Welcome To Struts Tiles

Welcome to the Struts Tiles component.Tiles is a templating system. (Include on steriods.) It can be used to create a common look and feel for a web application. Tiles can also be used to create reusable view components. This site will help you get started with Tiles.

Tiles can also be used without Struts. A new release of Tiles, Tiles 2, is being prepared. If you would like to use Tiles without Struts, see the new Tiles 2 subproject. The focus of this site is using Tiles with Struts.

Tiles Features

• Screen definitions
  • Create a screen by assembling Tiles : header, footer, menu, body, etc.
  • Definitions can take place :
    • in a centralized XML file
    • directly in JSP pages
    • programatically in Actions
  • Definitions provide an inheritance mechanism : a definition can extend another one, and override parameters.
• Layouts
  • Define common page layouts and reuse them across your website.
  • Define menu layouts, and use them by passing lists of items and links.
  • Define a portal layout, use it by passing a list of Tiles (pages) to show.
  • Reuse existing layouts, or define your own.
• Dynamic page building
  • Tiles can be gathered dynamically during page reload. It is possible to change any attribute: layout, list of Tiles in portal, list of menu items, etc.
• Reuse of Tiles / Components
  • If well defined, a Tile can be reused across multiple applications.
  • Dynamic attributes are used to parameterize Tiles.
  • It is possible to define a library of reusable Tiles.
  • Build a page by assembling predefined components, giving them appropriate parameters.
• Internationalization (i18n)
• It is possible to load different tiles according to Locale.
• A mechanism similar to Java properties files is used for definitions files: you can have one definition file per Locale. The appropriate definition is loaded according to the current Locale.
• Multi-channels
• It is possible to load different Tiles according to a key.
• For example, the key could represent user privileges, browser type, arbitrary name stored in session, etc.
• A mechanism similar to Java properties files is used for definitions files: you can have one definition file per key. The appropriate definition is loaded according to the key.