struts newbie needs help with autocompleter

[Mark Wa]

Hi all. Im new to struts. I have been reading up on it for about 2 days now. I am trying to get an autocompleter to work from a list populated by a database call. I understand that I can set up a class that adds things to a list. I can handle the database call, no problem. The problem I have is all the config thats required in struts.
Im currently using struts 2.1.
I have the following in my JSP:

 <sx:autocompleter  list="state" name="StateName"/>   

with of course the

 <%@ taglib prefix="sx" uri="/struts-dojo-tags" %>   

I also have the following in a class :-

  
package mypackagenamehere;
import com.opensymphony.xwork2.ActionSupport;
import java.util.*;
public class AutoCompleter extends ActionSupport{
  private List state;
  public String execute() throws Exception{
    state = new ArrayList();
    state.add("Alabama");
    state.add("Alaska");
    state.add("Arizona");
    state.add("Arkansas");
    state.add("California");
    state.add("Colorado");
    state.add("Connecticut");
    state.add("Delaware");
    state.add("District of Columbia");
    state.add("Florida");
    state.add("Georgia");
    state.add("Hawaii");
    state.add("Idaho");
    state.add("Illinois");
    state.add("Indiana");
    state.add("Iowa");  
    state.add("Kansas");    
    state.add("Kentucky");
    state.add("Louisiana");  
    state.add("Maine");  
    state.add("Maryland");
    state.add("Massachusetts");    
    state.add("Michigan");
    state.add("Minnesota");
    state.add("Mississippi");
    state.add("Missouri");
    state.add("Montana");  
    state.add("Nebraska");  
    state.add("Nevada");  
    state.add("New Hampshire");    
    state.add("New Jersey");
    state.add("New Mexico");
    state.add("New York");  
    state.add("North Carolina");
    state.add("North Dakota");  
    state.add("Ohio");
    state.add("Oklahoma");
    state.add("Oregon");  
    state.add("Pennsylvania");
    state.add("Rhode Island");  
    state.add("South Carolina");  
    state.add("South Dakota");
    state.add("Tennessee");  
    state.add("Texas");    
    state.add("Utah");
    state.add("Vermont");  
    state.add("Virginia");    
    state.add("Washington");  
    state.add("West Virginia");
    state.add("Wisconsin");  
    state.add("Wyoming");
    return SUCCESS;
  }
  public List getState(){
    return state;
  }
}  

and here's where I think I am going wrong. I have the following in struts.xml:-

<package name="mypackagenamehere" namespace="/" extends="struts-default">
        <action name="autocompleter" class="mypackagenamehere.AutoCompleter">
          <result>/fcs/myPage.jsp</result>
	</action>
</package>  

and the following in the web.xml:-

 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app id="WebApp_ID" version="2.4" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/j2ee/web-app_2_4.xsd">
	<display-name>HA</display-name>
	<welcome-file-list>
		<welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
		<welcome-file>index.htm</welcome-file>
		<welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
		<welcome-file>default.html</welcome-file>
		<welcome-file>default.htm</welcome-file>
		<welcome-file>default.jsp</welcome-file>
	</welcome-file-list>
	 <servlet>
		<servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet</servlet-class>
		<init-param>
			<param-name>config</param-name>
			<param-value>/WEB-INF/struts.xml</param-value>
		</init-param>
		<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
	</servlet>
	<servlet-mapping>
		<servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
		<url-pattern>*.do</url-pattern>
	</servlet-mapping>
	
		 
</web-app>

but I get the error "The Struts dispatcher cannot be found. This is usually caused by using Struts tags without the associated filter. Struts tags are only usable when the request has passed through its servlet filter, which initializes the Struts dispatcher needed for this tag. - [unknown location]"
when visiting my jsp page. So I added the following to the web.xml:-

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

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>
 

and then I get a HTTP 404.

Can anyone help. It's frustrating getting started with struts. I get the ideas behind it but cant get anything to actually work.

[David Newton]

Mark Wa wrote:

	 <servlet>
		<servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet</servlet-class>

Whoa, that's Struts 1. You'll want to take out all the Struts 1 stuff.

What libraries are you deploying?

[Mark Wa]

Does nobody have any ideas?

[David Newton]

Please read EaseUp. It's 8:30 on a Saturday morning--the weekend.

[Mark Wa]

My apologies. Its 12.40 here. I forget that most of this forum's users are probably in the USA. I don't mean to be pushy.

[Mark Wa]

David Newton wrote:

Mark Wa wrote:

	 <servlet>
		<servlet-name>FrontController</servlet-name>
		<servlet-class>org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet</servlet-class>

Whoa, that's Struts 1. You'll want to take out all the Struts 1 stuff.

What libraries are you deploying?

sorry didn't see your post.
I am using the struts 2.1 jars. I probably mixed up code from head first servlets&jsps as well as demos on the internet. My bad.

[Mark Wa]

OK. That's Stripped out. Now I guess as i'm still getting a HTTP404 that the filter is not forwarding the request on

[David Newton]

"The" Struts 2 jars doesn't help.

