linking to specified FRAMES

[Michael McGrady <mi...@michaelmcgrady.com>]

At 10:47 PM 5/23/2004, Paresh Patel wrote:
>Dear Michael:
>
>1.  Pardon me for sending this mail to you, but I need a bit of help.
>
>2.  Saw that you have done work using frames.
>
>3.  I need to learn about using frames in Struts.
>      This is what I would like to do:
>         - have two frames in a page
>         - user clicks say catalog in one frame
>         - and the catalog should get loaded in adjacent frame
>
>4.  Can you please let me know where I can read up so I can do the above ?
>
>Thanks,
>
>a novice,
>
>paresh
>
>


Don't know why you had the topic as "Re: resetting values in 
<html:text/>.  But I have changed that.

I have copied the struts user list, Paresh, because I think this is a 
recurrent issue.  I wish I had this email when I started this.

I understand why this recurs, even though experienced people will likely 
say "duh" or think that this is not a good question.  There is something a 
bit different about this situation that throws new people.  I think it is 
because the answer depends upon the value of a tag attribute and not the 
attribute itself.  If one thinks rigorously, this can be confusing.

If one is lucky enough to have formal schooling, this sort of thing does 
not cause a problem.  If you are self-taught like myself, and I suspect 
yourself, this is an issue.  I had the same problem with trying to find out 
why "?" was referenced in Java code dealing with the Internet.  If you have 
to find that out on your own, it is surprisingly hard.  It is like trying 
to find the blank key on a keyboard.

Anyway, pedagogical issues aside, the answer follows.

The key is really simply knowing how the frameset and frame tags work 
generally.  The tags allow you to identify which frame will be called.  The 
frame tag has a name attribute which is mirrored by the name value for the 
target attribute in the related <a> tag used to call a link.  The best 
thing is to just make a simple html page with a frameset and do a little 
experimenting.  It becomes clear quick when you do that.

Michael