Using a List for Field Population

[Steve Dyke]

I have a remote table with users names. I have a JSP that has several fields for the user to fill in. Two of them are first and last name(the one logged on to the web app is not always the one whose name will go on the form). Can and if how would I set this up so the user could select the name from a list.

[Bear Bibeault]

Use a <select> rather than a text field.

[Steve Dyke]

Can you give me some idea of how to populate the drop down box dynamically with the result set of my remote connection?

[Bear Bibeault]

By "remote connection" I assume you mean a database?

Assuming that your web app is patterned using best-practice MVC patterns, it pretty straight-forward:

The page controller for the JSP will call a model class that retrieves the list from the DB.

If the list is not already in a suitable format, such as a List implementation, it should re-format the data as such

The page controller places the list in request scope as a scoped variable with a suitable name

On the JSP, the JSTL and EL are used to iterate over the list and create the options for the select element

If the options are to have values that are different from the displayed text, the list can be sets of name/value pairs.
[ May 16, 2007: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]

[Steve Dyke]

Is it going to be possible to have one list with first name and last name and have that fill in two separate fields on the form?

[Bear Bibeault]

Two lists.