Please see TellTheDetails.

Is there anything in the startup log? (My guess right now is yes.) Do you have devMode turned on?

[Mark Wa]

I added all the jars that came with struts 2 as I am unsure of which I will be needing.

Server log? - yes there's this:- (but it always says this)

*** DEPLOYMENTS IN ERROR: Name -> Error

vfszip:/etc/jboss-5.1.0.GA/server/default/deploy/MW.war/ -> org.jboss.deployers.spi.DeploymentException: URL file:/etc/jboss-5.1.0.GA/server/default/tmp/3j011-jr3lo8-g7aajrxf-1-g7af6993-9x/MW.war/ deployment failed


DEPLOYMENTS IN ERROR:
  Deployment "vfszip:/etc/jboss-5.1.0.GA/server/default/deploy/MW.war/" is in error due to the following reason(s): org.jboss.deployers.spi.DeploymentException: URL file:/etc/jboss-5.1.0.GA/server/default/tmp/3j011-jr3lo8-g7aajrxf-1-g7af6993-9x/MW.war/ deployment failed

	at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.checkComplete(DeployersImpl.java:993)
	at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.deployers.DeployersImpl.checkComplete(DeployersImpl.java:939)
	at org.jboss.deployers.plugins.main.MainDeployerImpl.checkComplete(MainDeployerImpl.java:873)
	at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.repository.MainDeployerAdapter.checkComplete(MainDeployerAdapter.java:128)
	at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.hotdeploy.HDScanner.scan(HDScanner.java:369)
	at org.jboss.system.server.profileservice.hotdeploy.HDScanner.run(HDScanner.java:255)
	at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:471)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRunAndReset(FutureTask.java:351)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.runAndReset(FutureTask.java:178)
	at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.access$201(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:165)
	at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:267)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1110)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:603)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:636)

dev mode? no idea what that is.

[David Newton]

You cannot add an arbitrary collection of jars to a deployment, as each may introduce their own dependencies, or otherwise impact expected behavior. Stick to the minimum until you know what you're doing.

[Mark Wa]

OK I just have :-

jstl-api-1.2.jar
jstl-impl-1.2.jar
spring-core-2.5.6.jar
spring-web-2.5.6.jar
struts2-core-2.1.8.1.jar
struts2-dojo-plugin-2.1.8.1.jar
struts2-spring-plugin-2.1.8.1.jar
xwork-core-2.1.6.jar

now it deploys fine when I deploy without the filter, but when I add the filter stuff into the web.xml I get an error. My guess is that the jar containing the required class is not there? - googling it but not having much luck.

[David Newton]

You can't deploy the Spring plugin without deploying Spring.

[Mark Wa]

OK. forgetting the spring jars the problem is still the same

The Struts dispatcher cannot be found. This is usually caused by using Struts tags without the associated filter. Struts tags are only usable when the request has passed through its servlet filter, which initializes the Struts dispatcher needed for this tag. - [unknown location]

[David Newton]

Are you calling a JSP page with Struts 2 tags directly instead of going through an action?

[Mark Wa]

Yes probably. I am typing the URL of the jsp page with the tags on.

[David Newton]

As the error states, you can't.

[Mark Wa]

but would

 <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

not run everything through the filter?

[David Newton]

Yes. That does not mean the filter *does* something with every request.

Seriously; why would I lie?

[Mark Wa]

David Newton wrote:Yes. That does not mean the filter *does* something with every request.

Seriously; why would I lie?

OK now i'm confused. Think I need to find a comprehensive struts tutorial. Any suggestions?

[David Newton]

How about the Struts documentation wiki?

What's confusing? A filter mapped to "/*" will intercept every request. Filters can ignore requests and simply pass it on to the next filter in the chain.

[Mark Wa]

Yeah I understand the filters bit, just not sure how I should be accessing my jsp

[David Newton]

Through an action.

[Mark Wa]

and that would be?

http://localhost:8080/mywebappname/autocompleter.action ?
http://localhost:8080/mywebappname/autocompleter ?

nothing works

[David Newton]

ItDoesntWorkIsUseless.

I don't know what the app context is you're deploying to; if it's "mywebapname" as you imply then either should work with Struts 2.1.

I'd encourage you to turn on devMode, set the log level to debug, and look for startup errors.

[Mark Wa]

wow you have tips pages for everything!

It works (well not correctly, but IT WORKS!)

I changed both of these from false to true

 
<constant name="struts.enable.DynamicMethodInvocation" value="true" />
<constant name="struts.devMode" value="true" />   

Nearly a whole day, but Its solved!

Thanks David for your help. Its much appreciated.

[David Newton]

DynamicMethodInvocation is something else entirely and would not have caused it to start working; it's only for using "action!method" URL patterns. DevMode just jacks up some reporting. If it started working after those changes then something else had been corrected, but not deployed.

No problem--it can be a frustrating process wrapping your head around something new sometimes.