Tiles is a templating system to create a common look and feel for a Web application.

Tiles are managed through creating, editing, and removing tile definitions, which describe tile attributes and tile elements. Tile definitions are specified in the tiles-defs.xml which is created when you enable tiles support.

With IntelliJ IDEA, you can edit the tiles-defs.xml file in the Struts Assistant tool window, which provides two synchronized views: the Structure Tree and the Properties Table.

Tiles are removed in the same way as other Struts elements.

Editing a tile includes editing its properties and handling its attributes: forwards, exceptions, and set properties.

To create a tile
  1. Enable tiles support.
  2. Open tiles-defs.xml.
  3. To add a tile definition, add the <definition> element to tiles-defs.xml manually.
  4. Switch to the Struts Assistant tool window, tab Tiles. A new Definition node appears in the Structure Tree.
  5. Specify the attributes of the new tile in the Properties Table.

    Alternatively, right-click the tile in the tree and select Jump to Source or press ⌘↓, F4, ⌘↓ or F4F4 or F4F3 or F3F4, F4 or F4F4, F4 or F4. This will bring you to tiles-defs.xml where you can specify the tile's attributes manually. IntelliJ IDEA displays a template for specifying the mandatory attributes.

To remove a tile
  • Right-click the tile in the Structure Tree and select Remove Definition from the context menu.
To edit a tile
  1. Select it in the Structure Tree.
  2. To edit the attributes of the tile, make the necessary changes in the Properties Table.
  3. To manage the elements of a tile, use the Structure Tree and the Properties Table.

The elements are created, edited, and removed in the same way as common Struts elements.