Path to Action method not found? - struts-1

Question

Why am I'm getting these not found errors in the browser's console when trying to call the method of a Struts 1 DispatchAction from a jsp/html file?:
http://localhost:8089/topFrame.do?method=viewAction 404 ()
http://localhost:8089/topFrame.do?method=viewAction&polnum= 404 ()
I'm moving an old Struts webapp from Weblogic to Tomcat.
What's in the Tomcat logs:
09-Aug-2017 15:58:09.497 SEVERE [http-nio-8089-exec-2] org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup Servlet [action] in web application [/mywebapp] threw load() exception
javax.servlet.UnavailableException: Parsing error processing resource path
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.handleConfigException(ActionServlet.java:1035)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.parseModuleConfigFile(ActionServlet.java:1012)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.initModuleConfig(ActionServlet.java:955)
at org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.init(ActionServlet.java:470)
at javax.servlet.GenericServlet.init(GenericServlet.java:158)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.initServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1194)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1110)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1000)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:4902)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5212)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:152)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:724)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:700)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:734)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:952)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:473)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1617)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.modeler.BaseModelMBean.invoke(BaseModelMBean.java:300)
at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:819)
at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:801)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.ManagerServlet.check(ManagerServlet.java:1483)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.HTMLManagerServlet.upload(HTMLManagerServlet.java:285)
at org.apache.catalina.manager.HTMLManagerServlet.doPost(HTMLManagerServlet.java:206)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:648)
at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:729)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:230)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
at org.apache.catalina.filters.CsrfPreventionFilter.doFilter(CsrfPreventionFilter.java:136)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:192)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
at org.apache.tomcat.websocket.server.WsFilter.doFilter(WsFilter.java:52)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:192)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
at org.apache.catalina.filters.SetCharacterEncodingFilter.doFilter(SetCharacterEncodingFilter.java:108)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:192)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:165)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:198)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:108)
at org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:632)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.RequestFilterValve.process(RequestFilterValve.java:319)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.RemoteAddrValve.invoke(RemoteAddrValve.java:88)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:140)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:79)
at org.apache.catalina.valves.AbstractAccessLogValve.invoke(AbstractAccessLogValve.java:620)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:87)
at org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:349)
at org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.service(Http11Processor.java:1110)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProcessorLight.process(AbstractProcessorLight.java:66)
at org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$ConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:785)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.NioEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(NioEndpoint.java:1425)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.net.SocketProcessorBase.run(SocketProcessorBase.java:49)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1142)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:617)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745)
What's in index.jsp:
<%#taglib uri="WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld" prefix="bean" %>
<%#taglib uri="WEB-INF/struts-html.tld" prefix="html" %>
<%#page contentType="text/html"%>
<%#page pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<html>
<head>
<script>
var polparam;
function initWindow() {
top.moveTo(150,0);
top.resizeTo(1000,1000);
polparam = gup( 'POLNUM' );
if (polparam != null )
{
top.topFrame.location="/topFrame.do?method=viewAction&polnum="+polparam;
}
}
function gup( name ) {
window.alert("hello2");
name = name.replace(/[\[]/,"\\\[").replace(/[\]]/,"\\\]");
var regexS = "[\\?&]"+name+"=([^&#]*)";
var regex = new RegExp( regexS );
var results = regex.exec( window.location.href );
if( results == null ) return "";
else return results[1];
}
</script>
</head>
<frameset rows="242,*" frameborder="NO" border="0" framespacing="0" id="index" onLoad="initWindow()">
<noframes>
<body bgcolor="#d341f4" text="#41f4bb">
Your Broswer doesn't handle frames 2.
</body>
</noframes>
<frame name="topFrame" scrolling="NO" noresize src="/topFrame.do?method=viewAction" />
<frame name="mainFrame" src="blank.html" />
</frameset>
</html>
What's in web.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
version="3.0">
<servlet>
<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>config</param-name>
<param-value>WEB-INF/struts-config.xml</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>debug</param-name>
<param-value>2</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param>
<param-name>detail</param-name>
<param-value>2</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>*.do</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<session-config>
<session-timeout>30</session-timeout>
</session-config>
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
<jsp-config>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-html.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-logic.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-nested.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-nested.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-tiles.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-tiles.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/struts-template.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/struts-template.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/taglibs-datetime.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/taglibs-datetime.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
<taglib>
<taglib-uri>WEB-INF/pagination.tld</taglib-uri>
<taglib-location>/WEB-INF/pagination.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>
</jsp-config>
</web-app>
What's in struts-config.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE struts-config PUBLIC
"-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 1.2//EN"
"http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/dtds/struts-config_1_2.dtd">
<struts-config>
<form-beans>
<form-bean name="topFrameForm" type="com.aif.TopFrameForm">
<description>This is the form bean for the entire top Frame of the webapp</description>
</form-bean>
</form-beans>
<!-- Global Exceptions -->
<global-exceptions>
</global-exceptions>
<!-- Global Forwards -->
<global-forwards>
<forward name="topFrameError" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/TopFrameError.jsp"/>
<forward name="unknownError" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/UnknownError.jsp"/>
<forward name="accessDenied" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/AccessDenied.jsp" />
</global-forwards>
<action-mappings>
<action path="/topFrame" name="topFrameForm" scope="request" type="com.aif.TopFrameAction" input="WEB-INF/jsp/TopFrame.jsp" parameter="method">
<forward name="ok" path="/WEB-INF/jsp/TopFrame.jsp" />
</action>
</action-mappings>
<controller processorClass="org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor" />
<!-- Message Resources -->
<message-resources parameter="ApplicationResources" null="false"/>
<plug-in className="org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorPlugIn">
</plug-in>
</struts-config>
What's in com.aif.TopFrameForm:
package com.aif;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionErrors;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping;
import org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorForm;
public class TopFrameForm extends ValidatorForm {
private String schemeNo="";
private String polOrClientNo="";
private String firstName="";
private String surname="";
private String ddMandate="";
private String dob="";
private String maxResultsReached="";
private ArrayList policies=new ArrayList();
// Getters & setters
public ActionErrors validate(ActionMapping actionMapping, HttpServletRequest request) {
log.info("validate - START");
ActionErrors errors = new ActionErrors();
errors = super.validate(actionMapping, request);
// etc.
log.info("validate - END");
return errors;
}
}
What's in com.aif.TopFrameAction:
package com.aif;
import java.rmi.RemoteException;
import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionForward;
import org.apache.struts.action.ActionMapping;
import org.apache.struts.actions.DispatchAction;
import com.aif.Constants;
public class TopFrameAction extends DispatchAction {
private static Log log = LogFactory.getLog("com.aif.TopFrameAction");
public ActionForward viewAction( ActionMapping mapping,
ActionForm actionForm,
HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) {
TopFrameForm form =(TopFrameForm) actionForm;
String polno = request.getParameter("polnum");
// etc.
form.setPolOrClientNo(polno);
// etc.
return mapping.findForward("ok");
}
// etc.
}

