Struts Validator With Modules

[Chris Elvart]

Does the validator framework work with struts modules?

I am experimenting with struts modules using WSAD 5.1 and struts 1.1 and I can't get it to work and can find no references to this anywhere on the web.

I have a module with a validator plugin set up to load module specific validator-rules.xml and validation.xml files and the log shows they get loaded. My actions map correctly, but if I try to use client side validation my

<html:javascript>

elements manufacture no code regardless of what I do. I can't even get the static javascript to come out.

Also, server side pre-action validator validations are not performed even if I tell it to in my action mapping. I have banged my head against this one for a while and am finally asking for help.

<b>???</b><br/>
How does the jsp tag <html:javascript> know what module's rules to load, or do I need to put all of my validation rules in a single multi-module validation rules file (ick!) ?

Here are the relevant sections from the files...
<br/><br/><b>struts-thingy-config.xml<b><br/>

<struts-config>
<!-- Form Beans -->
<form-beans>
<form-bean name="thingyForm" type="org.apache.struts.validator.DynaValidatorActionForm">
<form-property name="thingyName" type="java.lang.String">
</form-property>
<form-property name="thingyDesc" type="java.lang.String">
</form-property>
</form-bean>
</form-beans>
 
<!-- Action Mappings -->
<action-mappings>
<action path="/home" forward="/../WEB-INF/thingy/thingyHome.jsp">
</action>
<action path="/saveThingy" forward="/../WEB-INF/thingy/thingyHome.jsp" name="thingyForm" scope="request" validate="true" input="/../WEB-INF/thingy/thingyError.jsp">
</action>
<action path="/addThingy" forward="/../WEB-INF/thingy/editThingy.jsp" input="/../WEB-INF/thingy/thingyError.jsp" name="thingyForm" scope="request">
</action>
<action path="/thingyError" forward="/../WEB-INF/thingy/thingyError.jsp">
</action>
</action-mappings>
 
<!-- Message Resources -->
<message-resources parameter="com.sbc.strutswebapp.thingyModule.resources.ApplicationResources"/>
<plug-in className="org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorPlugIn">
<set-property property="pathnames" value="/WEB-INF/thingy/thingy-validation-rules.xml, /WEB-INF/thingy/thingy-validator.xml"/>
</plug-in>
 
</struts-config>

<br/><br/><b>thingy-validator-rules.xml<b> - contains standard struts rules with no additions.<br/>
<br/><br/><b>thingy-validation.xml<b><br/>

<form-validation>
    <formset>
<form name="thingyForm">
<field property='name' depends="required,minlength" >
<arg0 key="Name" resource="false"/>
                <arg1   key="${var:minlength}" name="minlength"
                   resource="false"/>
                <var>
                    <var-name>minlength</var-name>
                    <var-value>2</var-value>
                </var>
</field>
</form>
 
<form name="/saveThingy">
<field property='name' depends="required,minlength" >
<arg0 key="Name" resource="false"/>
                <arg1   key="${var:minlength}" name="minlength"
                   resource="false"/>
                <var>
                    <var-name>minlength</var-name>
                    <var-value>4</var-value>
                </var>
</field>
</form>
 
    </formset>
 

</form-validation>

<br/>
<b>As a side question...</b><br/>
You see I have rules specified for both "thingyForm" and "/saveThingyAction". Is this normal? I got this setup working in a default module then moved them. In my "/saveThingy" action mapping I tell it to use "thingyForm" but the validator does not load rules for thingyForm but instead loads them for "/saveThingyAction". This is cool because I can have different rules for different actions that use the same form, but it's not cool because I can't specify one set of validation rules for a form regardless of the action it is going to.

How do people usually use this?

Thanks,
Chris

[Chris Elvart]

I kept fiddling with this and tracked it down to a typo in the struts config file. It works just fine once you fix that.