RE: Action Forms And Model objects
JavaScript just makes the client side more interactive (which is good) but
it doesn't reduce the need to do stuff server side since for safety you
still need to repeat all the validation on the server side.
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 14 April 2001 04:50
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
ON 2nd thoughts, could one not achieve the results you are expecting using
client side JavaScript?
--- Rajan Gupta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall,
I guess your formula does reduce coding for ActionsForms which require
simple validation do not need to access the model for any type of
validation, but I think you will still have to write a class for every
form where you will create your validation rules. This does not
eliminate
the total number of classes vs. the total number of classes required by
Struts. Please correct me if I did not get this right.
Maybe you could use XML-Schema to define every rules for every form.
Rules
can be associated based upon a form name which is handed over to
ActionServlet using a request parameter. The GenericActionForm can load
the XMLSchema for the form validate the the form input. Regardless, it
is good idea definetly worth pursuing with a purpose of reducing the
number of classes required in the application implementation.
Rajan Gupta
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I'm still developing/debugging it at the moment so its fairly
rudimentary at
the moment. I'm still considering how I could devlop it at the moment
-
possibly your XML idea.
I have extended Action and done some stuff in the perform method to
cast
the
form and manage a connection and then call a processForm() method.
Also
it
handles control with standard success failure forwards but I'm
looking
at
developing that as well - probably creating a transport object rather
than
just returning a String message key.
A processForm() method validating input looks something like this:
protected String processForm(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
GenericActionForm form,
Connection connection) throws Exception
{
// Validate the form
form.setRule("empl_id", true, form.INT);// required Integer
form.setRule("empl_name", true);// required String
form.setRule("empl_dob", true, form.DATE); // required date
form.setRule("empl_married", form.BOOLEAN); // optional Boolean
if (form.validateProperties() != null) {
return message;
}
// Store values from the form in GenericBean(s)
GenericBean bean = form.createBean();
// Process Business Logic
return message = new
LogicBuildProgram().createBuildProgram(connection,
bean);
}
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 13:32
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
How do you store or manage your validation rules since your
GenericActionForm could be validating fields types of forms?
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall-
To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not
allow
ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your
GenericActionForm
since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed
something!
Yes.
Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML
file or
similar?
No.
Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the
model
for
any incorrect data in the form if it needs to?
Yes.
I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm
Yes.
-Rajan
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters
for
each
property
e.g.public String getCustName()
public void setCustName(String name)
I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard
getters/setters
e.g.public String getString(String property)
public void setString(String property, String value)
GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in
internal
arrays.
I
have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also
customised
some
of
the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form
is
an
instance
of my GenericActionForm.
I don't really know what you mean by "dynamic" validation of
properties.
When processing a GenericActionForm in the Action
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
No, I don't agree with you.
My model is unchanged, containing validation rules, whether I use my
approach or standard Struts stuff.
I wouldn't have any validation rules in ActionForms if a could help it
except for the fact that, initially you need to store input as Strings so
that you can re-display what they user keyed in in the event of an error.
Using GenericActionForm and GenericBean I get rid of all the ActionForms and
"data" beans I had previously and can concentrate on the view (JSP's) and
model. For me it was alot less classes.
Thanks for your interest.
Niall
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 14 April 2001 01:46
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
Niall,
I guess your formula does reduce coding for ActionsForms which require
simple validation do not need to access the model for any type of
validation, but I think you will still have to write a class for every
form where you will create your validation rules. This does not eliminate
the total number of classes vs. the total number of classes required by
Struts. Please correct me if I did not get this right.
Maybe you could use XML-Schema to define every rules for every form. Rules
can be associated based upon a form name which is handed over to
ActionServlet using a request parameter. The GenericActionForm can load
the XMLSchema for the form validate the the form input. Regardless, it
is good idea definetly worth pursuing with a purpose of reducing the
number of classes required in the application implementation.
Rajan Gupta
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I'm still developing/debugging it at the moment so its fairly
rudimentary at
the moment. I'm still considering how I could devlop it at the moment -
possibly your XML idea.
I have extended Action and done some stuff in the perform method to cast
the
form and manage a connection and then call a processForm() method. Also
it
handles control with standard success failure forwards but I'm looking
at
developing that as well - probably creating a transport object rather
than
just returning a String message key.
A processForm() method validating input looks something like this:
protected String processForm(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
GenericActionForm form,
Connection connection) throws Exception {
// Validate the form
form.setRule("empl_id", true, form.INT);// required Integer
form.setRule("empl_name", true);// required String
form.setRule("empl_dob", true, form.DATE); // required date
form.setRule("empl_married", form.BOOLEAN); // optional Boolean
if (form.validateProperties() != null) {
return message;
}
// Store values from the form in GenericBean(s)
GenericBean bean = form.createBean();
// Process Business Logic
return message = new
LogicBuildProgram().createBuildProgram(connection,
bean);
}
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 13:32
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
How do you store or manage your validation rules since your
GenericActionForm could be validating fields types of forms?
