html:errors and manual iterate

[StrutsUser]

I have a situation in which I have to add an ActionError without a message (use 
it to indicate field in error on the page). If I use the generic html:errors 
tag, it displays lineitems without a message. Is there a way to iterate over 
html:errors to check that a message should be displayed only if the message is 
not empty. 
Thanks in advance for any suggestions,
Leonard