Re: DynaActionForm questions
The Bean en PropertyUtils should also be completely working with dynbean interface. for example PropertyUtils.copyProperties(object,object) doesn't work right now I see that they want to do something with PropertyDescriptors? I think that is a dead end. Because property descripters are completely different they are really for get and set methods. johan - Original Message - From: Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 17, 2002 4:37 AM Subject: RE: DynaActionForm questions I haven't looked at DynaActionForm yet, but we are just starting to use DynaBeans - isn't the beauty of all this stuff that you don't have to use the provided DynaActionForm, but just go create your own version that suits your needs - sub-class ActionForm, implement the DynaBean interface and Bob's your uncle, it'll all work for you too - if its good and you think others would use it, submit it back to struts - I'm sure theres room for more than one implementation. Niall -Original Message- From: Bryan Field-Elliot [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 March 2002 21:26 To: Struts Developers List Subject: Re: DynaActionForm questions Thanks Craig, On Fri, 2002-03-15 at 14:19, Craig R. McClanahan wrote: Pretty slick, huh? :-) It is slick indeed. The intended focus could just use a little more refining (perhaps in the users manual). If you know what your app needs to ask for, then DynaActionForms are a new and easier way to express it. On the other hand, if your application doesn't know what it's going to be asking for until runtime, then DynaActionForms aren't the complete solution, although they will probably be part of the solution I ultimately build. The two scenarios are pretty different, and the use of the dyna keyword could lead over-eager developers like me to assume something that isn't there. Thanks, Bryan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: DynaActionForm questions
On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Johan Compagner wrote: Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 09:42:49 +0100 From: Johan Compagner [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: DynaActionForm questions The Bean en PropertyUtils should also be completely working with dynbean interface. for example PropertyUtils.copyProperties(object,object) doesn't work right now It does for my test cases ... can you be more specific? (Doing this on COMMONS-DEV is probably better than here.) I see that they want to do something with PropertyDescriptors? I think that is a dead end. Because property descripters are completely different they are really for get and set methods. I just checked in an enhancement to commons-beanutils that makes all of the Converters, pluggable, and adds the ability to plug your own in. This will be much more efficient than using PropertyDescriptors for the typical way that Struts programs do conversions. (Default behavior is backwards compatible, of course :-). johan Craig -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: DynaActionForm questions
I haven't looked at DynaActionForm yet, but we are just starting to use DynaBeans - isn't the beauty of all this stuff that you don't have to use the provided DynaActionForm, but just go create your own version that suits your needs - sub-class ActionForm, implement the DynaBean interface and Bob's your uncle, it'll all work for you too - if its good and you think others would use it, submit it back to struts - I'm sure theres room for more than one implementation. Niall -Original Message- From: Bryan Field-Elliot [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 March 2002 21:26 To: Struts Developers List Subject: Re: DynaActionForm questions Thanks Craig, On Fri, 2002-03-15 at 14:19, Craig R. McClanahan wrote: Pretty slick, huh? :-) It is slick indeed. The intended focus could just use a little more refining (perhaps in the users manual). If you know what your app needs to ask for, then DynaActionForms are a new and easier way to express it. On the other hand, if your application doesn't know what it's going to be asking for until runtime, then DynaActionForms aren't the complete solution, although they will probably be part of the solution I ultimately build. The two scenarios are pretty different, and the use of the dyna keyword could lead over-eager developers like me to assume something that isn't there. Thanks, Bryan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
DynaActionForm questions
Hi, I'm just today getting around to having a peek at the new DynaActionForm. I'm slightly confused as to how useful this is, in a setting in which you don't know at compile-time what fields you're going to need to ask for. Let's say for example I'm introspecting a JDBC table for a list of columns and types, and want to dynamically build a form for CRUD operations on this table. Or, instead of a JDBC table, maybe I want to assemble a form out of an XML DTD or Schema. I see that I can build an ActionForm class to hold values for this table, out of DynaClasses (I'm basically already doing this in the Simper project). Where I'm missing something is, are there new Struts JSP tags for building an HTML form out of a DynaActionForm? I don't see them, but perhaps I'm missing the obvious. If the answer is, There are no new JSP tags for building HTML forms out of DynaActionForms, then I'm wondering just how useful DynaActionForm is without it... What's a typical use case for it? Thanks, Bryan -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: DynaActionForm questions
Hi Bryan, On 15 Mar 2002, Bryan Field-Elliot wrote: Date: 15 Mar 2002 13:33:05 -0700 From: Bryan Field-Elliot [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: DynaActionForm questions Hi, I'm just today getting around to having a peek at the new DynaActionForm. I'm slightly confused as to how useful this is, in a setting in which you don't know at compile-time what fields you're going to need to ask for. Interesting that this has come up twice in the last week. The current DynaActionForm implementation is indeed aimed at the case where you know ahead of time which properties you need the bean to represent, so that you can configure them in the struts-config.xml file. The basic idea is to avoid the need to create custom ActionForm bean classes for all the simple cases. Right now, you would still need to create your own bean if you needed a custom validate method, but even there we can look at adding declartive ways to define simple validations (required fields, date formats, and so on) so that even those don't require any custom Java code. Since form beans are really part of the view tier in the Struts implementation of MVC, one of the benefits of this will be that responsibility for designing and configuring form beans can now be migrated to the page designer that understands enough XML to code the appropriate struts-config settings, instead of requiring a Java developer to do this. And, since creating form bean classes is pretty boring, the Java developer gets to stay focused on the fun stuff. Let's say for example I'm introspecting a JDBC table for a list of columns and types, and want to dynamically build a form for CRUD operations on this table. Or, instead of a JDBC table, maybe I want to assemble a form out of an XML DTD or