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall-
To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not
allow
ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your
GenericActionForm
since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed
something!
Yes.
Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML
file or
similar?
No.
Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the
model
for
any incorrect data in the form if it needs to?
Yes.
I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm
Yes.
-Rajan
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters for
each
property
e.g.public String getCustName()
public void setCustName(String name)
I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard
getters/setters
e.g.public String getString(String property)
public void setString(String property, String value)
GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in internal
arrays.
I
have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also
customised
some
of
the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form is
an
instance
of my GenericActionForm.
I don't really know what you mean by "dynam
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
I'm still developing/debugging it at the moment so its fairly rudimentary at
the moment. I'm still considering how I could devlop it at the moment -
possibly your XML idea.
I have extended Action and done some stuff in the perform method to cast the
form and manage a connection and then call a processForm() method. Also it
handles control with standard success failure forwards but I'm looking at
developing that as well - probably creating a transport object rather than
just returning a String message key.
A processForm() method validating input looks something like this:
protected String processForm(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
GenericActionForm form,
Connection connection) throws Exception {
// Validate the form
form.setRule("empl_id", true, form.INT);// required Integer
form.setRule("empl_name", true);// required String
form.setRule("empl_dob", true, form.DATE); // required date
form.setRule("empl_married", form.BOOLEAN); // optional Boolean
if (form.validateProperties() != null) {
return message;
}
// Store values from the form in GenericBean(s)
GenericBean bean = form.createBean();
// Process Business Logic
return message = new LogicBuildProgram().createBuildProgram(connection,
bean);
}
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 13:32
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
How do you store or manage your validation rules since your
GenericActionForm could be validating fields types of forms?
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall-
To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not allow
ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your GenericActionForm
since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed something!
Yes.
Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML file or
similar?
No.
Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the model
for
any incorrect data in the form if it needs to?
Yes.
I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm
Yes.
-Rajan
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters for
each
property
e.g.public String getCustName()
public void setCustName(String name)
I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard getters/setters
e.g.public String getString(String property)
public void setString(String property, String value)
GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in internal
arrays.
I
have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also customised
some
of
the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form is an
instance
of my GenericActionForm.
I don't really know what you mean by "dynamic" validation of
properties.
When processing a GenericActionForm in the Action you can set up
rules
for
each of the properties to say whether it is required input and what
data
type it should be. The form has a validate method to check whats
been
received agaist those rules. Its not dynamic but it is straight
forward.
If the above checks fail, I can then re-display the form with the
values
entered. If the checks pass I can then safely populate the data into
beans
converting from Strings to the correct data types.
-Original Message-
From: Levi Cook [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 01:05
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Action Forms And Model objects
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "dynamic" properties?
How does this refer to dynamic validation of properties?
-- Levi
- Original Message -
From: "Niall Pemberton" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 5:58 PM
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
We are currently building the following:
1) GenericActionForm with dynamic properties
2) Override ActionServlet to populate the GenericActionForm
3) Provide type validation conversion mechanisms in the
GenericActionForm
4) Provide mechanism to unload the GenericActionForm into
GenericBeans
Our Actions initiate form validation, unload data into
GenericBeans which
are then passed to our logic layer and I believe this will
allow us to put
most of our effort into developing the JSP's and logic layer.
-Original Message-
From: Natra, Uday [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
S
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
Niall,
I guess your formula does reduce coding for ActionsForms which require
simple validation do not need to access the model for any type of
validation, but I think you will still have to write a class for every
form where you will create your validation rules. This does not eliminate
the total number of classes vs. the total number of classes required by
Struts. Please correct me if I did not get this right.
Maybe you could use XML-Schema to define every rules for every form. Rules
can be associated based upon a form name which is handed over to
ActionServlet using a request parameter. The GenericActionForm can load
the XMLSchema for the form validate the the form input. Regardless, it
is good idea definetly worth pursuing with a purpose of reducing the
number of classes required in the application implementation.
Rajan Gupta
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I'm still developing/debugging it at the moment so its fairly
rudimentary at
the moment. I'm still considering how I could devlop it at the moment -
possibly your XML idea.
I have extended Action and done some stuff in the perform method to cast
the
form and manage a connection and then call a processForm() method. Also
it
handles control with standard success failure forwards but I'm looking
at
developing that as well - probably creating a transport object rather
than
just returning a String message key.
