RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

2003-08-14 Thread Wendy Smoak
 When doing struts, I am always loading or saving data to a bean (or a list
of beans)
 and then display it to the form.  Is there a ways to make this process
very automatic,
 like writing a mapping file, and then everything is done?  I spent in the
past 2 full
 days just keep doing this kind of mapping and it is getting me real crazy.
Thanks

Take a look at the struts-example webapp.  I do this same thing in my Struts
app-- load from the database into a bean, then use
BeanUtils.copyProperties(...) to move the values over to the form, then
display it.  I use Dynamic forms, so the form properties are defined in
struts-config.xml, which gets me out of writing the get/set methods for the
form bean.

What part of it is giving you problems?

-- 
Wendy Smoak
Applications Systems Analyst, Sr.
Arizona State University, PA, IRM 


Re: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

2003-08-14 Thread Mark Lowe
Torque allows you to define you mappings in a single xml file and you 
can generate all the required model classes and the sql.

There are a few compromises like i haven't found that it supports 
inheritance do life is easier if you just have repeating fields across 
tables, thus not very rationalized. But really who cares, a few DBA's i 
guess. The inheritance could be supported, I'm still looking into it.

You can use the generated classes straight into your formbeans but I've 
used a bean tier. And you dont have to do any SQL. So i can be more 
selective when to write to the db, also not doing so breaks with a lot 
of what struts is designed for. But you can it will make your app 
harder to decouple from the model, so whether this is a huge issue is 
down to you.

Most things work with torque but I warn you its not as well documented, 
and list attended as well as the struts project.

A bit non MVC but you can use the torque objects straight into your 
DynaForm definition..

form-property name=applicant type=com.sparrow.om.Applicant /

Generating fields in jsp's I don't know. You could change the velocity 
templates to generate your beans and jsp i guess. But dont those IDE 
things do all that?

Cheers Mark

On Wednesday, August 13, 2003, at 07:02 PM, Andy Cheng wrote:

Basically I am just wondering if the process can be a bit more
interesting.  I always:
1. Get values from the JSPs and the values (Strings) are used to set 
the
ActionForm  ie String to String copying.
2. In the Action class, I get the values from the ActionForm, and
convert them to the appropriate types, and insert them into beans using
the beans' setter methods.
3. From the objects I have, I will write PreparedStatements (with many
?? in the SQL), and set the values in the order of the question marks.
I have to do this for INSERT, and UPDATE.

On the reverse, I have to get the data from database, getting values
from ResultSets, and insert into beans, then from the beans I feed them
back to the JSPs for display.
This is a very boring thing to do, and it does not require much skill 
as
well.  I am just wondering if there is a way of speeding up:
1. Conversion between ActionForm (Strings) to Beans (Typed)
2. Generate ActionForms
3. Generate the fields in the the JSPs
4. Generate the SQL statements.

I know I am being very very greedy here, but if there is no other way
than being a typist for days, I would rather write a small program to 
do
all these.  I have read Castor JDO could help generating code, but I
have to read and understand more before I know if it is helping me.
Thanks

Andy

-Original Message-
From: Wendy Smoak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 12:49 AM
To: 'Struts Users Mailing List'
Subject: RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?
When doing struts, I am always loading or saving data to a bean (or a
list
of beans)
and then display it to the form.  Is there a ways to make this process
very automatic,
like writing a mapping file, and then everything is done?  I spent in
the
past 2 full
days just keep doing this kind of mapping and it is getting me real
crazy.
Thanks
Take a look at the struts-example webapp.  I do this same thing in my
Struts
app-- load from the database into a bean, then use
BeanUtils.copyProperties(...) to move the values over to the form, then
display it.  I use Dynamic forms, so the form properties are defined in
struts-config.xml, which gets me out of writing the get/set methods for
the
form bean.
What part of it is giving you problems?

--
Wendy Smoak
Applications Systems Analyst, Sr.
Arizona State University, PA, IRM


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RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

2003-08-14 Thread Karachiwala, Aslam
this might be of help...

http://jakarta.apache.org/struts/faqs/database.html

-Original Message-
From: Andy Cheng [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 12:44 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?


When doing struts, I am always loading or saving data to a bean (or a
list of beans) and then display it to the form.  Is there a ways to make
this process very automatic, like writing a mapping file, and then
everything is done?  I spent in the past 2 full days just keep doing
this kind of mapping and it is getting me real crazy.  Thanks
 
Andy


RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

2003-08-14 Thread Andy Cheng
Basically I am just wondering if the process can be a bit more
interesting.  I always:
1. Get values from the JSPs and the values (Strings) are used to set the
ActionForm  ie String to String copying. 
2. In the Action class, I get the values from the ActionForm, and
convert them to the appropriate types, and insert them into beans using
the beans' setter methods.
3. From the objects I have, I will write PreparedStatements (with many
?? in the SQL), and set the values in the order of the question marks.
I have to do this for INSERT, and UPDATE.

On the reverse, I have to get the data from database, getting values
from ResultSets, and insert into beans, then from the beans I feed them
back to the JSPs for display.  

This is a very boring thing to do, and it does not require much skill as
well.  I am just wondering if there is a way of speeding up:
1. Conversion between ActionForm (Strings) to Beans (Typed)
2. Generate ActionForms
3. Generate the fields in the the JSPs
4. Generate the SQL statements.

