Apache Struts 2 Documentation > Home > FAQs > Can we break up a large struts.xml file into smaller pieces
Added by Jay Bose, last edited by Dave Newton on Jul 16, 2008  (view change) show comment

Yes, there are two complementary approaches. We can include other struts.xml-format files from a bootstrap struts.xml file, or we can package a struts.xml files in a JAR. Or both.

By Include

See the <include> element documentation.

You can use <include> elements in your struts.xml interchangeably with <package> elements. The configuration objects will be loaded in the order of appearance. The framework reads the configuration from top to bottom and adds objects as they are referenced.

By JAR

A "module" can be added to an application by placing a struts.xml and related classes into a JAR on the classpath. FreeMarker and Velocity templates can also be provided by JAR, making it possible to distribution a module in a single, self-contained JAR that is automatically configured on startup.