Can I access the value of a listKey in <s:select> from my Action Class?

[Alia Huss]

Hi!
I was wondering if there is any way that I can access the value of listKey (in a <s:select>) from my Action Class?

My s:select looks as follows:

<s:select label="Namn"
name="person"
list="persons"
listKey="%{id}"
listValue="%{firstName+lastName}"
required="true"
/>

And I want to use the value of %{id} in my Action class, is that possible?
Or can I put the id together with the name in listValue without it showing in the dropdown list?

Thanks in advance
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

Hi Alia,

Just make getter and setter for

person and personKey in your action class.

[Alia Huss]

Thank you very much!
But as it seems the value is never set.

I created both getters and setters for personKey in my Action class, as you said.
I didn't create any for Person since I have no use for the names in my action class.
Sadly it doesn't seem like the value which is selected when I press Save is actually set in my Action class.
Something does happen because the listValue returns an empty String instead of a null but the listKey doesn't call setPersonKey in my Action class at all..

I'll post the code below:
CreateReservationAction.java

public class CreateReservationAction extends ActionSupport{

	private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
	
	public String save() throws Exception{
		int val = 0;
		ReservationService res = new ReservationService();
		Reservation r = new Reservation();
		String startTime = getStartTime();
		String endTime = getEndTime();
		String pId = getPerson();
		String rId = getRoom();
		Integer personId = 0;
		Integer roomId = 0;
		personId = personId.parseInt(pId);
		roomId = roomId.parseInt(rId);
		String company = getCompany();
		
		r.setEndTime(endTime);
		r.setStartTime(startTime);
		r.setPersonId(personId);
		r.setRoomId(roomId);
		
		val = res.addReservation(r);
			
		if(val == -1){
			return ERROR;
		}
		else{
			return SUCCESS;
		}
	}
	public String cancel()throws Exception{
		return NONE;
	}
	public String execute()throws Exception{
		addPersons();
		addRooms();
		addEndTime();
		addStartTime();
		return ERROR;
	}
	private ArrayList<Person> persons = null;
	public void setPersons(ArrayList<Person> per){
		persons = per;
	}
	public ArrayList<Person> getPersons(){
		return persons;
	}
	public void addPersons()throws Exception{
		PersonService p = new PersonService();
		persons = p.getAllPersons();
		
	}
	private ArrayList<Room> rooms = null;
	public void setRooms(ArrayList<Room> value){
		rooms = value;
	}
	public ArrayList<Room> getRooms(){
		return rooms;
	}
	public void addRooms()throws Exception{
		RoomService r = new RoomService();
		rooms = r.getAllRooms();
	}
	public ArrayList<Time> start = null;
	public void setStartTimes(ArrayList<Time> value){
		start = value;
	}
	public ArrayList<Time> getStartTimes(){
		return start;
	}
	public void addStartTime(){
		ArrayList<Time> t = new ArrayList<Time>();
		for(int i = 7; i<18; i++){
			for(int j = 0; j<46; j+=15){
				Time time = new Time();
				String minute = ""+j;
				if(j == 0){
					minute = "00";
				}
				String hour = ""+i;
				String start = hour+":"+minute;
				time.setTime(start);
				t.add(time);
			}
		}
		start = t;
	}
	public ArrayList<Time> end = null;
	public void setEndTimes(ArrayList<Time> value){
		end = value;
	}
	public ArrayList<Time> getEndTimes(){
		return end;
	}
	public void addEndTime(){
		ArrayList<Time> t = new ArrayList<Time>();
		for(int i = 8; i<19; i++){
			for(int j = 0; j<46; j+=15){
				Time time = new Time();
				String minute = ""+j;
				if(j == 0){
					minute = "00";
				}
				String hour = ""+i;
				String end = hour+":"+minute;
				time.setTime(end);
				t.add(time);
			}
		}
		end = t;
	}
	private String startTime = null;

	public void setStartTime(String value){
		startTime = value;
	}
	public String getStartTime(){
		return startTime;
	}
	private String endTime = null;
	public void setEndTime(String value){
		endTime = value;
	}
	public String getEndTime(){
		return endTime;
	}
	private String date = null;
	public void setDate(String value){
		date = value;
	}
	public String getDate(){
		return date;
	}
	private String room = null;
	public void setRoom(String value){
		room = value;
	}
	public String getRoom(){
		return room;
	}
	private String person = null;
	public void setPerson(String value){
		person = value;
	}
	public String getPerson(){
		return person;
	}
	public String company = null;
	public void setCompany(String value){
		company = value;
	}
	public String getCompany(){
		return company;
	}
}

I'm aware that the code isn't pretty, and I'm not planning on keeping it. I'm just trying to see if it'll work to create a Reservation. Once it's working I'll refine the code.

