That helps a lot... just one question if you don't mind... can I check how you would forward from the prepareListBookAction to the bookSearch.jsp. I assume you are just using mapping.findForward( "success" ). That didn't work for me... which is really why I started thinking that I was doing totally the wrong thing. Could (of course) be some stupid error!
I'm off to try harder... thanks! HM On 20 Oct 2002 at 10:10, Phil Steitz wrote: > Howard Miller wrote: > > I think I'm seriously missing the point here! I have looked at the example >application > > in some detail and it appears to add a parameter (eg, ?action=new) to tell the >action > > for a form to perform an initialising action. I don't see it using a "pre-" action. > > > > I am incredibly stuck with the concept of how to code an action that is not > > encumbered with *special* parameters to pre-load the bean data. My particular > > problem is that I have pages where the previous page cannot be predicted, so the >jsp > > must have a means of loading its own data. > > > > I would really appreciated some pointers as to how to set this up. *** I >particularly > > don't understand how to get the action to call the following JSP *** (ie, I would >really > > appreciate some specific - example - help on this!! ). At least every method I >have > > tried doesn't work. > > Here is a simple example showing one way to deal with this type of > thing. There are no doubt lots of other ways to handle this. > > Use case: library search. User page flow: main menu -> search input > page (bookSearch.jsp) -> search results page (listBook.jsp). The search > input page needs to be pre-populated with a list of currently defined > subjects. > > Struts processing flow: main menu -> search input pre-populate action > (PrepareListBookAction) -> search input page (bookSearch.jsp) -> search > processing action (ListBookAction) -> search results page (booklist.jsp). > > In struts-config: > > <!-- Prepare Book Search (populates subject list) --> > <action path="/a/prepareListBook" > name="bookSearchForm" > type="com.steitz.library.PrepareListBookAction" > validate="false" > scope="request"> > <forward name="success" path="/a/bookSearch.jsp"/> > </action> > > <!-- Book Search --> > <action path="/a/listBook" > name="bookSearchForm" > type="com.steitz.library.ListBookAction" > scope="request" > input="/a/bookSearch.jsp" > validate="true"> > <forward name="success" path="/a/booklist.jsp"/> > </action> > > In the main menu: > > <a href="prepareListBook.do"> > <bean:message key="index.find"/></a> > (here "index.find" = "Find a Book".) > > PrepareListBookAction retrieves the list of currently defined subjects > and sets a property of the (automatically created) BookSearchForm for > the book search input form (bookSearch.jsp) to use. > > The key concept is that instead of linking/forwarding to the input jsp > directly, you link/forward to the pre-population action and then have > the pre-population action set up the form bean and then forward to the > input jsp. > > Hope this helps, > > Phil > > > > > > > > > > > I do understand how to actually create a bean manually and put in in the scope. I > > don't understand how to set up a generic preload action for a given >JSP/ActionForm, > > and what the config should look like. > > > > Again, any help much appreciated. > > > > HM > > > > On 20 Oct 2002 at 8:43, David M. Karr wrote: > > > > > >>>>>>>"Howard" == Howard Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >>>>>> > >> Howard> Hi, > >> Howard> Can somebody kindly help me with the following... > >> > >> Howard> I want to add a path and an Action class. The action class will then >preload data into > >> Howard> a bean and then forward (do I mean forward) to the jsp that displays >the bean. That's > >> Howard> it. I want this action to be in *addition* to the *normal* >jsp/formbean/action setup. > >> > >> Howard> I can't see how to do it.... in particular > >> > >> Howard> 1. I don't think I fully understand how/why an action is associated >with a bean in > >> Howard> struts-config. What does the action servlet do with this information. > >> > >> Howard> 2. How do I properly forward from an action to a jsp with the bean >information intact. > >> Howard> It seems to be very similar to an action returning its "input form" to >display errors, but > >> Howard> doing this doesn't work. Whatever I do I seem to get a blank page. > >> > >>In fact, the best practice is to always preface a page with an action. You end > >>up with actions that prepare information for a page, and actions which process > >>information for a page. The actions which process the page information will > >>always have had the form bean created before you get to the action. However, > >>the actions which prepare the page information may have to manually create the > >>form bean and put it into the appropriate scope. > >> > >>Note that the welcome page for an application would normally be something like > >>"index.jsp", which does nothing but forward to an action to start the > >>application. You can't preface the welcome page with an action, but you can > >>make it do nothing but go to an action to prepare the real first page. > >> > >>Look at the source code for the "example" application for some examples of > >>using the form bean. The user guide also talks about the control flow with > >>respect to form beans. > >> > >>-- > >>=================================================================== > >>David M. Karr ; Java/J2EE/XML/Unix/C++ > >>[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >> > >> > >>-- > >>To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> > >>For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-help@;jakarta.apache.org> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> > > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-help@;jakarta.apache.org> > > > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> > For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-help@;jakarta.apache.org> > > -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-unsubscribe@;jakarta.apache.org> For additional commands, e-mail: <mailto:struts-user-help@;jakarta.apache.org>
