Startup

[Patrick McDonogh]

Hi all,
By the way this forum is brilliant!
I was wondering if anyone knows how to do the following.
I would like to get some code to run as my struts web application starts before any users request a page.

For instance i would like to put objects into the application scope but they need to be initialised first and some need to get their values from the database.
How do you get a servlet or struts action to run as soon as the application is started?, is what i am asking really.

Also while i am on the subject i see that the servlets and jsps are only compile the first time they are requested.
Is there a way to get these to compile as soon as the application is started rather than waiting for a user to request the page?
Cheers, everyone and thanks for the feedback.

[Merrill Higginson]

Here's what I recommend when you need something to run at startup time in a Struts application:

Write a class that extends the org.apache.struts.action.Plugin interface

Put your initialization logic in the init() method required by the interface

Register your plugin in the struts-config.xml file

Here is an example of the entry you'd make in your struts-config.xml file:

  <plug-in className="com.mycompany.MyPlugin">
  </plug-in>

If you have properties you'd like to pass to your plugin, you can do so in a <set-property> stanza embedded in the <plug-in> stanza.

Struts will then call your logic when the application first starts up.

Also while i am on the subject i see that the servlets and jsps are only compile the first time they are requested.
Is there a way to get these to compile as soon as the application is started rather than waiting for a user to request the page?

I work with WebSphere as my application server. It has an option to compile all JSPs when the application is deployed to the server. Many other App Servers have a similar option. Check your App Server Documentation.

[Patrick McDonogh]

thanks for the info.

The plugin idea seems very good.

Have a great weekend