AddReservation.jsp

<%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="/struts-tags" %>
<html>
<head>
<title>Create a new Reservation</title>
<s:head theme="ajax" />
</head>
<body>

<s:form action="CreateReservationAction" method="POST" validate="true">
<s:select label="Starts"
       name="startTime"
       list="startTimes"
       listKey="%{time}"
       listValue="%{time}"
       required="true"
/>
<br></br>
<s:select label="Ends"
       name="endTime"
       list="endTimes"
       listKey="%{time}"
       listValue="%{time}"
       required="true"
/>
<br></br>
<s:select label="Room"
       name="room"
       list="rooms"
       listKey="%{id}"
       listValue="%{name}"
       required="true"
/>
<br></br>
<s:select label="Name"
       name="person"
       list="persons"
       listKey="%{id}"
       listValue="%{firstName+' '+lastName}"
       required="true"
/>
<br></br>
<s:select label="Company"
       name="company"
       list="persons"
       listKey="%{id}"
       listValue="%{company}"
       required="true"
/>
<br></br>
<s:submit action="CreateReservationAction_save" value="save"/>  
<s:submit action="CreateReservationAction_cancel" value="cancel"/>
</s:form>

</body>
</html>

I've checked and rechecked that the "name" values match the getter and setter names, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Appreciate the help
Regards
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

Alia do one thing

for testing purpose change your method="POST" to method="GET" and see in url what all values are going on submit.

[Alia Huss]

The URL after pressing Save looks as follows:
http://localhost:8080/RoomBooking/CreateReservationAction.action?startTime=&endTime=&room=&person=&company=&action%3ACreateReservationAction_save=save

Thanks
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

Oh, I am sorry.

I thought you are using autocompleter.

but you are using select tag. you dont need key term.

you will get key value just by using name.

in your case just make getter and setter of person .

no need to make getter and setter of personKey.

Let me know whether your problem is solved or not.

[Alia Huss]

Still doesn't work.
All the Strings are set to "" instead of null.
And setPerson and setRoom aren't used at all since the values of room and person are still -1.
I was under the impression that setRoom and setPerson would return the value found in listValue, not listKey.
If so, the logical answer to why person and room are still set to -1 would be that the values of listValue are Strings and not ints. Which doesn't help me at all since I want the id, which is an int, and is found in listKey.

This is printed to my console:
02-Mar-2009 13:33:12 com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ParametersInterceptor setParameters
SEVERE: ParametersInterceptor - [setParameters]: Unexpected Exception catched: Error setting expression 'person' with value '[Ljava.lang.String;@1be72ee'
02-Mar-2009 13:33:12 com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.ParametersInterceptor setParameters
SEVERE: ParametersInterceptor - [setParameters]: Unexpected Exception catched: Error setting expression 'room' with value '[Ljava.lang.String;@a7887e'

I guess that's proof that it's trying to use setRoom/setPerson with the String value of listValue.

Thanks
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

Alia what value of select tag person is going in your url ??

have you checked that?

[Alia Huss]

If you mean the same URL I posted, the one that is shown when I switched POST to GET, then I don't know, since it doesn't show.

localhost:8080/RoomBooking/CreateReservationAction.action?startTime=&endTime=&room=&person=&company=&action%3ACreateReservationAction_save=save

Or do you mean another URL? If so, how do I find it? (I'm quite new to this)

Thanks
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

According to the url posted it seems that you have not selected and drop down while submiting the page.

as you can see clearly all the select tags are going empty at the time of submit. Select the values in drop downs then press submit.

[Alia Huss]

I have selected values in the dropdowns,
Atleast according to what I can see.
All the boxes are showing values, such as times, room names and person names.

Strange isn't it.

Thanks
Alia

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

But your url is not carrying any value.

very strange.

[Bilal A. Siddiqui]

Can you show me the code your using to populate these selects tags. ?

[Alia Huss]

It's all posted further up , though personKey and roomKey have been changed back to person and room.
The rest hasn't changed.

Regards
Alia

[Robin John]

hey alia,

The normal behavior --,

if you have the s:select tag and you have selected the values in the dropdown. Then the only thing which you can get is the listKey and nothing else. the "name" attribute is very important in this case, the "name" will always contain the "listKey"...