Schema. DynaActionForm doesn't help you do either of these without custom Java form bean classes. Of course, neither did the original-style form beans ... Doing this kind of form creation dynamically, though, is going to require more than just DynaDynaActionForm classes. You'll also need to figure out how to decide what field prompts to create, what data types and formats are valid, and other stuff like that. I see that I can build an ActionForm class to hold values for this table, out of DynaClasses (I'm basically already doing this in the Simper project). Where I'm missing something is, are there new Struts JSP tags for building an HTML form out of a DynaActionForm? I don't see them, but perhaps I'm missing the obvious. You don't see them because they aren't needed :-) If the answer is, There are no new JSP tags for building HTML forms out of DynaActionForms, then I'm wondering just how useful DynaActionForm is without it... What's a typical use case for it? The existing Struts tags work fine because they use BeanUtils and PropertyUtils underneath. These two classes have been made smart about the bean object they are manipulating -- if you pass them a DynaBean, they use the dynamic getters and setters. Otherwise they use the Java reflection mechanism as before. So, you can even change your mind about whether a particular form bean is a DynaActionForm, or a plain old-style form bean, without affecting your pages at all -- just change the form-bean declaration and you are all set. Pretty slick, huh? :-) Thanks, Bryan Craig -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: DynaActionForm questions
Hello all, I'm looking for more information related to this thread. I can see the javadoc for the class, but I can't seem to find any real documentation on how to configure things in the struts-config.xml file. If someone can point me to where this information is, I'd appreciate it. TIA, Heath -Original Message- From: Craig R. McClanahan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 1:20 PM To: Struts Developers List Subject: Re: DynaActionForm questions Hi Bryan, On 15 Mar 2002, Bryan Field-Elliot wrote: Date: 15 Mar 2002 13:33:05 -0700 From: Bryan Field-Elliot [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: DynaActionForm questions Hi, I'm just today getting around to having a peek at the new DynaActionForm. I'm slightly confused as to how useful this is, in a setting in which you don't know at compile-time what fields you're going to need to ask for. Interesting that this has come up twice in the last week. The current DynaActionForm implementation is indeed aimed at the case where you know ahead of time which properties you need the bean to represent, so that you can configure them in the struts-config.xml file. The basic idea is to avoid the need to create custom ActionForm bean classes for all the simple cases. Right now, you would still need to create your own bean if you needed a custom validate method, but even there we can look at adding declartive ways to define simple validations (required fields, date formats, and so on) so that even those don't require any custom Java code. Since form beans are really part of the view tier in the Struts implementation of MVC, one of the benefits of this will be that responsibility for designing and configuring form beans can now be migrated to the page designer that understands enough XML to code the appropriate struts-config settings, instead of requiring a Java developer to do this. And, since creating form bean classes is pretty boring, the Java developer gets to stay focused on the fun stuff. Let's say for example I'm introspecting a JDBC table for a list of columns and types, and want to dynamically build a form for CRUD operations on this table. Or, instead of a JDBC table, maybe I want to assemble a form out of an XML DTD or Schema. DynaActionForm doesn't help you do either of these without custom Java form bean classes. Of course, neither did the original-style form beans ... Doing this kind of form creation dynamically, though, is going to require more than just DynaDynaActionForm classes. You'll also need to figure out how to decide what field prompts to create, what data types and formats are valid, and other stuff like that. I see that I can build an ActionForm class to hold values for this table, out of DynaClasses (I'm basically already doing this in the Simper project). Where I'm missing something is, are there new Struts JSP tags for building an HTML form out of a DynaActionForm? I don't see them, but perhaps I'm missing the obvious. You don't see them because they aren't needed :-) If the answer is, There are no new JSP tags for building HTML forms out of DynaActionForms, then I'm wondering just how useful DynaActionForm is without it... What's a typical use case for it? The existing Struts tags work fine because they use BeanUtils and PropertyUtils underneath. These two classes have been made smart about the bean object they are manipulating -- if you pass them a DynaBean, they use the dynamic getters and setters. Otherwise they use the Java reflection mechanism as before. So, you can even change your mind about whether a particular form bean is a DynaActionForm, or a plain old-style form bean, without affecting your pages at all -- just change the form-bean declaration and you are all set. Pretty slick, huh? :-) Thanks, Bryan Craig -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: DynaActionForm questions
On Fri, 15 Mar 2002, Heath Chiavettone wrote: Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 15:56:42 -0800 From: Heath Chiavettone [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Struts Developers List [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Struts Developers List' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: DynaActionForm questions Hello all, I'm looking for more information related to this thread. I can see the javadoc for the class, but I can't seem to find any real documentation on how to configure things in the struts-config.xml file. If someone can point me to where this information is, I'd appreciate it. It's not heavily covered in the docs yet. The places I would look first: * The lib/struts-config_1_1.dtd file (the DTD for struts-config.xml files) documents the new attributes of the form-bean and nested form-property elements). * The struts-config.xml for the Struts example app uses a dynamic form bean for the login form, configured like this: form-bean name=logonForm type=org.apache.struts.action.DynaActionForm form-property name=username type=java.lang.String/ form-property name=password type=java.lang.String/ /form-bean Both of these are available in the recent nightly builds (which run from the HEAD branch). You might also download the commons-beanutils package (and associated docs) from the Jakarta web site. The Javadocs cover some of the general concepts of programming DynaBeans: http://jakarta.apache.org/builds/jakarta-commons/nightly/commons-beanutils/ While you're there, Struts 1.1 will use several other Commons packages as enhanced features or as replacements for code from org.apache.struts.util - you might want to grab the packages for the collections, dbcp, digester, pool, services, and validator packages as well. TIA, Heath Craig -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
