You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to user@struts.apache.org by Kevin Conroy <ke...@gmail.com> on 2007/05/24 15:42:28 UTC
[S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Hi everyone,
I'm new to Struts 2 (and Struts in general, for that matter). I've got the
Struts 2 framework up and running and I'm trying to figure out how to get it
to support a use case for our new application. We'd like to have a set of
web services that look like this:
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.xml?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.json?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.html?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.rss?param1=foo
As you can see, the query and its parameters won't change, but we'd like to
alter the result type based on the requested URL file type. How can I best
achieve this in Struts 2? I know that I can do some Apache rewriting to map
these to the correct Actions, but I'd much rather do it in the
struts-config.xml file if I can, that way I can just maintain everything
from one location.
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for best practices on how to handle
different result types? I'd like to reuse some of the same basic framework
pieces to handle all Rss, JSON, etc requests so that when I want to add a
new query to the web service, it's just a matter of adding another Action to
support it, and all of the result types are automatically inherited.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Kevin Conroy
RE: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Al Sutton <al...@alsutton.com>.
Just read the your post again, I see you're using the result as a two step
process as oppose to needing a dispatch switch statement, cool idea, but I
think it will still be a bit more complex than using the separate
directories.
-----Original Message-----
From: Al Sutton [mailto:al.sutton@alsutton.com]
Sent: 24 May 2007 15:44
To: 'Struts Users Mailing List'
Subject: RE: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Just a small observation Roger, whilst you're solution is perfectly
workable, you would need to have a big switch statement (or something
similar) which could get messy.
imho, the use of the extra directory and namespace (i.e. /xml/, /html/,
etc.) that I suggested earlier is slightly simpler because it makes use of
Struts existing dispatch determining mechanisms to direct the request to the
correct handler, but I'd welcome any comments you have if you feel the extra
param has other benefits to offer.
Al.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Varley [mailto:roger.varley@googlemail.com]
Sent: 24 May 2007 15:38
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would try
doing it this way;
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your result
strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for example after
executing your query, you could include in your action method;
return getParam2()
which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml you'd
specify
<result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
<result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
etc etc
Does this help.
Regards
Roger
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
RE: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Al Sutton <al...@alsutton.com>.
Just a small observation Roger, whilst you're solution is perfectly
workable, you would need to have a big switch statement (or something
similar) which could get messy.
imho, the use of the extra directory and namespace (i.e. /xml/, /html/,
etc.) that I suggested earlier is slightly simpler because it makes use of
Struts existing dispatch determining mechanisms to direct the request to the
correct handler, but I'd welcome any comments you have if you feel the extra
param has other benefits to offer.
Al.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Varley [mailto:roger.varley@googlemail.com]
Sent: 24 May 2007 15:38
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would try
doing it this way;
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your result
strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for example after
executing your query, you could include in your action method;
return getParam2()
which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml you'd
specify
<result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
<result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
etc etc
Does this help.
Regards
Roger
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
RE: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Al Sutton <al...@alsutton.com>.
If you don't have any other resources ending in .xml .html .etc inside your
webapp you can modify the filter-mapping, if you do then you might have to
consider the idea of a directory in which all objects are mapped to actions
and a separate directory where they are not, e.g.;
http://domain.com/struts2/stuff.html <-- Static HTML
http://domain.com/struts2/dynamic/stuff.html <-- Goes to an action.
Al.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Conroy [mailto:kevinconroy@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 May 2007 15:51
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Hi Roger (and Al),
Thanks for your replies.
I had thought about doing something like what you specified Roger, by
passing the return type as a parameter. However, in keeping with what seems
to be fairly standard RESTful web service protocol, I was hoping to have the
return type specified after the query name. Then from the users perspective
the URL file type that the request matches the return type, rather than it
just being some random query.
It's true that I could also build the return type into the URL path, but
that would give me several different actions for each query, and I'd like to
have one Action object that knows how to get all of the POJOs that are
associated with the query and then use the results to mux out how to
serialize the POJOs into the correct format (e.g. REST xml, json, rss, etc.)
So is there any way to tell Struts to ignore the extension (*.do or
*.action) and just assume that all requests into the application (or
namespace) are in fact actions it should execute? I'm suspecting not, as
this might block access to other non-action resources, but if there is some
way to set up a * pattern, that might work too.
Thanks for all of your help.
--
Kevin Conroy
E-mail: kevinconroy@gmail.com
On 5/24/07, Roger Varley <ro...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would
> try doing it this way;
>
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
>
> Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your
> result strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for
> example after executing your query, you could include in your action
> method;
>
> return getParam2()
> which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml
> you'd specify
>
> <result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
> <result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
>
> etc etc
>
> Does this help.
>
> Regards
> Roger
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
>
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Don Brown <do...@gmail.com>.
Yes, you can tell Struts to not use any action extension at all. I'm
doing that right now for a Restful application I developed. I haven't
tried, but you might be able to use wildcards to match the extension
in the action mapping and perhaps use a custom dispatcher result to
determine which actual result should be executed:
<action name="queryName.*" class="com.example.MyAction">
<result type="extDispatch">
<param name="extension">{0}</param>
</result>
</action>
I'd love to see this type of feature either built into Struts or as a
plugin, so if you discover a solution that involves Struts
improvements, please file a JIRA ticket.
