Struts is the premier framework for building Java-based Web applications. Using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design patterns, Struts solves many of the problems associated with developing high performance, business-oriented Web applications that use Java Servlets and Java Server Pages. Strut framework was intended to address issues that were inherent in using either Java Server Pages or servlet implementation of an application. For instance, servlets can generate HTML pages, but doing so is very tedious. On the other hand, JSP can work easily with traditional HTML pages, but JSP pages have other disadvantages. JSP are special cases of servlets. In particular, separating content from the presentation of that content is difficult using JSP. So, both JSP and Servelets can work together to mitigate the disadvantages of each.

Understanding of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture is crucial for understanding Struts. MVC is based on an older Graphical User Interface (GUI) design pattern that has been around for some time, with its origins in the Smalltalk World. Based on MVC the JSP specifications advocated two philosophical approaches for building applications using JSP technology. These approaches, termed the Model 1 and Model 2 architectures, differ essentially in the location at which the bulk of the request processing was performed. In the Model 1 architecture, the request is received and largely processed through the JSP. If the JSP page requires services from any other application component, suchas a database, then you make the appropriate call from the page, return the data to the page, and format it for display.

Although the Model 1 architecture should be perfectly suitable for simple applications, it may not be desirable for complex projects that may lead to an unclear definition of roles and allocation of responsibilities, causing project-management headaches. Model 2 approach takes the best characteristics of the JSP and servlet approaches and enables these technologies to work together. Here servlet acts as a processing layer (the controller). The servlet accepts requests and determines how to satisfy those requests. In that sense, the servlet regulates incoming requests and outgoing responses. The business logic represents the model in the MVC architecture.