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Posted to user@struts.apache.org by Adam Hardy <ah...@cyberspaceroad.com> on 2004/10/30 14:42:45 UTC

specifying action forwards 

I just finished a project and once again Struts provided an excellent, 
elegant framework for the presentation tier. However I'm not happy with 
one thing.

The page design which I was not allowed to change was very complex. Each 
page had up to a dozen submit buttons.

So what I did was this: I named each submit button and had a large 
if-else-if-else-if in my Action to test for the presence of each button 
name in the request params:


save(stuff)
if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE
else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE
else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE
else
	throw new Exception("messed up again!")
return mapForward

The problem with this is that these button names all need a 
corresponding forward in the struts-config mapping, and I kept messing 
up and always got it wrong about five times before I was done on any 
page, and so did the rest of the team.

In the JSP it is easy enough to specify the button name using expression 
language, but this mechanism is always vulnerable to mistakes in the 
struts-config.xml. And refactoring was a nightmare!

Is it realistic to think of adapting struts to take the class & static 
declaration in the struts-config.xml?  Like this:

<action path="/asdfasdf">
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE" path=".thisTile"/>
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE" path=".thatTile"/>
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE"
     path="/somewhere.do" redirect="true"/>
</action>


The intention is to throw an ugly exception at start-up.

Am I dreaming? Or have I missed a better solution somewhere?


Thanks for any opinions
Adam
-- 
struts 1.2 + tomcat 5.0.19 + java 1.4.2
Linux 2.4.20 Debian


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Re: specifying action forwards

Posted by Adam Hardy <ah...@cyberspaceroad.com>.
I don't like relying on Javascript. Sometimes in fact I can't. But I see 
what you mean. Also the action saves whatever changes are done to the 
data on the screen, and then I use that strategy to pass on the request 
to the other mapping.

On 10/30/2004 04:20 PM David G. Friedman wrote:
> Adam,
> 
> Why don't you use Javascript?  You could have each submit button change the
> this.form.action (where the URL saying where to POST/GET the form to is
> located) to make the page directly submit from the browser to the exact
> Action once. This would remove the need for you to map between actions
> (redirect="false" or not) to forward to another action, as your code sample
> suggests (or to use a DispatchAction).
> 
> Regards,
> David
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adam Hardy [mailto:ahardy.struts@cyberspaceroad.com]
> Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 8:43 AM
> To: Struts Users Mailing List
> Subject: specifying action forwards
> 
> 
> I just finished a project and once again Struts provided an excellent,
> elegant framework for the presentation tier. However I'm not happy with
> one thing.
> 
> The page design which I was not allowed to change was very complex. Each
> page had up to a dozen submit buttons.
> 
> So what I did was this: I named each submit button and had a large
> if-else-if-else-if in my Action to test for the presence of each button
> name in the request params:
> 
> 
> save(stuff)
> if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE))
> 	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE
> else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE))
> 	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE
> else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE))
> 	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE
> else
> 	throw new Exception("messed up again!")
> return mapForward
> 
> The problem with this is that these button names all need a
> corresponding forward in the struts-config mapping, and I kept messing
> up and always got it wrong about five times before I was done on any
> page, and so did the rest of the team.
> 
> In the JSP it is easy enough to specify the button name using expression
> language, but this mechanism is always vulnerable to mistakes in the
> struts-config.xml. And refactoring was a nightmare!
> 
> Is it realistic to think of adapting struts to take the class & static
> declaration in the struts-config.xml?  Like this:
> 
> <action path="/asdfasdf">
>    <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE" path=".thisTile"/>
>    <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE" path=".thatTile"/>
>    <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE"
>      path="/somewhere.do" redirect="true"/>
> </action>
> 
> 
> The intention is to throw an ugly exception at start-up.
> 
> Am I dreaming? Or have I missed a better solution somewhere?
> 
> 
> Thanks for any opinions
> Adam
> --
> struts 1.2 + tomcat 5.0.19 + java 1.4.2
> Linux 2.4.20 Debian
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
> 
> 
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> To unsubscribe, e-mail: user-unsubscribe@struts.apache.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: user-help@struts.apache.org
> 
> 


-- 
struts 1.2 + tomcat 5.0.19 + java 1.4.2
Linux 2.4.20 Debian


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RE: specifying action forwards

Posted by "David G. Friedman" <hu...@ix.netcom.com>.
Adam,

Why don't you use Javascript?  You could have each submit button change the
this.form.action (where the URL saying where to POST/GET the form to is
located) to make the page directly submit from the browser to the exact
Action once. This would remove the need for you to map between actions
(redirect="false" or not) to forward to another action, as your code sample
suggests (or to use a DispatchAction).

Regards,
David

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam Hardy [mailto:ahardy.struts@cyberspaceroad.com]
Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 8:43 AM
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: specifying action forwards


I just finished a project and once again Struts provided an excellent,
elegant framework for the presentation tier. However I'm not happy with
one thing.

The page design which I was not allowed to change was very complex. Each
page had up to a dozen submit buttons.

So what I did was this: I named each submit button and had a large
if-else-if-else-if in my Action to test for the presence of each button
name in the request params:


save(stuff)
if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE
else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE
else if (request.getParameter(Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE))
	mapForward = Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE
else
	throw new Exception("messed up again!")
return mapForward

The problem with this is that these button names all need a
corresponding forward in the struts-config mapping, and I kept messing
up and always got it wrong about five times before I was done on any
page, and so did the rest of the team.

In the JSP it is easy enough to specify the button name using expression
language, but this mechanism is always vulnerable to mistakes in the
struts-config.xml. And refactoring was a nightmare!

Is it realistic to think of adapting struts to take the class & static
declaration in the struts-config.xml?  Like this:

<action path="/asdfasdf">
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_HERE" path=".thisTile"/>
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_THERE" path=".thatTile"/>
   <forward name="Constants.SUBMIT_GO_SOMEWHERE_ELSE"
     path="/somewhere.do" redirect="true"/>
</action>


The intention is to throw an ugly exception at start-up.

Am I dreaming? Or have I missed a better solution somewhere?


Thanks for any opinions
Adam
--
struts 1.2 + tomcat 5.0.19 + java 1.4.2
Linux 2.4.20 Debian


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