Tutorial: Create Struts2 Hibernate Example in Eclipse

This is a demo Contact Manager application that we will create using Struts2 and Hibernate framework. In this article we will see how we can use Hibernate to perform Insert / Delete operations in Struts2 framework.

Our Goal

Our goal will be to demonstrate the use of Struts2 with Hibernate framework and to create a demo application “Contact Manager”. The basic requirement of the Contact Manager app will be:

Add new contact in the contact list.
Display all contacts from contact list.
Delete a contact from contact list.

Once we will build the application it will look like:

Getting Started

For our Contact Manager example, we will use MySQL database. Create a table contacts in any MySQL database. This is very preliminary example and thus we have minimum columns to represent a contact. Feel free to extend this example and create a more complex application.

CREATE TABLE CONTACTS
(  
 id   INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
 firstname  VARCHAR(30),
 lastname VARCHAR(30),
 cell_no  VARCHAR(15),
 email_id VARCHAR(30),
 website  VARCHAR(150),
 birthdate DATE,
 created  TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW()
);
Code language: SQL (Structured Query Language) (sql)

Creating Project in Eclipse

Open Eclipse and goto File -> New -> Project and select Dynamic Web Project in the New Project wizard screen.

After selecting Dynamic Web Project, press Next.

Write the name of the project. For example ContactManager. Once this is done, select the target runtime environment (e.g. Apache Tomcat v6.0). This is to run the project inside Eclipse environment. After this press Finish. We will need a source folder called resources. Right click on Project in project explorer and select New -> Source Folder and create a folder with name resources. Also we will create Java packages for our application. As we will use Struts2, we will follow MVC architecture. Create 4 packages in the sources.

We created 4 new packages. The net.viralpatel.contact.controller will hold the Java class that will act as controller and will fetch the data from database and pass it to view. The net.viralpatel.contact.model package will hold the Hibernate persistent model class. The net.viralpatel.contact.view will contain the struts2 action class. And finally the net.viralpatel.contact.util will have some hibernate related util file that will be see shortly.

Required JAR Files

Now copy all the required JAR files in WebContent -> WEB-INF -> lib folder. Create this folder if it does not exists.

Create JSP for Contact Manager

We will need only one JSP file for this tutorial. The JSP will include a form to add new contact as well as will list the contacts at the end. Create a JSP file index.jsp in WebContent folder and copy following content into it. WebContent/index.jsp

<%@ page contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"%>
<%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="/struts-tags"%>
<html>
<head>
 <title>Contact Manager - Struts2 Hibernate Example</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Contact Manager</h1>
<s:actionerror/>

<s:form action="add" method="post">
 <s:textfield name="contact.firstName" label="Firstname"/>
 <s:textfield name="contact.lastName" label="Lastname"/>
 <s:textfield name="contact.emailId" label="Email"/>
 <s:textfield name="contact.cellNo" label="Cell No."/>
 <s:textfield name="contact.website" label="Homepage"/>
 <s:textfield name="contact.birthDate" label="Birthdate"/>
 <s:submit value="Add Contact" align="center"/>
</s:form>


<h2>Contacts</h2>
<table>
<tr>
 <th>Name</th>
 <th>Email</th>
 <th>Cell No.</th>
 <th>Birthdate</th>
 <th>Homepage</th>
 <th>Delete</th>
</tr>
<s:iterator value="contactList" var="contact">
 <tr>
  <td><s:property value="lastName"/>, <s:property value="firstName"/> </td>
  <td><s:property value="emailId"/></td>
  <td><s:property value="cellNo"/></td>
  <td><s:property value="birthDate"/></td>
  <td><a href="<s:property value="website"/>">link</a></td>
  <td><a href="delete?id=<s:property value="id"/>">delete</a></td>
 </tr> 
</s:iterator>
</table>
</body>
</html>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Adding Hibernate Support

For adding hibernate support, we will add following source code in Contact Manager application. hibernate.cfg.xml – This is the Hibernate configuration file. This file will contain configurations such as database connection information, persistence class info etc. Create hibernate.cfg.xml under resources folder and copy following content into it.

