This is a good question.
We have the similar scenarios when we find a lot of layouts which have no interaction with struts actions.
These are mostly the
jsp or a template made by sitemesh.
Since we cannot use url to past request object with href link (same with redirectAction), we must use session.
These sessions are spring sessin beans.
One solution that we do is to use struts2 dispatcher with sitemesh, such that the current layout (menu, navigation button highlight etc.) will be kept but the user can make change to the main body only.
For some pages (eg. item list table, search table etc.) that we must display the content BEFORE it gets submit action, then we must use session.
I am looking for a good solution to get rid of session.