Rating: 
Summary: Good Start but, ...
Review: Good start. But, sort of slumps downward and never comes back.
Might be ok as a reference.
Rating: 
Summary: Real Bad Book
Review: I've read it over and over and I can't understand anything. Struts Html Tags are glossed over without examples. Just 2 lines on how to use the tags but the object/bean that it refers to is left to your imagination. If you understand the javadoc that comes with Struts then this will be clear to you but then you don't need a book. The O'reilly book is 1000 times better. Serves me right for buying a book without browsing and just relying on the reviews.
Rating: 
Summary: Close...But not perfect
Review: We were given the task to design an enterprise application. Of course, ya need a framework and where else do you turn? Struts! This book was one of the better I looked at when it came to concise, clear, and detailed information. It explains why to develop with struts and gives an explaination of how to develop an overall structure that is worth every penny. BUT ... I sure do like examples and, although there are quite a few, none really give the ENTIRE process from A to Z. That would have helped even more! The examples you get are A-C, then G-L, then P-Z. So the info is there, you just need to understand how to implement it.
Rating: 
Summary: Thorough and helpful.
Review: I've been developing (on and off) web applications for the last five or six years. I sincerely wish this book had been available when I got started with Struts a little over a year ago; it would have saved me a lot of ramp-up time. The author explains the theory and benefit of MVC architecture and how Struts implements it better than anyone else I've seen. I guess that's not surprising since Mr. Husted is one of the contributors to the Struts development project. This well-organized book has provided me a clearer understanding of how Struts works and provided much insight into how to build effective and robust Struts web applications.
Rating:
Summary: Broken code and bad examples
Review: The book abounds with incorrect examples. Since the book puports to guide the user to a greater understanding of Struts through the liberal use of examples, the books lack of accuracy is unforgivable. Spending time attempting to work through examples which simply do not work is rather frustrating. One of the selling points of the book is the use of the "free" private website where users can interact with the author who is allegedly a "Struts expert". Contrary the the books pronoucement, I've noticed that most messages go unanswered. In a few rare cases, the author actually answers a question. Mostly he simply instructs users to subscribe to the Struts mailing list. I would like to remind both the publisher and author(s) of section xxxii in the chapter entitled "About This Book" where it is stated, and I quote "Purchase of Struts In Action includes free access to a private web forum run by Manning Publications where you can make comments about the book, ask technical questions, and receive help from the lead author and from other users."
Rating:
Summary: Great in details
Review: This book explains how Struts works in great details. It explains the bolt and nut of each component, the Action, the Form and the tags about how it interacts with one another. It also talks about each attribute of the struct-config file and why they are there. Other books would just list it and follow through. In one Chapter, it 'dissects' an application with step by step explaination. Down to the details of what happens when each line of the programs executes. It helps me understand why I need to do something, why I should not and what the alternatives are. Another good thing about the author is that he can look at a problem with different propectives so he could anticipant what questions you may have and answer it at the right moment.
On the other hand, you could be annoyed and find it verbose if you are familiar with Struts or you just want to set up Struts and just make it work.
Rating:
Summary: Best Struts Resource Ever :)
Review: I've been struggling with Struts for many months now and I finally am understanding. I'm making progress on my first struts app and I couldn't be happier. The book includes best practices along with a description of the technology, so that you know how to use it and how to use it well. It also gives you options, for example when dealing with View components. First it shows you how to use JSP with Struts taglibs.. then once you have that, it shows you how to use Tiles.. then once you have that it shows you how to use Velocity. Good stuff. It is a rare gem of a geekly book that is as helpful as Struts in Action. Most geekly authors forget that not all aspects of their technology are implicitly understandable... this book doesn't have that problem. I often find when I'm reading the book that I will think to myself.. "Hmm.. I wonder if that means I can do *blah*" and then I read the next sentence and it almost says, "You may be wondering if you can do *blah*..." I really feel like I'm having a dialogue with the authors instead of reading a book. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Rating: 
Summary: devil in details
Review: This book is a good introduction to struts. It explains well about the architecture and concept. The problem is that it does not explain the details well and some of the examples are just wrong. Especailly if you are looking for version 1.1 info. I think that the book was put together in a hurry. It is better than the documentation in Apache's website but still far away from being a 5-star book. ... If you are new to Struts, you will still have to spend a lot of time to figure out the details yourself. Also the 'Programming Jakarta Struts' book from O'Reilly is disappointing.
I wish the author could spend more time on the details and gave accurate and complete examples not just pieces here and there.
Rating:
Summary: Soup to Nuts: The best book on Struts yet.
Review: I've been working with Struts for almost a year now and have read many web articles and 3 other Struts books - this is by far the best. In addition to providing excellent code examples and providing solid explanations of how this complex framework works, it provides something even more valuable: tips and advice about best practices for java/web/struts/application programming. These are extremely valuable nuggets of info that could only be obtained through painful experience - or from masters of the art. If you want to master Struts - buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Book with content
Review: After reading the O'Reilly Jakarta Struts book I started reading this one. I have about one year of Struts experience so I am not quite starting. The difference between the two books is striking. This book gives you all the nuts and bolds and puts the whole Struts framework in the conceptual context it deserves. O'Reilly's book is a good book for starters but does not really leave the surface. So it is good to start out with but you really should move to this book to get the work done!
| 
