Hi Kenneth, Everyone. Since we're on the subject, using the example being discussed, towards the end of the chain we call findRecords.do which takes us to foundRecords.jsp.
All well and good. I'm having trouble understanding how to get database output from the model to the view layer? How is that data passed around, more to the point? Or if someone could point me in the direction of some documentation on the subject i would be more than happy to study it. I've found plenty of Struts information, but quite little on database programming with Struts. Thanks, Chris. On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 09:46:56 -0700, Jim Barrows <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Kenneth Litwak [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 9:18 AM > > To: Struts Users Mailing List > > Subject: RE: Learning the basics > > > > > > Hi Jim, > > > > I was hoping to > > > avoid having to > > > read a book to write my first Struts app, which is basically > > > a small web > > > app to let a user search a database table according to one of > > > three sets > > > of search criteria. I thought this would be relatively simple. My > > > impression so far, however, is that Struts is way way way way more > > > complicated than I thought for this simple app. Perhaps I > > should just > > > write it without Struts and get a book to red and try Struts > > > next time. > > > > It is relatevily simple. > > showSearchCriteria.do forwards to searchCriteria.jsp (The > > class could > > be the ForwardAction) > > searchCriteria.jsp has the fields for searching in. > > action goes to findRecords.do, which queries the database and forwards > > the results to foundRecorrds.jsp > > > > Ken asks: My impression is that a something.do means a web > > page, like a > > JSP is involved. I don't understand this part about a jsp > > linking to an > > action that goes to findRecords.do. What does that represent? From > > what I understand to this moment, it represents a page, when > > it needs to > > work with a backend component to search the database. This > > may be part > > of the piece I'm missing. > > Part may be that you also need to understand how the web works... such subtle things > as the stateless nature of the http protocol, it's tendency to not pass fields that > are empty that kind of thing. > Then on top of that... the servlet specification... then on top of that the JSP > specification, and then tieing all that together neatly, is struts..... :) > > Let's see if I can simplify this a bit... > > Tomcat/Websphere/Weblogic (the container) receives this URL > http://foo.com/fooApp/showIndex.do > Container looks at it, and says... okay this goes to the fooApp web app... then says > *.do.. goes to the struts servlet in fooApp. > The struts servlet goes.. hmmmm... showIndex.... strtus-config says that maps to > ShowIndexAction class... > I better call it's exectue method.. and it returns the > sucess/index/whateverYouWantToCallItForward.. struts-config says that maps to > index.jsp.... better serve that up. > And now the request processing is done, the requestor has the resource they asked > for. > > > > > > > > So, 2 jsp pages, 2 actions (If you dont use ForwardAction). > > > > If your search criteria are really three different searches, then you > > can put all three forms on one page, and use DispatchAction for the > > findRecords.do action class. > > > > > I thought EJBs were complex when I first learned them, but they have > > > NOTHING on Struts. Thanks again. > > > > How do you figure? > > > > Because, at least for me (and I grant that I'm much more > > at home in > > the business tier than the web tier), the workflow for an EJB > > (find it, > > create it, call it, remove it) is somewhat straightforward. > > I have yet > > to get the exact mechanics of how Struts works. I've seen > > a couple of > > diagrams but I need something more detailed that shows the exact flow > > through each little step. Do I need a Form? A FormBean? A regular > > bean? When? Where? I can't figure out how to answer these > > questions. > > > > Note: this is NOT an attack on Struts. I haven't spent several days > > reading about it in order to be difficult in a mailing list. > > Struts may > > be a great framework once one figures it out. > > I would suggest that you spend more time looking at the online struts documentation. > It's how most of us learned. If you've done mostly business tier, then it would > also be a good idea to study how the Servlet/JSP specs work, and how the HTTP > protocol works. Without Servlet/JSP fundamentals and some knowledge of HTTP, you > will probably be very lost for quite some time. > > Yes, you have to learn 3 technologies just to learn struts if you have never ever > done any web programming at all. This isn't struts fault... just the way the web > is. Servlets/JSP abstracts some of the HTTP protocol, Struts abstracts that. > > > > > Ken > > > > > > > > Ken > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Janne Mattila [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 11:19 PM > > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Subject: RE: Learning the basics > > > > > > I did not notice any book recommendations in answers to > > your question, > > > and > > > frankly, I am not surprised. For learning a new technology > > I prefer a > > > good, > > > well-written and well-structured book to harvesting scattered > > > web pages > > > to > > > critical pieces of information. Unfortunately, I have read > > three books > > > and > > > can not recommend any of those to you: > > > > > > > > > Mastering Jakarta Struts: elementary stuff, contains lots of errors, > > > does > > > not tell you how to implement non-trivial UI. Most is > > copy-paste from > > > the > > > apache.org documentation. Poorly structured content. > > > > > > Jakarta-Struts Live: goes deeper into details and offers more > > > advanced > > > stuff. Unfortunately author's way of words (no O'Reilly style > > > sophistication > > > here) and the book's (lack of) structure mean that it is an absolute > > > pain to > > > read! Also, you end up fiddling with lots and lots of "neat" > > > plugins and > > > > > > helper applications (StrutsTestCase etc) for days before you get > > > anywhere in > > > the actual topic. > > > > > > Programming Jakarta Struts: Perhaps the best structure out of these > > > books. > > > Unfortunately also covers just the basics and contains lots of > > > copy-paste > > > from the apache documentation. It seems that the author could > > > not think > > > of > > > enough to write on Struts, so he blabbers on things such as "unit > > > testing is > > > good" and "performance is important". What is it with the techincal > > > books > > > and their mammoth syndrome? Does every book have to contain all the > > > knowledge of the author? The examples are really irritating - > > > incomplete > > > and > > > you wil not be able to follow them by writing your own > > > application piece > > > by > > > piece, the only way is to get the sources from O'Reilly and > > > compile them > > > all > > > since the code is so coupled. Also lot of the book concentrates on > > > author's > > > proprietary framework. > > > > > > None of these was a catastrophe though, but all were a bit > > > "so-so"....I > > > have > > > yet to find a _really good_ book. > > > > > > > > > >From: "Kenneth Litwak" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >Reply-To: "Struts Users Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >To: "Struts Users Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >Subject: Learning the basics > > > >Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 11:22:33 -0700 > > > > > > > > If I'm an experienced developer, but new to Struts, do > > I need to > > > buy > > > >a book to write a basic app, or is there an online tutorial or > > > something > > > >like that that is sufficient? One of the things I'd like to > > > figure out > > > >is to how to have three radio buttons, and a regular button, > > > and have a > > > >different action for each radio button. I can't figure out > > > how to wire > > > >that. Thanks. > > > > > > > > > > > >Ken > > > > > > > > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > > Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. > > > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
