How do I use <form:form> with an Object that contains a Set

[laura mccord]

I have used <form:form> before on an object but never with an object that contains a Set of objects.

For example, I have a Person object with attributes such as id, firstname, lastname, email, and a Set of Programs.

The Program object contains the attributes: id, code, name, date, status

If I have a form that is bound to the Person object with a checkbox of their Program.status how do I set the path of the <form:checkbox> to link with the Program's "status" attribute? Say the "status" contains a Yes/No value... if I want to bind the user's value of checkbox to the Program.status I have no idea how to bind this attribute.

Any ideas?

This is what I have right now:

        <form:form method="post" commandName="person" action="${actionUrl}">
                
                        		<c:forEach items="${person.programs}" var="program">
                        			<form:checkbox path="programs" value="Yes"/>${program.name}<br>
                        		</c:forEach>
                                 <form:hidden path="id"/>
				<button type="submit" >Submit</button>
     </form:form>

Thanks

[Himanshu bisht bebo]

I thinks this will work for you

<form:form method="post" commandName="person" action="${actionUrl}">

<c:forEach items="${person.programs}" path="programs" var="program">
<form:checkbox value="Yes"/>${program.name}<br>
</c:forEach>
<form:hidden path="id"/>
<button type="submit" >Submit</button>
</form:form>

[laura mccord]

I'm wondering if I would also need to put the path to the attribute beside the checkbox like this since I need to basically populate programs.status:

<c:forEach items="${person.programs}" path="programs" var="program"> 
<form:checkbox path="status" value="Yes"/>${program.name}<br> 
</c:forEach> 

I'll test it and will post back with my findings.

Thanks for the idea

[laura mccord]

Oh, it looks like that won't work. I get an error on <c:forEach> where attribute path is invalid for tag foreach.

hmm...

[Bill Gorder]

<form:checkboxes items="${programs}" path="programs" itemLabel="program" itemValue="id" delimiter="<br/>" onclick="yourOnClickMethodIfRequired(this);"/>

http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.2.x/spring-framework-reference/html/view.html#view-jsp-formtaglib-checkboxestag
http://static.springsource.org/spring/docs/3.2.x/spring-framework-reference/html/spring-form.tld.html#spring-form.tld.checkboxes

[laura mccord]

Thanks for your assistance, I think I almost got it but I think I may need a little more clarification.

I think my issue now may be the way that I am using the checkboxes..perhaps my logic is not correct.

So right now I have my form

       <form:form method="post" commandName="person" action="${actionUrl}">
                <form:checkboxes items="${programs}" path="programs" itemLabel="name" itemValue="id" delimiter="<br/>"/> 
   		 <form:hidden path="id"/>
                <button type="submit">Submit</button>
     </form:form>

Here are my objects

public class Person {
	
	private Long id;
	private String username;
	private String email;
	private Date loginDate;
	private List<Program> programs;

        //getters and setters
}

public class Program {
	
	private Long id;
	private String name;
	private String code;
	private String status;
	private Date endDate;
	
	private Person parent;

        //getters and setters...
}

My viewController is working fine and takes me to my jsp form but the processing of my form is failing. Once I click on submit I get this error:
org.springframework.orm.hibernate3.HibernateSystemException: IllegalArgumentException occurred while calling setter of com.domain.Person.programs; nested exception is org.hibernate.PropertyAccessException: IllegalArgumentException occurred while calling setter of com.domain.Person.programs
Caused by: org.hibernate.PropertyAccessException: IllegalArgumentException occurred while calling setter of com.domain.Person.programs
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: argument type mismatch


My idea is to populate program.status with a "Yes" when checked. By default, the value of program.status is "No". But it just doesn't make sense to me how that value "Yes/No" is passed through <form:checkboxes>. I have been reading different examples but I can't seem to get it right.

