The problem is that html:form is looking for the ActionForm associated with its ActionMapping.
Having one Action handle more than one ActionForm isn't a problem. But getting html:form to handle more than ActionForm is problematic. If the *properties* for each registration type are the same, then you may not need two different ActionForm beans at all. The Action just needs a way to tell the registeration types apart, perhaps by using a hidden property. This is admittedly not a very OOP approach, but HTTP is not a OO protocol, so we have to make allowances on this tier ;-) Interally, you might want to have different beans for the different user types; these should not be ActionForm beans, but some other bean representing your internal model, and not bound to HTTP. You should also omit the "scope" property from the html:form, since, in this case, it will get all that out of the Struts config. -- Ted Husted, Husted dot Com, Fairport NY USA. -- Custom Software ~ Technical Services. -- Tel +1 716 737-3463 -- http://www.husted.com/struts/ Richard Dallaway wrote: > > I've been wondering about the best way to go about using struts in this > situation.... > > I have two types of forms (for different kind of web registrations) which > are very similar, but not quite identical. The associated > RegistrationAction will perform slightly different tasks depending on which > form it is given. So I could go for two actions, one for each of the > forms. That'll work. > > But I was wondering if instead I could do have a base RegistrationForm > (containing lots of common stuff), and then extend it to give me say > UserRegistrationForm and StaffRegistrationForm. A single action would > accept a form of type "RegistrationForm" and do whatever it needed to > do. (For the sake of argument, assume that the JSP form can be shared, so > validation is OK). > > So I tried this, by having a startRegistrationAction that created an > instance of either StaffRegistrationForm or UserRegistrationForm , casting > it to be of type RegistrationForm, and put it in session scope under the > name "registrationForm" before forwarding on to the JSP form for the end > user to complete. > > When the form is submitted to the RegistrationAction I get a null form > passed. The config I have is.... > > <form-bean > name="registrationForm" > type="RegistrationForm" /> > > <!-- Register a new user --> > <action > path="/register" > name="registrationForm" > type="RegistrationAction" > unknown="false" > input="/register.jsp" > validate="true"> > </action> > > The form tag looks like: > <html:form action="/register" scope="session" > > > ....and of course if I change the form-bean type to be > "StaffRegistrationForm" or "UserRegistrationForm" it will work for one of > those specific instances. > > Am I right in thinking that because my form is of type (say) > StaffRegistraionForm (which happens to extend RegistrationForm), struts > won't be able to find a RegistrationForm type object in the session? Which > is why my Action sees a null form. > > So my questions are really.... > (1) is this a sane thing to be trying? > (2) is there a way to do this? > > Many thanks > Richard > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
