Muka, I would also recommended if you haven't done so, read chapter 4 from my O'Reilly Struts book. It covers the web.xml and DTD in detail. Here's a link where you can download the chapter.
http://www.theserverside.com/resources/strutsreview.jsp Chuck > Thanks Mark. That was very helpful. Please read on.. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Soomar, Muki (R.) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 12:34 PM > > I am still new to struts and going through the documentation. > Here are some general questions for the gurus who understand the > DTDs for struts-config.xml file and its usage. > > <action> element > 1. Why is the attribute "type" for the <action> element named so. Wouldnt > the attribute name "action-class" be more intuitive here ? > ----- > No, because in Jave, a "type" is the kind of object and all non-primitive > types are classes. > ---- > <Muki>Dont agree. You might have gotten used to using the way it is defined. But > the mapping still refers to a class and not to an object in memory. > So I THINK "action-class" is more appropriate and intuitive. > > > 2(a). Attribute "name" for the same <action> element refers to the > form. Again "form-class" would have been more intuitive. > ----- > A "name" in HTML refers to the form entity reference; there is nothing > counter-intuitive about this. > ----- > <Muki> Don't agree. The mapping here is again referring to a class as > opposed to a mere reference for the form. So again I THINK "form-class" > is more appropriate. > > > 2(b) Attribute "attribute" also refers to the form class for the example > application. > I am confused between the usage of the two. (Still need to do a bit more > digging, > but intuitive attribute names would have helped in the first reading very > much !) > ------ > A Java attribute is a reference to a name-value pair, and that is how it is > used in Struts, same as it is in servlets. > ----- > <Muki> Dont quite understand what you are implying here. > > 3. Attribute "input" is intuitive, but "input-uri" or "input-url" would have > been > more intuitive > ------ > Why? > ------ > <Muki> Just so that XML be used for making the document more readable and > easy to understand for anyone looking at it. > > > 4. Sub-element <forward> has attribute "name" that refers to the type of > result based on which forwards could be redirected. Wouldnt it be simpler > to just call this attribute "result-type" instead of "name". > ----- > No, because the attribute is entirely arbitrary - it is merely an identifier > for the forwarding mechanism to find the appropriate path. It is not a Java > type. > ----- > <Muki> Well, appropriately named identifiers can help. > > Any particular reasons for this naming convention. > ----- > Yes, to confuse newbies and guarantee job security by making it particularly > difficult to learn. > ----- > <Muki> Seems like it and have to agree on this one. :) > > Regards, > > Muki Soomar > > -- > 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]> > -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
