The problem is I have existing code that does custom string --> date --> string conversion. I'm not looking for a better work-around. I believe this is functionality that everyone who builds a struts application will have to implement with custom code and thus is an excellent Struts/BeanUtils enhancement candidate! I do realize this is NOT a simple task as it has come up on the mailing list a number of times in the last 3 years and still remains not implemented. Here are some use cases that illustrate the desired behavior (remember, I'm looking for round-trip support of the date datatype):
Use Case 1 (Data Input): 1) User enter's birthdate in MM/dd/yyyy format .. Use Case 2 (Data Input): 1) User standard workday start time in "HH:mm" format .. Use Case 3 (Data Input): 1) User enters month of year for month long event (i.e. Black History Month) "MMMM" format .. Use Case 3 (Data Output): 1) User Admin views list of user names and birthdays. 2) System displays username and birthday using standard MM/dd/yyyy format. 2.a) System will display date in format specified by user preferences (i.e. EE MMMM dd yyyy) overriding the standard MM/dd/yyyy format. --- Joe Germuska <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > At 10:45 AM -0700 7/1/03, Jon Wilmoth wrote: > >I did investigate registering "custom" converters. > >Unfortunately, anything that would support > >non-hard-coded conversion patterns will require > either > >a mixed paradygm usage (i.e passing a complex > object > >that contains the value to convert and all > convertion > >configuration instead of simply the value to be > >converted) of the existing Converter.convert > interface > >or additional parameters. Since I think everyone > can > >agree that the first option is confusing and should > be > >avoided when possible the remaining option is to > >modify/extend the interface. I agree this should > be > >communicated within the BeanUtils developer mailing > >list and will cross post this in hopes of getting > >further creative approaches to the problem. > Because > >Struts will be responsible for providing the means > to > >invoke the conversion (and much more) I do feel it > is > >appropriate for this list to continue to discuss > the > >Struts/BeanUtil interaction necessary for this > >functionality. > > Do you have one or two primary use cases? I don't > think it needs to > be radically complicated, but it might be easier to > tell with a > concrete description of the problem to solve. > > In general, Struts gives you lots of places you > could pass in a date > format string as a property (to an ActionForm, to an > ActionMapping, > to a PlugIn... in most applications, I would assume > you'd have one > standard date input format, so you don't need to > configure a variety > of format strings, although if you have a use case > for that, feel > free to describe it. > > So if you can pass in a format string to some custom > code that you > write that can take a String from an ActionForm and > make it a Date > before it goes into your business objects, does that > solve the > problem? The alternative is solving the very, very > complicated > problem of generalizing string-to-object conversion > for anything that > has a variable string representation, including but > not limited to > Dates. (Or having a special-case hanging off of > ConvertUtils like a > third leg...) > > Joe > -- > -- > Joe Germuska > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://blog.germuska.com > "If nature worked that way, the universe would crash > all the time." > --Jaron Lanier > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