Here is my submitController that is processing the results which I'm sure is incorrect:

        @Autowired
	private IPersonStore personStore;
	PropertyEditor personEditor;
	
	@InitBinder("program")
	private void InitBinder(WebDataBinder binder){
		CustomDateEditor editor = new CustomDateEditor(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"),true);
	        binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, editor);
		binder.registerCustomEditor(Person.class, personEditor);
	  	binder.setAllowedFields(new String[]{"id", "name","code","status","endDate","parent"});
	}

        @RequestMapping(params="action=addProgram")
	public void actionAddProgramForm(
			ActionRequest request,
                        ActionResponse response,
                      @ModelAttribute("person") Person person
          ) throws PortletException{
		
			if(!person.hasId()){
				System.out.println("The program does NOT exist, so create it");
			}else{
				System.out.println("The program does exist, so update it");
			        //here is where I need to update the Program table with the status value returned for the checked program
			}
			
			response.setRenderParameter("action", "program");
	}

	public void setPersonStore(IPersonStore personStore){
		this.personStore = personStore;
	}
	
	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
		personEditor = new PersonEditor(personStore);
	}

My table data looks like this

Person Table
id: 1234
username:jdoe
email:[e-mail]
loginDate: 2013-06-20


Program Table

id: 1
name:Swim
code:SWM
status:NO
endDate:2013-05-31
pid: 1234

id: 2
name:Tennis
code:TEN
status:NO
endDate:2013-05-31
pid: 1234


Any advice as to how the processing should work in my case?

Thanks

[Bill Gorder]

Spring will only send the ids for the programs that are checked. Also any field not bound to the form (using path) as part of the form or as a hidden field is not sent. You will need to register a custom property editor or use a converter to get the submitted id's to actual role objects. Your error is due to the fact that Spring does not know how to do that conversion without you specifying it.

Have a look at these links:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7421346/spring-binding-listobject-to-formcheckboxes
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6989711/spring-mvc-pre-populate-checkboxes/6996350#6996350
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12544479/spring-mvc-type-conversion-propertyeditor-or-converter

[laura mccord]

I have been reading several examples and I think it's almost there. I created my InitBinder and CustomPropertyEditor and I am no longer getting the argument mismatch instead I am getting this error:


Caused by: org.springframework.validation.BindException: org.springframework.validation.BeanPropertyBindingResult: 1 errors
Field error in object 'person' on field 'programs': rejected value [68]; codes [methodInvocation.person.programs,methodInvocation.programs,methodInvocation.java.util.List,methodInvocation]; arguments [org.springframework.context.support.DefaultMessageSourceResolvable: codes [person.programs,programs]; arguments []; default message [programs]]; default message [Property 'programs' threw exception; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.BeanInstantiationException: Could not instantiate bean class [com.domain.ProgramEditor]: No default constructor found; nested exception is java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: com.domain.ProgramEditor.<init>()]


I'm thinking it's because the form is passing a list of programs from the checkboxes and maybe it doesn't know how to translate it?

This is what I have now:

@InitBinder("program")
	private void InitBinder(WebDataBinder binder){
		CustomDateEditor editor = new CustomDateEditor(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"),true);
	        binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, editor);
	        binder.registerCustomEditor(Program.class, programEditor);
                //program attributes
		binder.setAllowedFields(new String[]{"id", "name","code","status","endDate","parent"});
	}

And here is my PropertyEditor:

     public class ProgramEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
		private IPersonStore personStore;
		
		public ProgramEditor(IPersonStore personStore){
			this.personStore = personStore;
		}
		
	    @Override
	    public void setAsText(final String text) {
	        final Program program = new Program();
	        program.setId(Long.parseLong(text));
	        this.setValue(program);
	    }

	    @Override
	    public String getAsText() {
	        return ((Program) this.getValue()).getId().toString();
	    }
	}

Is there something else I need to add that I'm not considering?

Thanks

[Bill Gorder]

binder.registerCustomEditor(Program.class, programEditor);  

Can you show me the code where you create programEditor? It looks like from the stack trace that it is expecting ProgramEditor to have a default constructor for some reason. This should not be necessary unless you are not passing in IPersonStore when you create it.

