It is possible to switch between modules using the SwitchAction, for instance, and the JSP tags have some support for indicating paths in alternate modules (which has mostly happened since the 1.1 release).
In my development, my primary motivation was simply to compartmentalize the config files. Once I learned that you can specify any number of struts-config.xml files in web.xml and, similarly, you can specify any number of tiles and validation files in the plugin configurations for those components, I haven't used modules.
I've become quite fond of a pattern like this:
/WEB-INF/sectionA/struts-config.xml /WEB-INF/sectionA/tiles-definitions.xml /WEB-INF/sectionA/validation.xml
/WEB-INF/sectionB/struts-config.xml /WEB-INF/sectionB/tiles-definitions.xml /WEB-INF/sectionB/validation.xml
/sectionA/Foo.jsp /sectionA/Bar.jsp
/sectionB/Baz.jsp /sectionB/Qux.jsp /sectionB/Quux.jsp
This parallelism keeps any individual config file from getting too large while providing a pretty clear rule for where to go looking for the various components of a solution. It can sometimes be unclear how to section things, but mostly it's very straightforward.
I think many developers begin using modules expecting more interoperability and perhaps hierarchical configuration. Since Struts is open source, there's no reason people couldn't build that out -- but I've found that I don't actually need modules, so I don't use them.
Joe
At 3:12 PM -0700 5/26/04, Ashwin Desai wrote:
Hi,
I have two modules in my application
Module A -> default (contains common functionality like logout etc) Module B -> specific funtionality developed by a separate team.
Can actions in module B have access to the ones in Module A ? i.e. can I lookup a Struts Action defined in Module A from doing a lookup in an Action defined in Module B & vice versa ?
Do modules in Struts follow any hierarchial structure ?
--
Joe Germuska [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://blog.germuska.com "Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining."
-- Jef Raskin
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