A possible solution for form loading, any comments???

[Alex Paransky <ap...@standardset.com>]

To me, an action should be able to load and execute the form.  Furthermore,
I don't want to create separate action classes to load or execute the form.
So here is what I did:

public abstract class FormAction extends Action {
  public ActionForward executeForm(...) {.load form.}
  public ActionForward loadForm(...) {.execute form.}

  public ActionForward execute(...) {
    return
      "load".equals(mapping.getParameter())
	  ? executeLoad(mapping, form, request, response)
        : executeForm(mapping, form, request, response);
  }
}

In short, I create two actions in the struts-config.xml.  Both are using the
same class which extends from FormAction.  One action is configured with
parameter="load" and validate="false".  The other action does not have
parameter or validate settings, however, uses the first action as the input
or failure forward.

  <action
    path="/private/request/createDirectForm"
    type="com.myprofiles.client.web.request.CreateDirectAction"
    name="createRequestForm"
    scope="request"
    input="/private/request/createDirect.html"
    validate="false"
    parameter="load"
    />

  <action
    path="/private/request/createDirectAction"
    type="com.myprofiles.client.web.request.CreateDirectAction"
    name="createRequestForm"
    scope="request"
    input="/private/request/createDirectForm.do"
    >
    <forward name="success" path="/returnToPop.do" redirect="true" />
    <forward name="failure" path="/private/request/createDirectForm.do" />
  </action>

Here is what this buys me:

1. The load and the execute are in the same action class so they can share
common members.

2. There is now a standard method to populate the form with data prior to
user entry.

Does anyone have any comments regarding this?  Am I going to get in trouble
by using the "parameter=" attribute?

Thanks.
-AP_

-AP_
http://www.alexparansky.com
Java/J2EE Architect/Consultant


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