> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ansaldo, Gaston [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 3:29 PM
> To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
> Subject: Multi page form desing
>
>
> Hi all!!!
>
> I'm trying to implement a *wizard style form* using 4 or 5
> jsp's. I read in
> the user doc's that in Struts one should try to design the
> pages using the
> same XXXXForm and XXXXAction class for all the pages inside
> the *conceptual
> form*
>
> I'm wondering how I'm suppose to design the XXXXForm and
> XXXXAction classes
> in order to validate the form data just one time and not as
> many times as
> jsp's invoke the same XXXForm class..
>
> Can anybody share some ideas about how to implement this kind of
> functionality?
You'd need to track whether the form is all the way done or in progress,
depending on which screen of the wizard the user has completed. Either
explicitly, as a form property that gets set by the Action, or implicitly,
perhaps using a custom ActionMapping property (the latter makes it easier to
introduce new pages, IMO, since you can define it as part of your
struts-config.xml). As long as there still screens to do, the form's
validate() method would always return true. Only when the user has finished
all the screens do you actually check the form content as appropriate.
Ditto for the action, assuming you're using a single Action for the entire
sequence.
The only problem with deferring validation until the wizard is complete is
that it's harder to return the user to the particular page associated with
the bad input.
pete
