I would think that doing validation in your action would be contra-indicated as a design matter, if you are doing Struts struts rather than one of the other struts.
On 12/18/05, Rick R <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 12/18/05, Josh McDonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > What's the best place to put input validation and possible repair? > > > > I actually prefer to do the validation checks in my DispatchAction. The > reason being is that, inevitably, you'll end up with a case where you'll > have some Lists you'll want to populate on your input JSP that are setup > before you get to the JSP and if validation fails and you use the struts > built in approach calling validate="true" in your action mapping, you'll > end > up with all kinds of problems when you are brought back to the JSP after > validation fails (request scoped lists won't be in scope). Unless you use > some other plans to keep the lists around (Session, reset,etc... all of > which I don't like much and I talk more about here: > http://www.reumann.net/struts/articles/request_lists.jsp). I find it saves > you from headaches down the line if you just do your validation calls from > your Action class. You can still use the validation framework (commons > validator stuff that Paul mentions) to set up validation checks if that's > your pleasure... it's just that the call to invoke those checks ends up > being initiated from the Action. As an example: > > //notice the prep method which will put stuff back in request scope when > validation fails and would also be used by other dispatch methods in this > action class > > public ActionForward yourActionMethod(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm > form, HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws > Exception { > YourForm yourForm = (YourForm)form; > if (validationSuccessful(request, yourForm)) { > //do stuff. > return mapping.findForward(Constants.SUCCESS); > } else { > prep(request); > return mapping.findForward(Constants.FAILURE); > } > } > > private void prep(HttpServletRequest request) { > request.setAttribute(Constants.SOME_LIST_NAME, > service.getSomeKindOfList()); > } > > private boolean validationSuccessful(HttpServletRequest request, > EmployeeForm form) { > boolean isOk = true; > ActionMessages errors = new ActionMessages(); > //do your validation checks... > //ie... > if (form.getFirstName() == null || form.getFirstName().trim().length() > == 0) { > errors.add("firstName", new ActionMessage("errors.required", > "First > Name")); > } > //or you could even call the form's validate... > //errors = form.validate( mapping, request ); > > //continue with other checks > > if (!errors.isEmpty()) { > saveErrors(request, errors); > isOk = false; > } > return isOk; > } > > -- > Rick > > -- "You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it float on its back." ~Dakota Jack~