A processForm() method validating input looks something like this:
protected String processForm(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
GenericActionForm form,
Connection connection) throws Exception {
// Validate the form
form.setRule("empl_id", true, form.INT);// required Integer
form.setRule("empl_name", true);// required String
form.setRule("empl_dob", true, form.DATE); // required date
form.setRule("empl_married", form.BOOLEAN); // optional Boolean
if (form.validateProperties() != null) {
return message;
}
// Store values from the form in GenericBean(s)
GenericBean bean = form.createBean();
// Process Business Logic
return message = new
LogicBuildProgram().createBuildProgram(connection,
bean);
}
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 13:32
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
How do you store or manage your validation rules since your
GenericActionForm could be validating fields types of forms?
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall-
To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not
allow
ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your
GenericActionForm
since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed
something!
Yes.
Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML
file or
similar?
No.
Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the
model
for
any incorrect data in the form if it needs to?
Yes.
I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm
Yes.
-Rajan
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters for
each
property
e.g.public String getCustName()
public void setCustName(String name)
I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard
getters/setters
e.g.public String getString(String property)
public void setString(String property, String value)
GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in internal
arrays.
I
have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also
customised
some
of
the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form is
an
instance
of my GenericActionForm.
I don't really know what you mean by "dynamic" validation of
properties.
When processing a GenericActionForm in the Action you can set up
rules
for
each of the properties to say whether it is required input and
what
data
type it should be. The form has a validate method to check whats
been
received agaist those rules. Its not dynamic but it is straight
forward.
If the above checks fail, I can then re-display the form with
the
values
entered. If the checks pass I can then safely populate the data
into
beans
converting from Strings to the correct data types.
-Original Message-
From: Levi Cook [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 01:05
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Action Forms And Model objects
Can you elaborate on what you mean by &qu
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
ON 2nd thoughts, could one not achieve the results you are expecting using
client side JavaScript?
--- Rajan Gupta [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall,
I guess your formula does reduce coding for ActionsForms which require
simple validation do not need to access the model for any type of
validation, but I think you will still have to write a class for every
form where you will create your validation rules. This does not
eliminate
the total number of classes vs. the total number of classes required by
Struts. Please correct me if I did not get this right.
Maybe you could use XML-Schema to define every rules for every form.
Rules
can be associated based upon a form name which is handed over to
ActionServlet using a request parameter. The GenericActionForm can load
the XMLSchema for the form validate the the form input. Regardless, it
is good idea definetly worth pursuing with a purpose of reducing the
number of classes required in the application implementation.
Rajan Gupta
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I'm still developing/debugging it at the moment so its fairly
rudimentary at
the moment. I'm still considering how I could devlop it at the moment
-
possibly your XML idea.
I have extended Action and done some stuff in the perform method to
cast
the
form and manage a connection and then call a processForm() method.
Also
it
handles control with standard success failure forwards but I'm
looking
at
developing that as well - probably creating a transport object rather
than
just returning a String message key.
A processForm() method validating input looks something like this:
protected String processForm(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response,
GenericActionForm form,
Connection connection) throws Exception
{
// Validate the form
form.setRule("empl_id", true, form.INT);// required Integer
form.setRule("empl_name", true);// required String
form.setRule("empl_dob", true, form.DATE); // required date
form.setRule("empl_married", form.BOOLEAN); // optional Boolean
if (form.validateProperties() != null) {
return message;
}
// Store values from the form in GenericBean(s)
GenericBean bean = form.createBean();
// Process Business Logic
return message = new
LogicBuildProgram().createBuildProgram(connection,
bean);
}
-Original Message-
From: Rajan Gupta [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 13 April 2001 13:32
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects
How do you store or manage your validation rules since your
GenericActionForm could be validating fields types of forms?
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Niall-
To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not
allow
ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your
GenericActionForm
since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed
something!
Yes.
Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML
file or
similar?
No.
Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the
model
for
any incorrect data in the form if it needs to?
Yes.
I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm
Yes.
-Rajan
--- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters
for
each
property
e.g.public String getCustName()
public void setCustName(String name)
I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard
getters/setters
e.g.public String getString(String property)
public void setString(String property, String value)
GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in
internal
arrays.
I
have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also
customised
some
of
the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form
is
an
instance
of my GenericActionForm.
I don't really know what you mean by "dynamic" validation of
properties.
When processing a GenericActionForm in the Action you can set
up
rules
for
each of the properties to say whether it is required input and
what
data
type it should be. The form has a validate method to check
whats
been
received agaist those rules. Its not dynamic but it is
straight
forward.
