Rick Reumann wrote:
Tom Holmes Jr. wrote the following on 9/11/2004 7:02 PM:
So, I guess the only question I have is:
Is there a problem with a web-site that contains a bunch of links to various '.do' pages as opposed to '.jsp' pages? Are there any security concerns? Do I really want to have direct links to '.do' pages?
Remember when you are setting up a global forward and going, as you say, directly to a page from a .do link you are really still using a default FowardAction provided by Struts. You DEFINTELY want to do this (as you have) vs going directly to a jsp page. If you decided later you need to do something before you forwarded to your jsp you could easily set you same .do link as a mapping to go to one of your own custom actions. If you had bypassed this step by providing just a basic link to the jsp you would end up having to change your link. Bottom line is you always want to go through a controller (an Action class) even if it's just the simple ForwardAction.
If you had to call a page that needed to display data immediately, is this how you would do it?
What do you mean by display data immediately? You still always want to have your links use a struts mapping (.do or whatever you are using).
I mean back in the day when I used to do ASP pages, I could call an ASP page, the ASP page would open up to the database, do a select statement, and build a list of results. Then I would iterate through the recordset and display the data within the HTML. Hence, everytime this URL was called, the data was immediately collected and displayed from the database. This is something I know we can do with the <sql> tags within JSP pages, but it isn't a very good way to do things and breaks the whole MVC architecture.
In my case, by calling the .do directly, as you said I am calling the Forward Action which is using a ListBean in order to do the database work and get my recordset back into a collection. Then when I go to my "View", the JSP page can display my data immediately.
And, there are going to be times when I want to call a .jsp file first, when I have to collect data, I just want to go that .jsp page first with the form and enter my data, then I can submit to the .do file for validation. If I were to call the action first, since there is no data in any of the fields, then I would get all these errors on the first round. Shouldn't that be the case?
Oh, and I was think the ApplicationResources to put in the links to my navigation menu ... now that I see global forwards. Could I use this to define my list of main pages for various parts of my web-site?
I usually don't put the actual links(ie. /employeeAction.do) in the ApplicationResources file, but I will put their names in there sometimes (ie link.update.employee=Update Employee). For your navigation you *should* only have to maintain one page for these links so maintenance is easy so I don't see much reason to put the links in the App resources file. (If you are having to copy your navigation links on to different pages consider using Sitemesh or Tiles. Your navigation should just be one page).
I agree, I did not put the action link in the ApplicationResources file, but as you suggested just had the name of the link. I am taking advantage of the global-forwards for the navigation side-bar, and that lets me keep those links maintained in the struts-config.xml file.
I do have a navigation menu in each one of my folders which is a different part of my web-application/site. Because of the way I display my images and because of the changing paths, I did it that way. Tiles is a whole another API, and I do want to learn it, but I have to learn to walk before I can run. So, for right now, I'll keep all my navigation pages, though I agree, it is difficult to maintain.
Once I get my hands around, a few more forms to Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete data, then I'm going to tackle creating my own taglibs, then dig into Tiles, and then maybe Java Server Faces, then EJB's, then maybe PHP, then maybe VB.NET/ASP.NET and C#. The .NET and C# sharp technologies are always at the bottom of my list.
Anyway, thanks for all the help and suggestions. It seems the best way to go. My web-site has already undergone 4-5 revisions as I learn more and become more saavy with Struts.
Thanks again.
Tom
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