One solution would be to create a second getter/setter pair for the property (e.g. getQtyAsString/setQtyAsString) that treat it as a
String and then convert it to and from an integer. Then in your
JSP, you'd write <html:text property="qtyAsString" />. That way struts will treat it as a String and not try to put zeroes into it. If you look at the documentation, the authors of Struts have always urged us to use Strings as properties in ActionForm beans.