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE hibernate-configuration PUBLIC
        "-//Hibernate/Hibernate Configuration DTD 3.0//EN"
        "http://hibernate.sourceforge.net/hibernate-configuration-3.0.dtd">

<hibernate-configuration>
 <session-factory>
  <property name="connection.driver_class">
   com.mysql.jdbc.Driver
  </property>
  <property name="connection.url">
   jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/ContactManager
  </property>
  <property name="connection.username">root</property>
  <property name="connection.password">root</property>
  <property name="connection.pool_size">1</property>
  <property name="dialect">
   org.hibernate.dialect.MySQLDialect
  </property>
  <property name="current_session_context_class">thread</property>
  <property name="cache.provider_class">
   org.hibernate.cache.NoCacheProvider
  </property>
  <property name="show_sql">true</property>
  <property name="hbm2ddl.auto">update</property>

  <mapping class="net.viralpatel.contact.model.Contact" />

 </session-factory>
</hibernate-configuration>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

HibernateUtil.java – This is the Util file that we use to create connection with hibernate. Create HibernateUtil.java under package net.viralpatel.contact.util and copy following content into it.

package net.viralpatel.contact.util;

import org.hibernate.SessionFactory;
import org.hibernate.cfg.AnnotationConfiguration;

public class HibernateUtil {

 private static final SessionFactory sessionFactory = buildSessionFactory();

 private static SessionFactory buildSessionFactory() {
  try {
   // Create the SessionFactory from hibernate.cfg.xml
   return new AnnotationConfiguration().configure()
     .buildSessionFactory();
  } catch (Throwable ex) {
   System.err.println("Initial SessionFactory creation failed." + ex);
   throw new ExceptionInInitializerError(ex);
  }
 }

 public static SessionFactory getSessionFactory() {
  return sessionFactory;
 }
}
Code language: Java (java)

Contact.java – This is the persistence entity class that will map to Contacts table in MySQL. Create Contact.java under net.viralpatel.contact.model package and copy following content into it.

package net.viralpatel.contact.model;

import java.io.Serializable;
import java.sql.Date;

import javax.persistence.Column;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.Table;

@Entity
@Table(name="Contacts")
public class Contact implements Serializable{
 
 private static final long serialVersionUID = -8767337896773261247L;

 private Long id;
 private String firstName;
 private String lastName;
 private String emailId;
 private String cellNo;
 private Date birthDate;
 private String website;
 
 private Date created;

 @Id
 @GeneratedValue
 @Column(name="id")
 public Long getId() {
  return id;
 }
 @Column(name="firstname")
 public String getFirstName() {
  return firstName;
 }
 @Column(name="lastname")
 public String getLastName() {
  return lastName;
 }
 @Column(name="email_id")
 public String getEmailId() {
  return emailId;
 }
 @Column(name="cell_no")
 public String getCellNo() {
  return cellNo;
 }
 @Column(name="birthdate")
 public Date getBirthDate() {
  return birthDate;
 }
 @Column(name="website")
 public String getWebsite() {
  return website;
 }
 @Column(name="created")
 public Date getCreated() {
  return created;
 }
 public void setId(Long id) {
  this.id = id;
 }
 public void setFirstName(String firstName) {
  this.firstName = firstName;
 }
 public void setLastName(String lastName) {
  this.lastName = lastName;
 }
 public void setEmailId(String emailId) {
  this.emailId = emailId;
 }
 public void setCellNo(String cellNo) {
  this.cellNo = cellNo;
 }
 public void setBirthDate(Date birthDate) {
  this.birthDate = birthDate;
 }
 public void setCreated(Date created) {
  this.created = created;
 }
 public void setWebsite(String website) {
  this.website = website;
 }
}
Code language: Java (java)

Note how we have mapped Contact class with Contacts table using Java persistence API annotations.

Adding Controller to access data

We will add a controller class in Contact Manager application which will be used to get/save data from hibernate. This controller will be invoked from Struts action class. Create a file ContactManager.java under net.viralpatel.contact.controller package and copy following content into it.

package net.viralpatel.contact.controller;


import java.util.List;


import org.hibernate.HibernateException;
import org.hibernate.classic.Session;

import net.viralpatel.contact.model.Contact;
import net.viralpatel.contact.util.HibernateUtil;

public class ContactManager extends HibernateUtil {

 public Contact add(Contact contact) {
  Session session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession();
  session.beginTransaction();
  session.save(contact);
  session.getTransaction().commit();
  return contact;
 }
 public Contact delete(Long id) {
  Session session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession();
  session.beginTransaction();
  Contact contact = (Contact) session.load(Contact.class, id);
  if(null != contact) {
   session.delete(contact);
  }
  session.getTransaction().commit();
  return contact;
 }

 public List<Contact> list() {
  
  Session session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().getCurrentSession();
  session.beginTransaction();
  List<Contact> contacts = null;
  try {
   
   contacts = (List<Contact>)session.createQuery("from Contact").list();
   
  } catch (HibernateException e) {
   e.printStackTrace();
   session.getTransaction().rollback();
  }
  session.getTransaction().commit();
  return contacts;
 }
}
Code language: Java (java)

Note that how we have created different methods in controller class to add/delete/list the contacts. Also the ContactManager class is extending HibernateUtil class thus allowing it to access sessionFactory object.

