Re: [AM] Agile Modeling for web (Struts)

[Neil Pitman <np...@interlink.net>]

This is a thread that I started on (agilemodeling@topica.com)  They know 
about modelling but don't seem to know much about Struts.  maybe it will 
work better here.  I am interested in modeling STruts in UML.
--

Jon,

I guess that if I knew the answers to your questions or even the right
questions to ask I wouldn't be asking the list.

There are (at least) three interesting behaviour aspects:
1) submit behaviour in response to a click;
2) navigation in response to a click (and perhaps a function of the
results of the submit);
3) HTML painting.

The points of departure are, respectively:
1) Action::perform()
2) Action::perform() and struts_config.xml<action-mapping>
3) JSP and tags


I have the sitemap as a state diagramme.  I can map each page (state) to
a class (JSP); compose the page of Tags and Actions.  The Forwards and
are too significant to put only in sequence diagrammes I will probably
use an association.  I'm not sure about the where to put the logical XML
   name versus the Java name.  I suppose that the correct way would be to
put an intermediate UML class representing the indirection in the
<action-mapping>.  I'll assume that it won't be a problem for this system.

I still see a hole in modelling the use of session and request data.
There are implicit dependencies between the suppliers and consumers of
the objects stored there.  My understanding is that they are used as a
blackboard.  I can impose a formality, but I don't care to solely for
the reason of modelling.

--

I'm not really concerned about generation of code (yet), although I
spent 2 years in code generation technology.  My system is small and I
really would like to understand the dynamics first.  By the time I
deliver this system, I will know the patterns to automate.  The
ruminations above are certainly too loose to generate from. (Strangely,
my client is more interested in me delivering his site than building
cool tools.)

I'll report back.


Jon Kern wrote:

 > Isn't one of the interesting things that you'd like to visualize the
 > "control flow" contained in the strutsconfig.xml file? Navigation between
 > JSP pages, what happens when you "click" a button, etc.? Is it naive 
of me
 > to think one might want to model this in sync'd, two-way fashion? Or, 
is it
 > too specific to basic frameworks (like struts)?
 >
 > Are the web client end of the development artifacts difficult to deal 
with
 > from a modeling and behavioral view? What about server-side 
auto-generation
 > of JSP content and behavior? That could be a real challenge <g>.
 >
 > I would be interested in the requirements that might come out of the 
answers
 > to your request. Maybe I can help implement something agile and 
useful in a
 > certain tool.
 >
 >
 > -- jon
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >>-----Original Message-----
 >>From: npitman@interlink.net [mailto:npitman@interlink.net]
 >>Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 9:45 AM
 >>To: agilemodeling@topica.com; .at artifact
 >>Subject: [AM] Agile Modeling for web (Struts)
 >>
 >>
 >>Hello all,
 >>
 >>I am developping a web application using Apache Struts.  It is my first
 >>real Java / web project so there are a bunch of new technology artifacts
 >>to deal with (JSP / servlets, beans, javascript, applets, Actions,
 >>ActionForms, forwarders, tags, maps and XML fragments,  well you know
 >>them).  Yes, welcome to the late 90's.
 >>
 >>As a non-web modeler, I can model these things as classes and go from
 >>there.  I have modeled the page navigation with states, and that seems
 >>simple and useful.  A class diagram works well for the entity model.
 >>Now the JSP's, tags, Actions and ActionForms are classes, but that's not
 >>the interesting part.  It's the connectivity and aggregation between
 >>them that's interesting  (so I can write those wretched XML config 
files.)
 >>
 >>Anyone have a UML profile in their head for Struts?  A few agile
 >>pointers would be appreciated.
 >>
 >>Thanks
 >>
 >>--
 >>Neil Pitman
 >>npitman@interlink.net
 >>npitman@artifact-software.com
 >>+1.514.863.5465
 >>
 >>For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page
 >>at www.agilemodeling.com
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >>
 >
 > For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at 
www.agilemodeling.com
 >
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-- 
Neil Pitman
npitman@interlink.net
+1.514.863.5465


-- 
Neil Pitman
npitman@interlink.net
+1.514.863.5465


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