I use an ActionBaseForm where I put mapped getters/setters for the properties so every sub-Form can use it without coding anything.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Struts User" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2004 5:40 AM Subject: [Newbie] Is it worth subclassing your own Action and ActionForm classes to attain code re-use? > My application allows a user to make various different types of bookings for > a (fictional!!!) hospital and logs them in a database. Each type of booking > has a set of common properties but also different ones depending on the type > of booking being made. > > I have divided my classes into a BookingAction and BookingActionForm > superclass and subclasses (such as AmbulanceBookingAction and > AmbulanceBookingActionForm) because I anticipate creating other subtypes of > BookingAction that use the same properties in the BookingAction class but > not in the AmbulanceBookingAction subclass. This initially seemed to me to > be in keeping with programming for code re-use and extensibility. > > My problem with this is, if a user submits a form which posts its data via > the ActionServlet to the AmbulanceBookingAction subclass, how would I ensure > the BookingAction class did its stuff? Would it be better / easier to use > separate, non-derived (from my superclasses) Actions and ActionForms to > handle each type of booking and not subclass BookingAction and > BookingActionForm (even though I would be repeating the some of the same > properties common to each different type of booking)? > > I am concerned, though, not to lose points for not reusing code. It just > seems to me, though, that trying to divvy the handling of the form data via > inheritance is too complicated and / or unnecessary. > > In what circumstances might you want to subclass your own Action class and, > if you did, how would you handle/inherit the form data? Would you just use > different subclasses of your Action but just one ActionForm for each Action? > > What is the best way for me to implement this problem? (Or have I answered > my own question?! ;0) ) > > Thanks for indulging me! > > Mark > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