Adding Struts2 Support

Let us add Struts2 support to our web application. For that, will add following entry in deployment descriptor (WEB-INF/web.xml).

Add Struts2 Filter in web.xml

<filter>
 <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
 <filter-class>
  org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher
 </filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
 <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
 <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Creating struts.xml

We will need to create struts.xml file that will hold the action mapping for our example. Create a file struts.xml in resources folder and add following content into it. struts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC
    "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"
    "http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">

<struts>
 <constant name="struts.enable.DynamicMethodInvocation"
  value="false" />
 <constant name="struts.devMode" value="false" />

 <package name="default" extends="struts-default" namespace="/">

  <action name="add"
   class="net.viralpatel.contact.view.ContactAction" method="add">
   <result name="success" type="chain">index</result>
   <result name="input" type="chain">index</result>
  </action>

  <action name="delete"
   class="net.viralpatel.contact.view.ContactAction" method="delete">
   <result name="success" type="chain">index</result>
  </action>

  <action name="index"
   class="net.viralpatel.contact.view.ContactAction">
   <result name="success">index.jsp</result>
  </action>
 </package>
</struts>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)

Create Action class

Up-till now we have almost completed our Contact Manager application in Struts2 and Hibernate. Only task left is to add Struts Action class. Create a class ContactAction.java under net.viralpatel.contact.view package and copy following content into it.

package net.viralpatel.contact.view;

import java.util.List;

import net.viralpatel.contact.controller.ContactManager;
import net.viralpatel.contact.model.Contact;

import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;


public class ContactAction extends ActionSupport {

 private static final long serialVersionUID = 9149826260758390091L;
 private Contact contact;
 private List<Contact> contactList;
 private Long id;

 private ContactManager contactManager;

 public ContactAction() {
  contactManager = new ContactManager();
 }

 public String execute() {
  this.contactList = contactManager.list();
  System.out.println("execute called");
  return SUCCESS;
 }

 public String add() {
  System.out.println(getContact());
  try {
   contactManager.add(getContact());
  } catch (Exception e) {
   e.printStackTrace();
  }
  this.contactList = contactManager.list();
  return SUCCESS;
 }

 public String delete() {
  contactManager.delete(getId());
  return SUCCESS;
 }

 public Contact getContact() {
  return contact;
 }

 public List<Contact> getContactList() {
  return contactList;
 }

 public void setContact(Contact contact) {
  this.contact = contact;
 }

 public void setContactList(List<Contact> contactsList) {
  this.contactList = contactsList;
 }

 public Long getId() {
  return id;
 }

 public void setId(Long id) {
  this.id = id;
 }
}
Code language: Java (java)

ContactAction class contains different methods that gets called by Struts2. The execute() method is the default method which gets called when we call /index action from browser. It fetches the list of contacts and display it in index.jsp. Similarly, when a new contact is added, add() method is called. If you check the action mapping entry in struts.xml for add() method, the <result> is mapped with /index action and the type is chain. This is because we want to display the list of contact once we add a new one. Hence we have done Action chaining and called /index action after /add action.

The Contact Manager App

That’s it. The app is ready, just compile and run the project in Eclipse Run -> Run As -> Run on Server. Set the URL to: http://localhost:<port>/<project name>/index

Fill the contact form and hit enter and the new contact will be persisted in database and will be shown in below table. Similarly, click on delete link next to a record. It will delete the record from database. Let me know your input about this application. Cheers.

Download Source

Download Source without JAR files (19.2 KB) Download Source with JAR files (8.5 MB)

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View Comments

Antti says:

January 19, 2010 at 9:25 pm

First of all, thanks for the struts2 tutorials.