The "name" will contain a string which is your "id" which will not be a problem while storing, the way it comes is.... as a string if you have a getter setter of strings in action class of person... you can always parse it to an integer if you are sure its always an int...

it comes as -1 because either you have no proper getter setters and you have initialized the person integer as -1.

Please check the value of your %{id} if its rendering the value or not viewing the source or s:property will do... or giving the "listValue" (its only used for displaying) as the same as listKey as follows :

<s:select label="Namn"
name="person"
list="persons"
listKey="%{id}"
listValue="%{id}"
required="true"
/>

Regards.

[Alia Huss]

Hello Robin John!
Thanks for your answer!
All you've said has made perfect sense, so I've changed person and room to Strings in my action.

And I can see the id values in the lists, 1 and 8 for the persons and 1 and 2 for the rooms.
So that's working as it should.
But I still get an empty String when calling getPerson() getRoom() getStartTime() getEndTime() and getCompany() in the Action Class.

But since all the Strings in my action class are initiated with null values, it's obvious that something's happening.
The problem is just that the values in the selects aren't sent along.

Thanks
Alia

[Robin John]

i can see in your class which is posted up.... has

private int person = -1;

and that is the "person" which you should use... if you have to use an int you can go ahead and use it, there should be no problem....


okie if you get to see the id's in the dropdown then the front end is absolutely fine.....
but now i suppose ther's some problem in the configuration

if the values are not turning up in action... i want to know about the interceptor stacks you have included( if any)...in your struts xml in your action mappings....

[Alia Huss]

Right, I'm not sure what an interceptor stack is..
But here's the entire Struts.xml

Struts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC
    "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"
    "http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">

<struts>

    <constant name="struts.enable.DynamicMethodInvocation" value="false" />
    <constant name="struts.devMode" value="true" />
	
	<package name="action" extends="struts-default">
		<action name="Logon">
   		   	<result>/pages/Logon.jsp</result>
   		 </action>
		<action name="Logon1" class="roombooking.action.Logon">
    	  	<result  name="error">/pages/Logon.jsp</result>
      		<result name="success">/pages/LogonSuccess.jsp</result>
	    </action>
	    
	    <action name="Logout" class=".roombooking.action.Logout" >
       		<result name="success" type="redirect">/pages/CheckLogin.jsp</result>
		</action>
		
		<action name="CreateUserAction">
   		   	<result>/pages/AddUser.jsp</result>
   		 </action>
		<action name="CreateUserAction_*" method="{1}" class="roombooking.action.CreateUserAction">  
		    <result name="success">/pages/AddUserSuccess.jsp</result>  
		    <result name="error">/pages/AddUser.jsp</result>
			<result name="none">/pages/Logon.jsp</result>  
		</action> 
		<action name="UpdateDeleteUserAction">
   		   	<result>/pages/UpdateUser.jsp</result>
   		 </action>
		<action name="UpdateDeleteUserAction_*" method="{1}" class="roombooking.action.UpdateDeleteUserAction">
			<result name="success">/pages/UpdateUserSuccess.jsp</result>  
		    <result name="input">/pages/UpdateUser.jsp</result>
			<result name="none">/pages/LogonSuccess.jsp</result>
		</action>
		
		<action name="CreateReservationAction">
   		   	<result>/pages/AddReservation.jsp</result>
   		 </action>	
		<action name="CreateReservationAction_*" method="{1}" class="roombooking.action.CreateReservationAction">
			<result name="success">/pages/AddReservationSuccess.jsp</result>
			<result name="error">/pages/AddReservation.jsp</result>
			<result name="none">/pages/LogonSuccess.jsp</result>
		</action>

	<!-- Add actions here -->
	
	<!-- Add packages here -->
	</package>
</struts>

Hope that helps.

