Using Struts Console Inside IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer

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Struts Console can be run as a plugin inside IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer (WSAD) versions 4.0.3 and later. To do so, you first have to install the Struts Console Eclipse plugin. Following is the list of steps for installing the Struts Console WSAD plugin:

1. Shut down WSAD if it is currently running.

2. Navigate to the directory in which you have WSAD installed (e.g., c:\Program Files\IBM\WebSphere Studio) and then navigate into the eclipse directory and then into the plugins directory.

3. In another window, navigate to the directory in which you installed Struts Console (e.g., c:\java\struts-console-4.4).

4. Copy the com.jamesholmes.console.struts directory from the Struts Console installation directory into the WSAD plugins directory.

After you have installed the Struts Console WSAD plugin, you must restart WSAD.

Once WSAD is running, to use Struts Console, simply right-click on a valid configuration file and select Open With | Struts Console, as shown here:

After you have opened the file, it will load into a separate Struts Console window, as shown in Figure A-5.

Figure A-5: Struts Console editor in a separate window

Note 

The Struts Console WSAD plugin requires that your configuration files have specific filenames in order for the plugin to recognize them. Struts configuration files must be named struts-config.xml; Tiles configuration files must be named tiles.xml; and Validator configuration files must be named validation.xml. JSP TLD files only need to have a file extension of .tld.

Struts Console also allows you to modify some of its configuration settings from inside WSAD. To access the Struts Console configuration settings, select Window | Preferences. The following illustration shows the Struts Console Preferences dialog box.

For more information on these configuration settings, see the “Configuring the Struts Console Output Options” section later in this appendix.

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