FormView
Project Documentation
This section describes how integrate quickly FormView with Struts with basic configuration of FormView. It is based on an example which must display a form which manage CREATE, UPDATE and READ Project characteristics. It contains :
Fields validation depends on required, maxlength and date .
Create ProjectForm form with the for fields :
public class ProjectForm extends ActionForm {
private String projectId;
private String projectName;
private String projectDate;
private String managerId;
public String getManagerId() {
return managerId;
}
public void setManagerId(String managerId) {
this.managerId = managerId;
}
public String getProjectDate() {
return projectDate;
}
public void setProjectDate(String projectDate) {
this.projectDate = projectDate;
}
public String getProjectId() {
return projectId;
}
public void setProjectId(String projectId) {
this.projectId = projectId;
}
public String getProjectName() {
return projectName;
}
public void setProjectName(String projectName) {
this.projectName = projectName;
}
}
Create ProjectAction which implements methods load and display of class FormViewDispatchAction :
public ActionForward load(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm actionForm, HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
ProjectForm form = (ProjectForm)actionForm;
// Load Project if Id project is null (UPDATE) and do nothing otherwise
if (form.getProjectId() != null && form.getProjectId().length() > 0) {
// Load Project with id get project ID and update form with value of project.
}
return display(mapping, form, request, response);
}
public ActionForward display(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm actionForm, HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
// Load list of managers and save it into request
List managerList = ....
request.setAttribute("managerList", managerList);
return mapping.findForward("display");
}
Declare form and action into struts-config :
....
<form-bean name="projectForm"
type="net.sourceforge.formview.usecases.form.ProjectForm"/>
....
<action path="/project"
parameter="dispatch"
name="projectForm"
validate="false"
scope="request"
type="net.sourceforge.formview.usecases.action.ProjectAction" >
<forward name="display" path="/project.jsp" redirect="false"/>
</action>
....Create XML file /WEB-INF/validation.xml :
<form name="/project">
<field property="projectName" depends="required,maxlength">
<arg0 key="projectForm.projectName.error"/>
<arg1 name="maxlength" resource="false" key="${var:maxlength}"/>
<var>
<var-name>maxlength</var-name>
<var-value>50</var-value>
</var>
</field>
<field property="projectDate" depends="date">
<arg0 key="projectForm.projectDate.error"/>
<var>
<var-name>datePattern</var-name>
<var-value>${datePattern}</var-value>
</var>
</field>
</form>Create /WEB-INF/form-view.xml like this :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<form-view>
<!-- Definition about CRU states (CREATE, READ and UPDATE) -->
<states>
<state name="CREATE" behaviour="READ-WRITE" />
<state name="READ" behaviour="READ-ONLY" />
<state name="UPDATE" behaviour="READ-WRITE" />
</states>
</form-view> Add line into struts-config.xml to configure FormView plugin and Validator Plugin :
<!-- FormView Plugin -->
<plug-in className="net.sourceforge.formview.struts.plugin.FormViewPlugIn">
<set-property property="formViewConfig" value="/WEB-INF/form-view.xml"/>
<set-property property="validatorConfig" value="/WEB-INF/validation.xml"/>
</plug-in>
<!-- Validator Plugin -->
<plug-in className="org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorPlugIn">
<set-property property="pathnames" value="/WEB-INF/validator-rules.xml,/WEB-INF/validation.xml"/>
</plug-in> By default, FormView manage input type="text" and select HTML. If you want customize your render for another HTML elements or manage another state, you must parameter your file displayer-config my-displayer-config.xml and register it with plugin like this :
<!-- FormView Plugin -->
<plug-in className="net.sourceforge.formview.struts.plugin.FormViewPlugIn">
<set-property property="formViewConfig" value="/WEB-INF/form-view.xml"/>
<set-property property="validatorConfig" value="/WEB-INF/validation.xml"/>
<set-property property="displayerConfig" value="/WEB-INF/my-displayer-config.xml"/>
</plug-in>
See sections Initialize FormView and How customize FormView DisplayerConfig for more informations. .
Create projetct.jsp :
<%@ taglib uri="/WEB-INF/form-view.tld" prefix="formview" %>
....
<formview:page>
<html:form action="/project" >
<html:text property="projectName" />
<html:text property="projectDate" />
<html:select property="managerId" >
<html:options collection="managerList" property="id" labelProperty="name"/>
</html:select>
</html:form>
</formview:page> To use form with CREATE behaviour, call url with dispatch loadCreate (/project.do?dispatch=loadCreate). HTML genrated will be :
<form action="/project.do" >
<input type="text" name="projectName" /> *
<input type="text" property="projectDate" /><img src="calendar.gif" />
<select name="managerId" >
<option value="1">Name 1</option>
<option value="2" selected="selected" >Name 2</option>
</select>
</form> To use form with READ behaviour, call url with dispatch loadRead (/project.do?dispatch=loadRead). HTML genrated will be :
<form action="/project.do" >
<input type="text" name="projectName" readonly="readonly" />
<input type="text" property="projectDate" readonly="readonly" />
<input type="hidden" name="managerId" value="2" />
<input type="text" name="mangerIdLabel" value="Name 2" readonly="readonly" />
</form>