Thanks,
Don
On 5/25/07, Kevin Conroy <ke...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Roger (and Al),
> Thanks for your replies.
>
> I had thought about doing something like what you specified Roger, by
> passing the return type as a parameter. However, in keeping with what seems
> to be fairly standard RESTful web service protocol, I was hoping to have the
> return type specified after the query name. Then from the users perspective
> the URL file type that the request matches the return type, rather than it
> just being some random query.
>
> It's true that I could also build the return type into the URL path, but
> that would give me several different actions for each query, and I'd like to
> have one Action object that knows how to get all of the POJOs that are
> associated with the query and then use the results to mux out how to
> serialize the POJOs into the correct format (e.g. REST xml, json, rss, etc.)
>
> So is there any way to tell Struts to ignore the extension (*.do or
> *.action) and just assume that all requests into the application (or
> namespace) are in fact actions it should execute? I'm suspecting not, as
> this might block access to other non-action resources, but if there is some
> way to set up a * pattern, that might work too.
>
> Thanks for all of your help.
>
> --
> Kevin Conroy
> E-mail: kevinconroy@gmail.com
>
> On 5/24/07, Roger Varley <ro...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would
> > try doing it this way;
> >
> > http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
> > http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
> > http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
> > http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
> >
> > Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your
> > result strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for
> > example after executing your query, you could include in your action
> > method;
> >
> > return getParam2()
> > which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml
> > you'd specify
> >
> > <result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
> > <result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
> >
> > etc etc
> >
> > Does this help.
> >
> > Regards
> > Roger
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
> > For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
> >
> >
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Kevin Conroy <ke...@gmail.com>.
Hi Roger (and Al),
Thanks for your replies.
I had thought about doing something like what you specified Roger, by
passing the return type as a parameter. However, in keeping with what seems
to be fairly standard RESTful web service protocol, I was hoping to have the
return type specified after the query name. Then from the users perspective
the URL file type that the request matches the return type, rather than it
just being some random query.
It's true that I could also build the return type into the URL path, but
that would give me several different actions for each query, and I'd like to
have one Action object that knows how to get all of the POJOs that are
associated with the query and then use the results to mux out how to
serialize the POJOs into the correct format (e.g. REST xml, json, rss, etc.)
So is there any way to tell Struts to ignore the extension (*.do or
*.action) and just assume that all requests into the application (or
namespace) are in fact actions it should execute? I'm suspecting not, as
this might block access to other non-action resources, but if there is some
way to set up a * pattern, that might work too.
Thanks for all of your help.
--
Kevin Conroy
E-mail: kevinconroy@gmail.com
On 5/24/07, Roger Varley <ro...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>
> I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would
> try doing it this way;
>
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
> http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
>
> Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your
> result strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for
> example after executing your query, you could include in your action
> method;
>
> return getParam2()
> which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml
> you'd specify
>
> <result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
> <result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
>
> etc etc
>
> Does this help.
>
> Regards
> Roger
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
>
>
Re: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Roger Varley <ro...@googlemail.com>.
I'm still a newbie as well so take this with a pinch of salt. I would
try doing it this way;
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=xml
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=json
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=html
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName?param1=foo,param2=rss
Include getter and setter for param2 in your action and set your
result strings as appropriate to get the results you want so, for
example after executing your query, you could include in your action
method;
return getParam2()
which would return xml,json,html or rss and then in your struts.xml
you'd specify
<result name="xml">YourResultTypeForXML</result>
<result name="json">YourResultTypeForJSON</result>
etc etc
Does this help.
Regards
Roger
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
RE: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Posted by Al Sutton <al...@alsutton.com>.
Kevin,
>From my knowledge you can't achieve exactly what you're looking for in
struts2 because struts2 uses the first part of the last section of the url
resource identifier as the key for the action lookup (i.e. for all 4 of your
examples the action would be mapped to he same action for queryName).
I quick and dirty way around this would be to add an extra directory level
for each type, define that as a separate namespace in struts-config, define
the struts filter to handle all relevant extensions in web.xml, and then you
could have the different types. This would give you something like;
http://www.domain.com/struts2/xml/queryName.xml?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/json/queryName.json?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/html/queryName.html?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/rss/queryName.rss?param1=foo
Would this work for you?
Al.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Conroy [mailto:kevinconroy@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 May 2007 14:42
To: user@struts.apache.org
Subject: [S2] Results Based on URL File Types
Hi everyone,
I'm new to Struts 2 (and Struts in general, for that matter). I've got the
Struts 2 framework up and running and I'm trying to figure out how to get it
to support a use case for our new application. We'd like to have a set of
web services that look like this:
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.xml?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.json?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.html?param1=foo
http://www.domain.com/struts2/queryName.rss?param1=foo
As you can see, the query and its parameters won't change, but we'd like to
alter the result type based on the requested URL file type. How can I best
achieve this in Struts 2? I know that I can do some Apache rewriting to map
these to the correct Actions, but I'd much rather do it in the
struts-config.xml file if I can, that way I can just maintain everything
from one location.
Also, does anyone have any suggestions for best practices on how to handle
different result types? I'd like to reuse some of the same basic framework
pieces to handle all Rss, JSON, etc requests so that when I want to add a
new query to the web service, it's just a matter of adding another Action to
support it, and all of the result types are automatically inherited.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Kevin Conroy
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org