Thanks
Alia

[Robin John]

although we should not use the entire default stack if it is not neccessary, but just to test this whether its working or not... try these 2 mappings as your below mapping for the class (just add these mappings no modification required and see if the parameters come)

Method 1)

 

<action name="CreateReservationAction_*" method="{1}" class="roombooking.action.CreateReservationAction">   
     <interceptor-ref name="defaultStack" />
      <result name="success">/pages/AddReservationSuccess.jsp</result>   
      <result name="error">/pages/AddReservation.jsp</result>   
      <result name="none">/pages/LogonSuccess.jsp</result>   
</action>

Method 2)

<action name="CreateReservationAction_*" method="{1}" class="roombooking.action.CreateReservationAction">   
                <interceptor-ref name="servletConfig"/>
                <interceptor-ref name="chain"/>
                <interceptor-ref name="staticParams"/>
                <interceptor-ref name="params"/>
                <interceptor-ref name="prepare"/>
                <interceptor-ref name="workflow"/>
      <result name="success">/pages/AddReservationSuccess.jsp</result>   
      <result name="error">/pages/AddReservation.jsp</result>   
      <result name="none">/pages/LogonSuccess.jsp</result>   
</action>

and if you got time go through...

http://struts.apache.org/2.x/docs/interceptors.html

regards.

[Alia Huss]

Method 1 made no difference, I still got the empty Strings.
Method 2 couldn't even start, the following error message was shown in my console:

SEVERE: Exception starting filter struts2
Unable to find interceptor class referenced by ref-name servletConfig - interceptor-ref - file:/D:/Workspaces/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.wst.server.core/tmp0/wtpwebapps/RoomBooking/WEB-INF/classes/struts.xml:50:56
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.InterceptorBuilder.constructInterceptorReference(InterceptorBuilder.java:50)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.XmlConfigurationProvider.lookupInterceptorReference(XmlConfigurationProvider.java:864)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.XmlConfigurationProvider.buildInterceptorList(XmlConfigurationProvider.java:453)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.XmlConfigurationProvider.addAction(XmlConfigurationProvider.java:302)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.XmlConfigurationProvider.addPackage(XmlConfigurationProvider.java:384)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.providers.XmlConfigurationProvider.loadPackages(XmlConfigurationProvider.java:239)
at org.apache.struts2.config.StrutsXmlConfigurationProvider.loadPackages(StrutsXmlConfigurationProvider.java:111)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.impl.DefaultConfiguration.reload(DefaultConfiguration.java:152)
at com.opensymphony.xwork2.config.ConfigurationManager.getConfiguration(ConfigurationManager.java:52)
at org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher.init_PreloadConfiguration(Dispatcher.java:398)
at org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher.init(Dispatcher.java:455)
at org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher.init(FilterDispatcher.java:201)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.getFilter(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:275)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.setFilterDef(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:397)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.<init>(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:108)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.filterStart(StandardContext.java:3709)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4363)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:516)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:578)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)

This is the filter I'm using in my web.xml

<filter>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.FilterDispatcher</filter-class>
    </filter>

Thanks
Alia

[Robin John]

not able to find servletConfig class !! great... this is definitely some configuration issue some jars missing from classpath...

have you mentioned this line... in your struts xml..?? if not include it in the first line of your xml... as in the following...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>   
<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC   
    "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"  
    "http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">   
  
<struts>   

 <include file="struts-default.xml" />

    <constant name="struts.enable.DynamicMethodInvocation" value="false" />   
    <constant name="struts.devMode" value="true" />   
       
    <package name="action" extends="struts-default">   
        <action name="Logon">   
            <result>/pages/Logon.jsp</result>   
         </action> 
Rest of the xml..........

[Alia Huss]

No I had not, but now I have. Still getting the same error message though

You have no idea how thankful I am for the time your spending trying to solve this issue!
Thanks!
Alia

[Robin John]

welcome alia... no probs...

but i foresee... that i wouldn't be of much help now...


try method 1 and method 2 both after including the same line (posted up) ... and one more question (i should have asked it in the beginning )

Q) which version of struts 2 are you using ?? if possible upgrade it to the latest one... servletConfig interceptor should work.. and if that works then try method 2...

Q2) Are all the fields in the Page coming as null ?? or only the dropdowns??

regards.

[Alia Huss]

I'm using the latest Struts version, which is 2.1.6 right?
I only have dropdowns in this page and all those are coming as empty Strings, not nulls.
But I have another page for adding a User which only has textfields and those work just fine.

I'll try out those methods again as soon as Eclipse starts again, it's refusing to work at the moment.
I just hope it starts working soon so I can try them out before I have to rush home.
Else I'll try it out tomorrow.
Either way, thank you so much for your help!
I really appreciate it.

Thanks
Alia

[Alia Huss]

Right, a new day, and it's starting out to be great!
I did as you said and updated my struts2-core-2.0.x jar to the new struts2-core-2.1.x jar and made sure that all the jars it's dependent on were there too. And now it works just fine!
Thank you so much!

Kind regards
Alia