Error moving JSP file into WEB-INF directory with Stripes

I have the following Stripes ActionBean:

package myapp;

import net.sourceforge.stripes.action.*;

public class WelcomeActionBean extends MyAppActionBean {
    @DefaultHandler
    public Resolution view() {
        return new ForwardResolution("/welcome.jsp");
    }
}

When I load /myapp/Welcome.action in a browser, the contents of welcome.jsp are displayed.

However, when I move welcome.jsp to /WEB-INF/jsp/welcome.jsp and change the ForwardResolution argument to reflect that change, i.e.:

return new ForwardResolution("/WEB-INF/jsp/welcome.jsp");

I get the following error when I load /myapp/Welcome.action:

net.sourceforge.stripes.exception.ActionBeanNotFoundException: Could not locate an ActionBean that is bound to the URL [/Welcome.action]. Commons reasons for this include mis-matched URLs and forgetting to implement ActionBean in your class. Registered ActionBeans are: {/controller/DefaultView.action=class net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DefaultViewActionBean, /myapp/MyApp.action/=class myapp.MyAppActionBean, /myapp/Welcome.action/=class myapp.WelcomeActionBean, /controller/DefaultView.action/=class net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DefaultViewActionBean, /myapp/MyApp.action=class myapp.MyAppActionBean, /myapp/Welcome.action=class myapp.WelcomeActionBean}
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.AnnotatedClassActionResolver.getActionBean(AnnotatedClassActionResolver.java:341)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.NameBasedActionResolver.getActionBean(NameBasedActionResolver.java:264)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.AnnotatedClassActionResolver.getActionBean(AnnotatedClassActionResolver.java:293)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherHelper$1.intercept(DispatcherHelper.java:106)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.proceed(ExecutionContext.java:158)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.BeforeAfterMethodInterceptor.intercept(BeforeAfterMethodInterceptor.java:113)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.proceed(ExecutionContext.java:155)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.ExecutionContext.wrap(ExecutionContext.java:74)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherHelper.resolveActionBean(DispatcherHelper.java:102)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherServlet.resolveActionBean(DispatcherServlet.java:238)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.DispatcherServlet.service(DispatcherServlet.java:141)
    javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:717)
    net.sourceforge.stripes.controller.StripesFilter.doFilter(StripesFilter.java:247)

Is it necessary to perform any special configuration in order to store JSP files in the WEB-INF directory?

Solution

My understanding is the following: your WelcomeActionBean in not in a package ([web, www, stripes, action]) automagically handled by the NameBasedActionResolver (read the javadoc) so it is actually mapped to /myapp/Welcome.action (as stated in the error message).

So, when you request /Welcome.action, there isn't any existing ActionBean bound to that URL and the resolver fallbacks to /welcome.jsp (again, see the NameBasedActionResolver javadoc). And when you move your JSP under /WEB-INF/jsp, well, you run out of luck and everything just fails.

To solve this, either:

Access the "right" (in the current state) URL binding i.e. /myapp/Welcome.action

Or, if you want your ActionBean to be bound to /Welcome.action by the conventions, move it in a package handled by the NameBasedActionResolver, e.g. action:

package myapp.action;

import net.sourceforge.stripes.action.*;

public class WelcomeActionBean extends MyAppActionBean {
    @DefaultHandler
    public Resolution view() {
        return new ForwardResolution("/WEB-INF/jsp/welcome.jsp");
    }
}

Or add a @UrlBinding to your action to configure the binding explicitly:

package myapp;

import net.sourceforge.stripes.action.*;

@UrlBinding("/Welcome.action")
public class WelcomeActionBean extends MyAppActionBean {
    @DefaultHandler
    public Resolution view() {
        return new ForwardResolution("/WEB-INF/jsp/welcome.jsp");
    }
}