changing ActionForm to be a Java interface

[Dan Jacobs]

Hi all,

I know this is very late in the 1.1 game to change things very much, but I'd like to make an API change request.

Currently, ActionForm is defined as a class rather than as an interface. The problem with that is that it doesn't allow other kinds of objects to act as ActionForms.

In particular, I want to be able to use JPlates objects (see http://www.jplates.com ) as ActionForms, since that would allow me to encapsulate the full behavior of a form in the object, instead of just having a place to put the data. I can already use JPlates in place of JSPs for rendering (which is wonderful!), but I'd have a more consistent solution if I could use JPlates objects for my ActionForms as well.

For the sake of compatibility with existing Struts applications, what I propose is:

1. interface IActionForm (yeah, I don't like that convention much
either) would define the interface methods.
2. class ActionForm implements IActionForm would be used pretty much
the way it's used now.
3. the internals of Struts would be changed to use IActionForm
wherever ActionForm is currently used.
4. other kinds of objects could implement IActionForm directly or by
delegation to an ActionForm.

I'd be happy to help out to make this change.

Dan Jacobs
President, ModelObjects Group http://www.modelobjects.com
Chairman, Boston ACM WebTech Group http://www.acm.org/chapters/webtech