</a>/ <a href="{2}" rel="nofollow">Prev</a>] {0} [ <a href="{3}" rel="nofollow">Next</a>/ <a href="{4}" rel="nofollow">Last </a>]and modify the default value and change it into:
<a href="{1}" rel="nofollow">First</a> | <a href="{2}" rel="nofollow">Prev</a> | {0} | <a href="{3}" rel="nofollow">Next</a> | <a href="{4}" rel="nofollow">Last </a>Check the document at http://displaytag.sourceforge.net/10/configuration.html for more details.
Hope this will resolve the issue.
hii viral
i have included the jar files mentioned but still i am getting this error after deploying it on netbeans
it says:
javax.servlet.ServletException: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/commons/lang/UnhandledException
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/commons/lang/UnhandledException
Pls help me out
thanks
@Amit – Check if you have included commons-lang.jar file in your classpath.
Thanks viral…
But i have no idea about the commons-lang.jar…
I have just added the 3 jar files that you have talked about previously related to displaytags.
Could you throw some more light about the commons-lang.jar a little more
Thanks:)
Also i have not added the previous jar files to the path instead just added them to netbeans library. Is the error because of the same?
Thanks:)
Amit – If you check the second screen shot in Step-1, you will see the list of JAR files required for this project. Include all these JARs in your project to work with display tag.
javax.servlet.ServletException: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: org/apache/commons/lang/UnhandledException
i add the library common-lang y show that error
How to change the pager style ? want to enter the page no and click go?.
thnks
hey….thanks for the code….How to add Edit Button and check box at each row ??? can u plz give code in struts 2 with the example???
Hi,
Nice job, but in this tutorial u r get an predefined items in the ArrayList object and then u store it session scope(if I’m not wrong)………that’s mean when we fetch some huge data from database dynamically then the session will be heavy…………….can u demonstrate it into request scope with every time when user click the next button every time an sql query fire (with just change the value of ‘LIMIT ‘ dynamically) and give me the next page
Excellent one… is useful verymuch
Nice Job; error free navigated example;
Awesome tutorial, thanks for sharing this piece of code. I think we need more of this lovely example on how to implement pagination and struts.
Great job.
good job dude
the information is really helpful but can you tell me how i can perform pagination in struts2…Since there is no Action mapping in used in Struts2 …i have no clue how i can perform this.