Answer 1

Try this:
In index.jsp:
Remove the "/" characters from in front of all your "topFrame.do" calls:
top.topFrame.location = "topFrame.do?method=viewAction&polnum=" + polparam;
<frame name="topFrame" scrolling="NO" noresize src="topFrame.do?method=viewAction" />
In struts-config.xml:
Change the value of the input attribute, in the "topFrame" action-mapping, to input="index.jsp" instead of input="WEB-INF/jsp/TopFrame.jsp".
Add a "/" character in front of all the paths in struts-config.xml:
<global-forwards>
<forward name="topFrameError" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/TopFrameError.jsp"/>
<forward name="unknownError" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/UnknownError.jsp"/>
<forward name="accessDenied" path="WEB-INF/jsp/error/AccessDenied.jsp" />
</global-forwards>
You have to use the correct DOCTYPE for the version of struts that you're using, otherwise the struts action paths won't be found:
<!DOCTYPE struts-config PUBLIC "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 1.1//EN"
"http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/dtds/struts-config_1_1.dtd">
Optional: It helps a lot to precompile your jsp files both to improve your webapp's performance and also to find out if there are any issues with them, instead of going back and forth as Tomcat finds issues when it loads them.

Answer 2

It has been long 12 years I have touched struts so bear with me. Try appending your action path to topFrame.do in struts-config.xml.