Hi Clara, thanks for reading my article.
It sounds like you are programming using Model 1 (JSPs with beans, no servlets). In this case the JSPs are acting as their own controllers and patterns like PRG don't make a whole lot of sense.
The purpose of PRG is to separate task controllers from page controllers across a request boundary in order to avoid repeating the original POST operation. When it's all rolled up into a single JSP, rather than into separate units, there's really no way to create such a separation.
The only means of doing this in a non-servlet environment is to have the JSP that is being POSTED to just contain Java processing before redirecting to a JSP that composes the view, but that really makes no sense when a servlet is so much better suited for this purpose.
I would very much recommend that you avoid frameworks like
JSF and Struts until you have a good grasp of JSP and servlets under your belt, but servlets themselves are a basic fundamental building block of web applications -- more fundamental than even JSPs -- and if you are at the point where you are wanting to employ patterns like PRG to create real-world web applications, then it's time to get servlets into your repetoire.
[ April 14, 2006: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]