[laura mccord]

Here it is:

@RequestMapping("VIEW")
public class SubmitProgramController implements InitializingBean{
	
	private static Log log = LogFactory.getLog(SubmitProgramController.class);
	
	@Autowired
	private IPersonStore personStore;
	PropertyEditor programEditor;
	
	@InitBinder("program")
	private void InitBinder(WebDataBinder binder){
		CustomDateEditor editor = new CustomDateEditor(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"),true);
	        binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, editor);
	        binder.registerCustomEditor(Program.class, programEditor);
		binder.setAllowedFields(new String[]{"id", "name","code","status","endDate","parent"});
	}
	
	
	@RequestMapping(params="action=addProgram")
	public void actionAddProgramForm(
			ActionRequest request,
            ActionResponse response,
            @ModelAttribute("person") Person person
            ) throws PortletException{
		
			if(!person.hasId()){
				System.out.println("The program does NOT exist, so create it");
			}else{
				System.out.println("The program does exist, so update it");
			}
			
			response.setRenderParameter("action", "program");
	  }

	public void setPersonStore(IPersonStore personStore){
		this.personStore = personStore;
	}
	
	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
		programEditor = new ProgramEditor(personStore);
	}
}

[Bill Gorder]

You might have other issues but lets try to solve this one first. I don't see the need to implement InitializingBean. Lets try this: (note I did not see an @Controller annotation so I added it. Typically you would have a component scanner scanning this package in your context. Not sure why it was not there). The setters are also not necessary so I removed them.

@Controller
@RequestMapping("VIEW")  
public class SubmitProgramController{  
      
    private static Log log = LogFactory.getLog(SubmitProgramController.class);  
      
    @Autowired  
    private IPersonStore personStore;  
  
      
    @InitBinder
    private void InitBinder(WebDataBinder binder){  
        CustomDateEditor editor = new CustomDateEditor(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"),true);  
            binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, editor);  
            binder.registerCustomEditor(Program.class,  new ProgramEditor(personStore));  
        binder.setAllowedFields(new String[]{"id", "name","code","status","endDate","parent"});  
    }  
      
      
    @RequestMapping(params="action=addProgram")  
    public void actionAddProgramForm(  
            ActionRequest request,  
            ActionResponse response,  
            @ModelAttribute("person") Person person  
            ) throws PortletException{  
          
            if(!person.hasId()){  
                System.out.println("The program does NOT exist, so create it");  
            }else{  
                System.out.println("The program does exist, so update it");  
            }  
              
            response.setRenderParameter("action", "program");  
      }  
}  

[laura mccord]

Okay, I am no longer receiving an error after I revised my PropertyEditor. As a matter of fact, I followed the example from this url because it's very similar to mine: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4331532/multiple-select-in-spring-3-0-mvc

Now, I'm just a little confused now how to use it. After I check one of the boxes and click submit I see my Hibernate query statement which is retrieving the program id correctly. So, is it here in my CustomEditor that I need to set the value of status='Yes' and not in my actionAddProgramForm() method?

Hibernate: select program0_.id as id1_, program0_.name as name1_, program0_.code as code1_, program0_.status as status1_, program0_.endDate as endDate1_, program0_.pid as pid1_ from program program0_ where program0_.id='92'

Here is the new editor that I used that is no longer giving me an error:

@InitBinder
    protected void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder) {
    	CustomDateEditor editor = new CustomDateEditor(new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd"),true);  
        binder.registerCustomEditor(Date.class, editor);  
        binder.registerCustomEditor(Set.class, "programs", new CustomCollectionEditor(Set.class)
          {
            @Override
            protected Object convertElement(Object element)
            {
                Long id = null;

                if(element instanceof String && !((String)element).equals("")){
                    //From the JSP 'element' will be a String
                    try{
                        id = Long.parseLong((String) element);
                    }
                    catch (NumberFormatException e) {
                        System.out.println("Element was " + ((String) element));
                        e.printStackTrace();
                    }
                }
                else if(element instanceof Long) {
                    //From the database 'element' will be a Long
                    id = (Long) element;
                }

                //Should I use a hibernate method that sets the "status" attribute here?
                return id != null ? personStore.getProgram(id) : null;
            }
          });
    }

I feel so close to having this working...I'm so excited

Thanks

[Bill Gorder]

I guess if the goal is to set the status to "Yes" whenever a checkbox is checked your could set it there.

I assume when you say "Should I use a hibernate method that sets the "status" attribute here? " You mean just call the setter right?

