message resource bundles and client-side validation

[Jeff Kyser]

Hey all,

Server-side validation works fine for me, but I'm having a little
trouble with client-side validation as follows:
        Because lots of different web apps use the 'default' messages,
        I placed them in a separate file, ValidatorResources.properties:
        errors.byte={0} must be a byte.
        errors.double={0} must be a double.
        (etc.)
        My struts-config.xml file declares a second resource file:
        
        <message-resources parameter="torch.webapp.sandbox.ValidatorResources"
                           null="false"
                           key="VALIDATOR_BUNDLE">
        </message-resources>
        I reference the bundle  when I display the error message
        associated with a validation error (on my jsp):
                <html:text property="byteField" />
                <html:errors property="byteField" 
bundle="VALIDATOR_BUNDLE"/>

	And my validation.xml rule file contains a reference to the message:

            <field property="byteField"   depends="byte"   >
                <arg0 key="validateForm.byteField.errorname"/>
            </field>
	Finally, my ApplicationResources.property file lists the property:

	validateForm.byteField.errorname=<span class='formErrorMessage'>Byte 
field</span>

	(where class formErrorMessage is declared in a css file...)

WITHOUT client-side validation, if I enter an invalid value for the 
byte field,
I get a message like:

	Byte field must be a byte.

Cool - everything works.

Now, when I turn on client-side validation, the fun begins.
First, leaving everything alone except adding the <html:javascipt>:
	<html:javascript formName="validateForm"/>
	<html:form action="/validate" onsubmit="return 
validateValidateForm(this);">

I get the following popup with an invalid entry:

	JavaScript: ???en_US.errors.byte???

and yes, inspecting the javascript function ByteValidations()
reveals that it contains that exact string.
If I move the definitions for:

	errors.byte={0} must be a byte

from ValidatorResources.properties to ApplicationResources.properties,
(my default resource bundle) then I get the following popup:
	JavaScript: <span class='formErrorMessage'>Byte field</span> must be a 
byte.

(in other words, it has displayed my stylesheet instead of using it to
format, since the string is being displayed in a JavaScript dialog
rather than as HTML).
In summary,
	1. I don't seem to be able to pull in the resources into the JavaScript
	when they come from something other than the default resource bundle,
and
	2. I wanted to have nicer (like bold red) markup on the error messages
	when only server-side validation is present (like the client turned 
off javascript),
	but I get the explicit markup in the JavaScript dialog when 
client-side validation
	is off.

Yes, I suppose I could include the ValidatorResources.properties 
messages
into every ApplicationResources.properties file and only have a single 
(default)
message bundle, and yes, I could have a plainer message, but I wondered 
if
anyone saw a problem with what I'd done or had a better solution.

TIA,

-jeff

BTW, one screw-up on my part that made me think validation wasn't 
working -
I initially declared my error messages  with double quotes:

	validateForm.byteField.errorname=<span class="formErrorMessage">Byte 
field</span>

and they got incorporated into the JavaScript inside double quotes:

	"<span class="formErrorMessage">Byte field</span>"

and of course, I got absolutely nothing... good old JavaScript...