This is a custom servlet dispatcher whose functionality is loosely based off of com.opensymphony.webwork.dispatcher.CoolUriServletDispatcher. The purpose of this dispatcher is to allow for urls where the http parameters are not passed in as ?key=value&key=value pairs but as /key/value/key/value pairs. Some call these pretty or cool urls. This servlet differs from the webwork included CoolUriServletDispatcher in that it:

1. doesn't throw a String.subtring index out of bounds exception on my deployment ;)
2. can handle conventional actionName.action (or any other extension) url formats
3. assumes a format of actionName/value to set the id property on the action and NOT to set the id property on the actionName property of the action
4. can simultaneously handle both pretty url parameters (/key1/value1...) and conventional parameters (/key1/value1?key2=value2)

Usage:

1. Determine the url path you want to use for urls that will utilize the pretty format. I find that using: context/link/actionName works well. In this case "/link" is extra url path that will signify a pretty url. If you will always be using a pretty url format and never the standard context/actionName.action format, this step is unecessary. This is only useful when both formats should be supported and helps in the trickiness that is the servlet and web.xml request mapping.
2. Set this servlet to be your webwork dispatcher servlet in web.xml and add an init-param signifying the url portion that you've added to your pretty urls (if any - again, if you are only using pretty formats, this is unecessary):

     <servlet>
       <servlet-name>webwork</servlet-name>
       <servlet-class>your.package.UriMappingServletDispatcher</servlet-class>
       <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
       <init-param>
          <param-name>ignoreURIPortion</param-name>
          <param-value><b>/link</b></param-value>
       </init-param>
     </servlet>
    

3. Set up your request mappings. If you are using both conventional and pretty url formats then your mappings in web.xml will look something like this:

     <servlet-mapping>
       <servlet-name>webwork</servlet-name>
       <url-pattern>*.action</url-pattern>
     </servlet-mapping>
     <servlet-mapping>
       <servlet-name>webwork</servlet-name>
       <url-pattern><b>/link/*</b></url-pattern>
     </servlet-mapping>
    

   If you are only using pretty url formats then your mappings in web.xml will look something like more like this (or whatever will map all requests to the servlet)

     <servlet-mapping>
       <servlet-name>webwork</servlet-name>
       <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
     </servlet-mapping>
    

Once your web.xml is set up, you should be good to go. Now for the functionality you can expect to see:

• Conventional requests will be handled as always:
  http://HOST/CONTEXT/ACTION_NAME.action?id=1&key1=value1
  will be handled by the ACTION_NAME action with the given parameters
• Pretty urls in this format (when using both conventional and pretty url formats):
  http://HOST/CONTEXT/link/ACTION_NAME/id/1/key1/value1
  will be handled by the ACTION_NAME action with parameters (id=1, key1=value1)
• Pretty urls in this format (when using both conventional and pretty url formats):
  http://HOST/CONTEXT/link/ACTION_NAME/id/1?key1=value1
  will be handled by the ACTION_NAME action with parameters (id=1, key1=value1)
• Pretty urls in this format (when using both conventional and pretty url formats):
  http://HOST/CONTEXT/link/ACTION_NAME/1?key1=value1
  will be handled by the ACTION_NAME action with parameters (id=1, key1=value1)
• When only the pretty url format is used and all requests are mapped to this dispatcher servlet, the /link portion can be removed and you will see the same functionality:
  http://HOST/CONTEXT/ACTION_NAME/id/1/key1/value1
  will be handled by the ACTION_NAME action with parameters (id=1, key1=value1)
  Same goes for: http://HOST/CONTEXT/ACTION_NAME/1/key1/value1

public static final String URI_IGNORE_CONFIG_KEY

protected String getAdjustedString(String adjustable)

protected String getUriMappedActionName(HttpServletRequest request)

public void init(ServletConfig servletConfig)
            throws ServletException

public void service(HttpServletRequest request,
                    HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException

protected void serviceUriMappedRequest(HttpServletRequest request,
                                       HttpServletResponse response,
                                       String actionName)

protected void serviceVanillaRequest(HttpServletRequest request,
                                     HttpServletResponse response,
                                     String actionName)