Re: How can a Struts Action developer best document the system for a JSP developer?

2001-03-23 Thread Ted Husted

This is not actually what you want, but I did start a simple, sample 
specification for a Struts application (based on the example). It's 
still just an unfinished rough draft, but available at 

< http://husted.com/about/struts/example-spec.html >

if you want to mine it for ideas.

Bryan Field-Elliot wrote:
> 
> I am struggling right now with how to properly and efficently document
> my Struts application for my JSP developer (who is by no means a Java
> expert). Specifically, I want to document each Action as well as each
> ActionForm that I code, including things like:
> 
> 1. the pages I expect the user to have come from
> 2. the pages to which I might forward, or redirect, the user after
> completing the action
> 3. The beans I expect to be in place prior to submitting to my action
> 4. The beans I will set up with values for the resulting JSP page to
> work with
> 5. The errors () I may set up
> 
> And anything else that might be appropriate. I'd like to do so in a way
> that lets me rely on Javadoc, so that I can keep my documentation inside
> my code. Javadoc when used correctly will also let me do things like
> "see also" the Bean documentation (from the Action documentation).
> 
> I am curious if anyone has developed a "template" action or bean, which
> makes best use of Javadoc and which I can cut-and-paste at the head of
> every one of my Action classes, etc?
> 
> Thanks,
> Bryan



Re: How can a Struts Action developer best document the system for a JSP developer?

2001-03-19 Thread David M. Karr

> "Bryan" == Bryan Field-Elliot <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
  Bryan> I am struggling right now with how to properly and efficently document
  Bryan> my Struts application for my JSP developer (who is by no means a Java
  Bryan> expert). Specifically, I want to document each Action as well as each
  Bryan> ActionForm that I code, including things like:

  Bryan> 1. the pages I expect the user to have come from
  Bryan> 2. the pages to which I might forward, or redirect, the user after
  Bryan> completing the action
  Bryan> 3. The beans I expect to be in place prior to submitting to my action
  Bryan> 4. The beans I will set up with values for the resulting JSP page to
  Bryan> work with
  Bryan> 5. The errors () I may set up

  Bryan> And anything else that might be appropriate. I'd like to do so in a
  Bryan> way that lets me rely on Javadoc, so that I can keep my documentation
  Bryan> inside my code. Javadoc when used correctly will also let me do things
  Bryan> like "see also" the Bean documentation (from the Action documentation).

  Bryan> I am curious if anyone has developed a "template" action or bean,
  Bryan> which makes best use of Javadoc and which I can cut-and-paste at the
  Bryan> head of every one of my Action classes, etc?

It's not clear to me whether this will help you, but you might want to
read a current article on JavaWorld titled "Doclet your servlet!",
about writing a JavaDoc "doclet" to augment the generated
documentation for servlet classes.

-- 
===
David M. Karr ; w:(425)487-8312 ; TCSI & Best Consulting
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; Java/Unix/XML/C++/X ; BrainBench CJ12P (#12004)




RE: How can a Struts Action developer best document the system for a JSP developer?

2001-03-19 Thread Brugge, John
Title: RE: How can a Struts Action developer best document the system for a JSP developer?





Bryan,


You might check out a recent article on JavaWorld called "Doclet your Servlet" (http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-03-2001/jw-0302-doclets.html) that describes a custom doclet that understands some custom doc tags. It would probably take some customization to work with Struts Actions, since it looks like it uses introspection to look for instances of true servlets.

I've been thinking of the same problem, and think that you could get pretty good mileage out of a simple XSL template that transformed the struts-config.xml into a clearer HTML description of the actions, their navigation and form expectations. It could handle #2 and #3 below easily; #4 and #5 would be harder. You could even tie this into the JavaDoc of the ActionForms by creating links from the form names to the area where your JavaDoc lives.

I'm not an XSL expert, but I've done some transforms before and figure this wouldn't take very long to create - the key for me is just finding the time now ;-). If I come up with something, I'll forward it to the group, unless someone beats me to it.

John



-Original Message-
From:   Bryan Field-Elliot [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:   Saturday, March 17, 2001 6:12 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject:    How can a Struts Action developer best document the system for a JSP developer?


I am struggling right now with how to properly and efficently document 
my Struts application for my JSP developer (who is by no means a Java 
expert). Specifically, I want to document each Action as well as each 
ActionForm that I code, including things like:


1. the pages I expect the user to have come from
2. the pages to which I might forward, or redirect, the user after 
completing the action
3. The beans I expect to be in place prior to submitting to my action
4. The beans I will set up with values for the resulting JSP page to 
work with
5. The errors () I may set up


And anything else that might be appropriate. I'd like to do so in a way 
that lets me rely on Javadoc, so that I can keep my documentation inside 
my code. Javadoc when used correctly will also let me do things like 
"see also" the Bean documentation (from the Action documentation).


I am curious if anyone has developed a "template" action or bean, which 
makes best use of Javadoc and which I can cut-and-paste at the head of 
every one of my Action classes, etc?


Thanks,
Bryan