I know I am being very very greedy here, but if there is no other way
than being a typist for days, I would rather write a small program to do
all these.  I have read Castor JDO could help generating code, but I
have to read and understand more before I know if it is helping me.
Thanks

Andy

-Original Message-
From: Wendy Smoak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 12:49 AM
To: 'Struts Users Mailing List'
Subject: RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

 When doing struts, I am always loading or saving data to a bean (or a
list
of beans)
 and then display it to the form.  Is there a ways to make this process
very automatic,
 like writing a mapping file, and then everything is done?  I spent in
the
past 2 full
 days just keep doing this kind of mapping and it is getting me real
crazy.
Thanks

Take a look at the struts-example webapp.  I do this same thing in my
Struts
app-- load from the database into a bean, then use
BeanUtils.copyProperties(...) to move the values over to the form, then
display it.  I use Dynamic forms, so the form properties are defined in
struts-config.xml, which gets me out of writing the get/set methods for
the
form bean.

What part of it is giving you problems?

-- 
Wendy Smoak
Applications Systems Analyst, Sr.
Arizona State University, PA, IRM 



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Re: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?

2003-08-14 Thread Jing Zhou
I believe that a general purpose web tier framework, like Struts,
would not help you too much to ease the developments. A specialized
product based on Struts could do much more than what you are
expecting now. So you are not that *greedy* because we get it
now :-)

Carrier, at http://www.netspread.com, is designed to meet such
demands for the Struts users. The visual designing capability allows
you to compose a form bean model, a form view model (logical
web form), and a form controller model in one place, called a
block - an extended action mapping. It is one of the most important
concept leap brought by Carrier http://www.netspread.com/tips2.html

The form bean model supports 12 standard types, not only string,
and custom properties. So point 1 and 2 in the always-to-do list
is removed.

Assume the form bean model qualifies as a level one data model,
then the default persistence mechanism will help you to
store and load the form bean properties automatically. So the
point 3 in the always-to-do list is removed. If you have special
domain models, you have to write codes to store and load your
properties. The idea behind this is that non-programming
designers could start to build working web applications immediately.
See the tips on the Primary Form Bean.

You can discover that the form bean model take care of the
conversions from strings to typed properties and it could be
used virtually for all form bean instances. So the point 1 and 2
in the boring-thing-to-do list could be reduced to almost zero.
See the tips on One Form Bean Model for All Form Beans.

The form view model allows you to general physical web forms
for different browsers, devices, or whatever presentation engines
using custom style sheets. The point 3 in the boring-thing-to-do list
is removed.

The last point (4. Generate the SQL statements) is more an O/R
mapping tool's business. I definitely believe, the form bean
model could be easily managed by a O/R mapping tool so the
processes would be much faster.

Recent studies show that over using reflections on Java beans
would slow down the performance to some degree. The map
based models show the faster performance. Our form bean model
removes most of reflection operations, so we also get it
right :-)

More important is that Carrier is an enabling technology that
Super Large Web Services could be built with it. A small team,
3 to 5 developers could manage a couple of thousands of testing
web forms for schools teachers/students easily.

The tips on Wheels and Struts can be found at
http://www.netspread.com/tips-in-list.html It includes the phased
validation model that people are expecting too.

Jing
Netspread Carrier
http://www.netspread.com



- Original Message - 
From: Andy Cheng [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: 'Struts Users Mailing List' [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2003 1:02 PM
Subject: RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?


 Basically I am just wondering if the process can be a bit more
 interesting.  I always:
 1. Get values from the JSPs and the values (Strings) are used to set the
 ActionForm  ie String to String copying. 
 2. In the Action class, I get the values from the ActionForm, and
 convert them to the appropriate types, and insert them into beans using
 the beans' setter methods.
 3. From the objects I have, I will write PreparedStatements (with many
 ?? in the SQL), and set the values in the order of the question marks.
 I have to do this for INSERT, and UPDATE.
 
 On the reverse, I have to get the data from database, getting values
 from ResultSets, and insert into beans, then from the beans I feed them
 back to the JSPs for display.  
 
 This is a very boring thing to do, and it does not require much skill as
 well.  I am just wondering if there is a way of speeding up:
 1. Conversion between ActionForm (Strings) to Beans (Typed)
 2. Generate ActionForms
 3. Generate the fields in the the JSPs
 4. Generate the SQL statements.
 
 I know I am being very very greedy here, but if there is no other way
 than being a typist for days, I would rather write a small program to do
 all these.  I have read Castor JDO could help generating code, but I
 have to read and understand more before I know if it is helping me.
 Thanks
 
 Andy
 
 -Original Message-
 From: Wendy Smoak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
 Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 12:49 AM
 To: 'Struts Users Mailing List'
 Subject: RE: database - bean - form, what is the best way to do it?
 
  When doing struts, I am always loading or saving data to a bean (or a
 list
 of beans)
  and then display it to the form.  Is there a ways to make this process
 very automatic,
  like writing a mapping file, and then everything is done?  I spent in
 the
 past 2 full
  days just keep doing this kind of mapping and it is getting me real
 crazy.
 Thanks
 
 Take a look at the struts-example webapp.  I do this same thing in my
 Struts
 app-- load from the database into a bean, then use