Hi Craig,

Thanks for the reply. I came across this solution, but does this not mean
that the user will only be able to generate one report at a time (since we
are storing the flag in the user's session)? If the user starts generating a
second report which is much smaller than the first then would this not
create a problem?

Thanks again for your input. Much appreciated.

-Riz.

-----Original Message-----
From: Craig McClanahan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2004 3:37 PM
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: Re: Intermediate loading page

Rizwan Merchant wrote:

>  
>
> I am working on a web application using the Struts framework. Using a 
> form on a jsp page, I generate a report which is displayed in pdf on a 
> new screen. The report is generated through an Action class method. I 
> would like to display a "Please wait" screen while the report is being 
> generated.
>
> The action class method calls functions that generate a pdf file and 
> then redirects control to that file. So I cannot use the flush() 
> method to send html to the browser while the report is being generated 
> (once a response is committed it cannot be written to again). Neither 
> can I use the 'div' tag method as my new page is not a jsp page (it is 
> a new browser window with pdf file displayed inside it).

One common strategy for this sort of thing is to refactor your action into
several, along the following lines:

* The Action that is currently creating the PDF should instead
  fire off a background thread to do the report preparation.  It
  will then forward to a "Please Wait" page (see below).

* The background thread should do whatever is needed to prepare
  the PDF file, and set a flag variable in the user's session when it's
done,
  followed by terminating the thread.

* The "Please Wait" page should say something like "Report generation
  in progress", and use a meta-refresh tag to automatically submit itself
  every few seconds, with the destination being a "Done Yet" action.

* The "Done Yet" action will consult the flag variable in the user's
session.
  If its not there, forward back to the "Please Wait" page again.  If it's
  done, forward to the URL to retrieve the PDF itself.

Craig


>
> My code is shown below....
>
> //the jsp code calling the action
> <nested:form action="/reports.do?action=getTransactionReports" 
> target="_blank">
>
>
> // The Action class
> public ActionForward getTransactionReports(ActionMapping mapping, 
> ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse 
> response) throws Exception {
>
> ICustomerAdministrationClient admin_impl = 
> getCustomerAdministrationService(request);
>
> //enforce user permission
> enforceFeaturePermissions(EMSConstants.FEATURE_REPORTS, request, 1);
>
> EMSBaseAdminForm admin_form = (EMSBaseAdminForm)form; ReportsForm 
> reportsForm = admin_form.getReportsForm();
>
> //cant do this as it creates an IllegalStateException // PrintWriter 
> html = response.getWriter(); // // html.print("<html>\n<head><title>my 
> test</title></head>\n<body>"); // html.print("<p><img 
> src=\"images/dpt_logo.jpg\"></body></html>");
> // html.flush();
> // html.close();
>
>
> //if details type is summary then output format can only be PDF
> if(reportsForm.getDetailsType().equals(EMSConstants.REPORTS_SUMMARY))
> reportsForm.setOutputFormat(EMSConstants.REPORTS_FORMAT_PDF);
>
> //generate the reports using jasper reports 
> doJasperReports(reportsForm, request);
>
> CustomerForm customer_form = (CustomerForm)getSessionObject(request,
> "customerForm");
> Collection all_region_list_forms =
> (Collection)getSessionObject(request, "allRegionListForms");
>
> admin_form.setCustomerForm(customer_form);
> admin_form.setRegionListForms(all_region_list_forms);
> request.setAttribute(EMSConstants.FORM_VIEW, admin_form);
>
> String relativePath = File.separator + "temp_" + 
> request.getSession().getId(); String pdfFilePath = File.separator + 
> "temp" + relativePath + File.separator + "ReportinPDF.pdf"; String 
> csvFilePath = File.separator + "temp" + relativePath + File.separator 
> + "ReportinCSV.dpt";
>
> if(reportsForm.getOutputFormat().equals(EMSConstants.REPORTS_FORMAT_PD
> F)) return (new ActionForward(pdfFilePath, true));
>
> return (new ActionForward(csvFilePath, true)); }
>
>
> Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> <http://www.digitalpaytech.com/>
>
>               
>
> Rizwan Merchant - Software Developer
> 4105 Grandview Highway, Burnaby, BC, V5C 6B4, Canada
> Email:        [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Phone:       604-688-1959 x243   Fax: 604-687-4329    
> Toll Free:    1-888-687-6822       
> Website:    www.digitalpaytech.com <outbind://11/www.digitalpaytech.com>
>
>
>  



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