If the above checks fail, I can then re-display the form with
the
values
entered. If the checks pass I can then safely populate the
data
into
beans
converting from Strings to the correct
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
We are currently building the following: 1) GenericActionForm with dynamic properties 2) Override ActionServlet to populate the GenericActionForm 3) Provide type validation conversion mechanisms in the GenericActionForm 4) Provide mechanism to unload the GenericActionForm into GenericBeans Our Actions initiate form validation, unload data into GenericBeans which are then passed to our logic layer and I believe this will allow us to put most of our effort into developing the JSP's and logic layer. -Original Message- From: Natra, Uday [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 12 April 2001 20:17 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: Action Forms And Model objects Hi All, I want to know how you all are desiging the Datacopy from ActionForm Beans to actual Model objects. In my opinion ActionForms should have only String DataTypes(Dates are represented as strings). But the Model objects have actual Data Types since they represent the actual Domain objects. If it is the case, we need to write code to copy the contents of the ActionForm into the Domain Object as we cannot use the PropertyUtils.copyProperties(formBean, modelObject); Can anybody comment on this?? Thanks, Uday.
Re: Action Forms And Model objects
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "dynamic" properties? How does this refer to dynamic validation of properties? -- Levi - Original Message - From: "Niall Pemberton" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 5:58 PM Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects We are currently building the following: 1) GenericActionForm with dynamic properties 2) Override ActionServlet to populate the GenericActionForm 3) Provide type validation conversion mechanisms in the GenericActionForm 4) Provide mechanism to unload the GenericActionForm into GenericBeans Our Actions initiate form validation, unload data into GenericBeans which are then passed to our logic layer and I believe this will allow us to put most of our effort into developing the JSP's and logic layer. -Original Message- From: Natra, Uday [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 12 April 2001 20:17 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: Action Forms And Model objects Hi All, I want to know how you all are desiging the Datacopy from ActionForm Beans to actual Model objects. In my opinion ActionForms should have only String DataTypes(Dates are represented as strings). But the Model objects have actual Data Types since they represent the actual Domain objects. If it is the case, we need to write code to copy the contents of the ActionForm into the Domain Object as we cannot use the PropertyUtils.copyProperties(formBean, modelObject); Can anybody comment on this?? Thanks, Uday.
RE: Action Forms And Model objects
Nial- To understand it a little better, does it mean that you do not allow ActionServlet to call the validate() method on your GenericActionForm since u do your validation in Action instead? Or I missed something! Also, do you store your validation rules in some type of a XML file or similar? Further, I would imagine that your Action itself checks with the model for any incorrect data in the form if it needs to? I guess u still derive GenericActionForm from ActionForm -Rajan --- Niall Pemberton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Normally you extend ActionForm and implement getters/setters for each property e.g.public String getCustName() public void setCustName(String name) I have a GenericActionForm which has some standard getters/setters e.g.public String getString(String property) public void setString(String property, String value) GenericActionForm stores these property/value pairs in internal arrays. I have customised ActionServlet to populate these and also customised some of the html tags to use the generic getter method if the form is an instance of my GenericActionForm. I don't really know what you mean by "dynamic" validation of properties. When processing a GenericActionForm in the Action you can set up rules for each of the properties to say whether it is required input and what data type it should be. The form has a validate method to check whats been received agaist those rules. Its not dynamic but it is straight forward. If the above checks fail, I can then re-display the form with the values entered. If the checks pass I can then safely populate the data into beans converting from Strings to the correct data types. -Original Message- From: Levi Cook [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 13 April 2001 01:05 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Action Forms And Model objects Can you elaborate on what you mean by "dynamic" properties? How does this refer to dynamic validation of properties? -- Levi - Original Message - From: "Niall Pemberton" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 5:58 PM Subject: RE: Action Forms And Model objects We are currently building the following: 1) GenericActionForm with dynamic properties 2) Override ActionServlet to populate the GenericActionForm 3) Provide type validation conversion mechanisms in the GenericActionForm 4) Provide mechanism to unload the GenericActionForm into GenericBeans Our Actions initiate form validation, unload data into GenericBeans which are then passed to our logic layer and I believe this will allow us to put most of our effort into developing the JSP's and logic layer. -Original Message- From: Natra, Uday [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 12 April 2001 20:17 To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' Subject: Action Forms And Model objects Hi All, I want to know how you all are desiging the Datacopy from ActionForm Beans to actual Model objects. In my opinion ActionForms should have only String DataTypes(Dates are represented as strings). But the Model objects have actual Data Types since they represent the actual Domain objects. If it is the case, we need to write code to copy the contents of the ActionForm into the Domain Object as we cannot use the PropertyUtils.copyProperties(formBean, modelObject); Can anybody comment on this?? Thanks, Uday. __ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
