I would like to mention that we can display both global errors and field-specific errors in the same page in a mutually-exclusive fashion (well, it's working with Struts 1.1b2, anyway).
Sometimes, it would be nice if we could display global errors at the top, and field-specific errors near the fields. Anyone who has tried using <html:errors /> at the top knows that all errors will be displayed, not just the global one like we want.
To lock out the field-specific errors, do this:
Then, continue with each field:
This idiom does make the assumption that the Action classes are using ActionErrors.GLOBAL_ERROR.
The following is just a quick discussion of the code's "aesthetics", so feel free to skip this part.
At first glance, the code for displaying the GLOBAL_ERROR might not look like it's the "Struts Way" (at least, it didn't to me), since the whole point of custom tags is to eliminate scriptlets. A week ago, I would have thought that it wouldn't even compile, being a
JSP expression inside a custom tag. But it does, and that's always a good thing! Also, I don't consider the expression syntax <%= %> a scriptlet, which, from my impression of the Struts UserGuide, is in accord with the Struts folks.
Also, in the UserGuide is the use of "(RT EXPR)", which I think means "Run Time Expression" which means JSP expressions can be used. Don't quote me on this, though.
I hope this helps.
Ted Schrader
SCJ2P
[ December 12, 2002: Message edited by: Ted Schrader ]