All the other examples worked well but in this one I seem to get two identical inserts every time I post the form. What might cause this? I'll try to dig into it this evening, but just in case I can't figure it out...
GelbeTT says:

January 22, 2010 at 1:36 pm

I have the same problem with two identical inserts.
Viral Patel says:

January 22, 2010 at 2:02 pm

@Antti, @GelbeTT: Have you tried to download the source code at the end of article. I think there is some prob with configuration.
Rajasekhar says:

January 31, 2010 at 9:41 am

hi viral patel,
Thanks for your tutorials. and i have one question. can you please tell me how can you load the hibernate.cfg.xml file in the HibernateUtil.java. we have to give the path to that file or it gets automatically. thanks for your help.

Viral Patel says:

February 1, 2010 at 3:54 pm

Hi Rajasekhar,
The hibernate.cfg.xml file will be automatically loaded by Hibernate. It must be present in classpath. This is why we have added this file in /resources folder which is a source folder.
Once the project is compiled, the hibernate.cfg.xml file will be available in WEB-INF/classes folder of webapp.

Rajasekhar says:

February 4, 2010 at 12:14 am

thankyou viral.
dani says:

February 17, 2010 at 10:21 pm

Hello Viral,
nice job, I enjoy your tutorials. Pretty straight forward. Thank you and keep on like this.

I have some inputs that can save hours to some like me:

1° The database created in MySQL must have the same name as specified in hibernate.cfg.xml at line 12(in your example ContactManager). Initially I put the table in other database (you said "in any database") and obviously the program didn't find it.

2° Concerning the double "add" to database, it's because theres a first "add": ---linkController.add(getContact());--- in ContactAction.java line 35, the add() method
and there's another one at line 24, in the execute() method.
I just commented the second one and is working just fine.

3° At the first access of the page, the table was not populated with data, even if in the DB it exist. I saw you tried to force the execution of "index.action" (which is in fact the execute() method of ContactAction class) by not declaring any parameter in web.xml
For some reason it doesn't work and I wonder if is fault of my configuration?
For me, the solution was to:
a) rename the index.jsp --> display.jsp
b)in struts.xml redirect the action "index" towards this new page
c)create a new index.html pretty empty with in the header
d) eventually indicate in web.xml the index.html

ok, hoping that this will help somenone

Viral Patel says:

February 18, 2010 at 1:57 pm

@dani: Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate your effort to share your inputs. This will be definitely helpful for others. I will also try to modify the post and include your suggestions.

Thanks again.
Sidd says:

May 23, 2012 at 5:39 pm

3° At the first access of the page, the table was not populated with data, even if in the DB it exist.

How you solved this problem. I am also having same requirement. Please suggest.

Viral Patel says:

May 23, 2012 at 7:25 pm

Hi Sidd, How are you accessing the page first time?
http://localhost://index.jsp
or
http://localhost://index

If you are accessing it with 2nd URL, it will populate the data in table.

Sidd says:

May 24, 2012 at 10:17 am

Thanks for your reply and yes when i am typing the URL "http://localhost:8080/ContactManager/index" data is getting populated. but it is showing "Nothing found to display" on the Top.
and when i am trying with URL "http://localhost:8080/ContactManager/" no data gets populated and the message "Nothing found to display" on the Top is coming any Guess.

Thanks
Sidd
Sidd says:

May 24, 2012 at 10:24 am

Oh Sorry, I wrongly added the display tag in my JSP. When I remove that the message is gone.
Thanks.

One thing more Cant we populate the data by just hitting URL "http://localhost:8080/ContactManager/" if yes do i need to make some changes in my configuration.
i mean suppose that i have uploaded my site and user is hitting "www.contactmanager.com" then is it possible to get data populated.

Thanks in advance.

dani says:

February 17, 2010 at 10:28 pm

well, my previous comment didn't save the HTML tag so there are 2 lines that should look like this:

c)create a new index.html pretty empty with (META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0;URL=index.action" ) in the header

and

d)eventually indicate in web.xml the (welcome-file) index.html (/welcome-file)
obviously all with brackets instead of parenthesis;
Mike says:

February 20, 2010 at 1:06 am

I tried the tutorial twice, did everything as you said, but I got: status 404 The requested resource (/Borra/) is not available. If you have any sugestions I would apreciate them. Tnks.
mike says:

February 20, 2010 at 1:08 am

I got 404 The requested resource (/Borra/) is not available.
what can I do?
tnks
digant says:

February 20, 2010 at 1:38 am

Hi Viral, Thanks for the KISS ( keep it short & sweet ) tutorial.
1. do i have to download each jar files separately or is there any RAR file that contains all the required jar files ? Is there any specific RAR file available by the apache org to make the struts2 appl compatible with Hibernate ?

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