For anything that is conditionally displayed in a header or footer, I usually put that information in session scope. So for example, if I have a toolbar.jsp that shows a link for "admin options" only if the user is logged in as an admin, when the admin logs on, I set a session variable or I put an object with preferences in the session, and the toolbar.jsp tile looks like this:
This is quick and dirty since I'm rushed for time, but it should give you an idea on a potential option.
Or, if you can't use session objects,
you should be able to use request.setAttribute("whatever", whateverObj) in every single action and in your tiles check for the values in that whateverObject. It might be best to extend Action and put those calls in a preprocess method so it is only in one place.
[ May 18, 2007: Message edited by: Dom Lassy ]
[ May 18, 2007: Message edited by: Dom Lassy ]