revision to the html:link tag

[An...@enron.net]

currently there are two ways to add parameters when using the link tag.  you can
either:
(1) specify 1 parameter using the paramId/paramName/paramProperty/paramScope
attributes of the tag, or
(2) specify a Map of name/value pairs that the name and property attributes

method 1 is obviously limiting.

method 2 is kind of a pain in the butt if you want to include parameters with
values from multiple bean, etc.  i get really annoyed at the idea of having to
created an extra Map just to store some values to be used in a URL.

here's my proposal.  you can keep the previously mentioned methods of adding
parameters and add another that looks like the following example:

<html:link page="action.do">
  <html:urlParam key="param1" name="bean1" property="value1"/>
  <html:urlParam key="param2" name="bean2" property="value2"/>
  <html:urlParam key="param3" name="bean3" property="value3"/>
  click here
</html:link>

this would result in a link that look like this:

<a
href="<base-url>/action.do?param1=bean1.value1&param2=bean2.value2&param3=bean3.value3">
click here
</a>

i have written this tag combination for my use, and would be happy to pass it
along if you think it would useful in the struts taglib.  basically i used the
same link tag with 2 changes:
1) set the <bodycontent> in the tld to be "JSP"
2) moved construction of the url to the doEndTag method

the urlParam tag just sets creates a Map to store its name-value pairs, stores
it in the PageContext, and sets the parent link tag's name attribute to the new
Map.  (as a result, you need to remove this value from the PageContext in the
link tag's release method.)

this tag combination adds some handy new functionality, and is
backwards-compatible as well.

ab