Program program = null;
if(null != id){
  program = personStore.getProgram(id);
  program.setStatus("Yes");
}
return program;

Assuming cascade rules are set up correctly you could just iterate the returned <Set> and add them to your persons program collection and then persist/merge the person which would also update that status at that point. Anyway good luck.

[laura mccord]

Thanks Bill so much for your help and guiding me through this challenge. Last night I finally got everything working...woohoo!

[jre java]

laura mccord wrote:Thanks Bill so much for your help and guiding me through this challenge. Last night I finally got everything working...woohoo!

Hi can you please provide code how you solved this.

I'm also facing the problem a bit similar

Employee Model Class
--------------------------

public class Employee implements IEmployee, Serializable {  

private static final long serialVersionUID = 3539505455231361934L;

@Column(name="emp_Id", nullable=false)
private Integer emp_Id;

@Id
@GeneratedValue
@Column(name="login_Id", nullable=false)
private String login_Id;

@Column(name="password", nullable=false)
private String password;

@Column(name="first_name", nullable=false)
private String first_name;

@Column(name="last_name", nullable=false)
private String last_name;

@Column(name="email", nullable=false)
private String email;

@Column(name="address", nullable=false)
private String address;

@Column(name="mobile_Number", nullable=false)
private Integer mobile_Number;

@Column(name="create_Date", nullable=false)
private Date create_Date;

@Column(name="modified_Date", nullable=false)
private Date modified_Date;

@Column(name="security_Question")
private String security_Question;

@Column(name="security_Question_Answer")
private String security_Question_Answer;

@Column(name="login_Attempts")
private String login_Attempts;

@OneToMany(cascade=CascadeType.ALL,fetch=FetchType.EAGER)
@JoinTable(name="employe_role",
joinColumns = {@JoinColumn(name="login_Id")},
inverseJoinColumns = {@JoinColumn(name="role_Id")})
private Collection<Role> role;//need to change name --> Dependent Object Role
-- setters and getters

Role Model--Dependent Object
--------------

@Id
@GeneratedValue
@Column(name="role_Id")
private Integer role_Id;

@Column(name="role_Code", nullable=false)
private String role_Code;

@Column(name="role_Name", nullable=false)
private String role_Name;

@Column(name="discription", nullable=false)
private String discription;

@Column(name="created_Date")
private Date created_Date;

@Column(name="modified_Date")
private Date modified_Date;

Jsp Form
-----------

<form:form name="register-employee" action="/registerEmployee" method="post" commandName="employee">
<c:forEach var="role" varStatus="statusEmpRole" items="${employee.role}">

    <form:hidden path="role[${statusEmpRole.index}].role_Name"  value="${role.role_Name}" />
    <form:checkbox path="role[${statusEmpRole.index}].role_Name" value="${role.role_Name}" itemValue="role.role_Id"  /> 
    <c:out value="${role.role_Name}" /><br>

Controller

For displaying the form

@Override
@RequestMapping(value="/employeeregistrationform", method = RequestMethod.GET)
public ModelAndView employeeRegistrationForm(@ModelAttribute("employee") Employee employee, Model map) throws HibernateException, RoleNotFoundException {
    IEmployee iEmployee = new Employee();
    Collection<Role> collectionRoles= IRoleService.getLookUpRoles();
    for (Role role : collectionRoles) {
        LOGGER.info("roel {}",role.getRole_Name());
    }
    iEmployee.setFirst_name("helloooooo");
    iEmployee.setRole(collectionRoles);
     return new Mode

Get the Submitted form Data

@Override
@RequestMapping(value="/registerEmployee",method=RequestMethod.POST)
public ModelAndView registerEmployee(@ModelAttribute("employee")Employee employee, BindingResult result) {
    LOGGER.info("Registering Employe {}",employee.getFirst_name());
    LOGGER.info("Selected Role Employe {}",employee.getRole()); //Getting role object is null. Not getting the selected values in form page :(
    ModelAndView model = new ModelAndView();    
    model.setViewName("registerEmploye");
    return model;
}

employee.getRole() is getting null
my case is employee having multiple roles. let say admin and Projectmanager. while creating employee admin may select the roles(these are come from database) after submitting the employee registration from i'm getting role object is null.

please help me in this. I don't know how to write PropertyEditorSupport for this. and i'm very much confused about PropertyEditorSupport