"reset " button not working properly

[kay lin]

hi:
all, I use the validate() method of ActionForm to help me validate some inputs in the form in my JSP page, but I have encountered a strange error....

let us say if one of the input fields is invalid, then it will return to the original JSP page with the error msg(s), however, when that happens, my "Reset" button doesn't work properly, meaning, if i click the "reset" button , it won't clear out the fields for me.

But my "reset" button does clear out the fields when the user FIRST enters the JSP page,

so I thought it was rather strange, can sombody please lend me a hand?
many thanks....

[Marc Peabody]

reset doesn't clear the values, it turns them back into the defaults.

If you view the source of the page check out the value attributes of the textfields. Those are the values it will default to when reset is clicked.

[kay lin]

so are you saying if i do the following

<html:text name="textbox1" value=""/>

and when i click on the "reset" button, the text fields will be cleard? since value=""???

let me know please


many thanks..

[Marc Peabody]

Yes. But I think that also means it will also override the prepopulation of values as well. (Everything will always be blank when you enter the page.)

[Junilu Lacar]

Originally posted by dog lin:
But my "reset" button does clear out the fields when the user FIRST enters the JSP page,

so I thought it was rather strange, can sombody please lend me a hand?
many thanks...

Marc is correct, the reset button does not clear the fields values, it restores them to the values that they had when the page was initially displayed. It just so happens that when you go to the page the first time, there are no values in the fields. In subsequent requests for the page where fields are prepopulated, reset simply restores the prepopulated values.

The processing of the regular "reset" button is entirely on the client side; no request is sent to the server. What I normally do to solve this problem is to use a Submit button instead with a value of "reset". Then I can make the receiving Action handle "reset" request by clearing the appropriate fields in the ActionForm.