@Dave > The page displays the list--how could you not need it? Right, during display I need it. During *SAVE* I do not need it. During the save is when Struts is demanding it (incorrectly I feel).
@stanlick > Do you by chance need a @SkipValidation on a method(s) in your action? How have you named your validation file? I have it named such that it is only used during the save. I am using wildcard methods and name it with the method name as well as all the other things I have to include. Something like: FooAction-fooPage-save-validation.xml. It does seem to be called only during the save when I satisfy the framework by always populating the select lists. @Chris >I prefer to implement the validate() method and perform my own validations. >> What do you use? I think I'm going to take Chris' suggestion and implement validate. I thought about trying annotations, but Chris makes a compelling argument. If the "standard" validations are this temperamental, then rolling my own seems better. Plus there's less XML syntax to remember or look up. For certain use cases I'd have to drop to this level anyway, so I too like the idea of having it all in one place. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and help. The only thing I'm left wondering is if I should log a bug with the Struts team. Something seems wrong here. The framework should not suddenly cause a page to start failing just because I add a validation XML file. If I have validation errors, that's another story, but if I don't, then there should be no net difference, right?
