Struts version: 1.0.2
Servlet engine: Tomcat 4.0.2
I am trying to build a wizard framework using Tiles. It follows the standard Windows
wizard metaphor with a body panel and navigation buttons below. I am running into a
problem and would like any opinions/suggestions.
A logical use of Tiles would call for the body and nav buttons to be separate tiles
that are combined using the tileDefinitions file. For example:
<definition name="Wizard" path="/wizardLayout.jsp">
<put name="title" value="Title.jsp"/>
<put name="body" value=""/>
<put name="navigation" value="Nav.jsp"/>
</definition>
<!-- Intro page -->
<definition name="Intro" extends="Wizard">
<put name="body" value="workflow/intro/intro.jsp"/>
</definition>
Here, the wizardLayout.jsp is solely responsible, as the name suggests, for laying out
the various tiles using necessary HTML tags.
The problem with this strategy is that by separating the body and nav into separate
tiles limits the use of the Struts <html:form> tag. Firstly, the begin and end form
tag must be in the same JSP. This prevents the tag from beginning in the 'body' tile
and ending in the 'navigation' tile. There are other complications, even if I'm
willing to compromise the design and place the <html:form> tag in the layout page
(wizardLayout.jsp above). This would require some convoluted JavaScript that sets the
form's action attribute on each page.
The only workaround I have found is to have the body & the navigation in the same
tile; in other words -- not have a 'navigation' tile at all. This has a serious
shortcoming in that it forces every body panel (i.e. every page in the wizard) to have
knowledge of layout and therefore responsible for its maintenance.
I really like the concept of Tiles and would love to use it to its fullest. Do you
have any suggestions? Am I missing something fundamental?
Sri
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