org.apache.struts.validator
Class LazyValidatorForm

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm
      org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorForm
          org.apache.struts.validator.BeanValidatorForm
              org.apache.struts.validator.LazyValidatorForm

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, DynaBean

public class LazyValidatorForm
extends BeanValidatorForm

Struts Lazy ActionForm which wraps a LazyDynaBean.

There isn't really that much to this implementation as most of the lazy behaviour is in LazyDynaBean and wrapping the LazyDynaBean is handled in the parent BeanValidatorForm. The only thing it really does is populate indexed properties which are a List type with a LazyDynaBean in the get(name, index) method.

Lazy DynaBeans provide several types of lazy behaviour:

• lazy property addition - properties which do not exist are automatically added.
• lazy List facilities - automatically grows a List or Array to accomodate the index value being set.
• lazy List creation - automatic creation of a List or Array for indexed properties, if it doesn't exist.
• lazy Map creation - automatic creation of a Map for mapped properties, if it doesn't exist.

Using this lazy ActionForm means that you don't have to define the ActionForm's properties in the struts-config.xml. However, a word of warning, everything in the Request gets populated into this ActionForm circumventing the normal firewall function of Struts forms. Therefore you should only take out of this form properties you expect to be there rather than blindly populating all the properties into the business tier.

Having said that it is not necessary to pre-define properties in the struts-config.xml, it is useful to sometimes do so for mapped or indexed properties. For example, if you want to use a different Map implementation from the default HashMap or an array for indexed properties, rather than the default List type:

   <form-bean name="myForm" type="org.apache.struts.validator.LazyValidatorForm">
     <form-property name="myMap" type="java.util.TreeMap" />
     <form-property name="myBeans" type="org.apache.commons.beanutils.LazyDynaBean[]"
 />
   </form-bean>
 

Another reason for defining indexed properties in the struts-config.xml is that if you are validating indexed properties using the Validator and none are submitted then the indexed property will be null which causes validator to fail. Pre-defining them in the struts-config.xml will result in a zero-length indexed property (array or List) being instantiated, avoiding an issue with validator in that circumstance.

This implementation validates using the ActionForm name. If you require a version that validates according to the path then it can be easily created in the following manner:

    public class MyLazyForm extends LazyValidatorForm {

        public MyLazyForm () {
            super();
            setPathValidation(true);
        }

    }
 

Rather than using this class, another alternative is to either use a LazyDynaBean or custom version of LazyDynaBean directly. Struts now automatically wraps objects which are not ActionForms in a BeanValidatorForm. For example:

   <form-bean name="myForm" type="org.apache.commons.beanutils.LazyDynaBean">
     <form-property name="myBeans" type="org.apache.commons.beanutils.LazyDynaBean[]"
 />
   </form-bean>
 

Since:

Struts 1.2.6

Version:

$Rev: 562121 $ $Date: 2005-05-07 12:11:38 -0400 (Sat, 07 May 2005) $

See Also:

Commons BeanUtils JavaDoc, Serialized Form

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class org.apache.struts.validator.BeanValidatorForm

dynaBean, logger, pathValidation

Fields inherited from class org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorForm

page, validatorResults

Fields inherited from class org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm

multipartRequestHandler, servlet

Constructor Summary

LazyValidatorForm()
Default Constructor which creates a LazyDynaBean to back this form.

LazyValidatorForm(DynaBean bean)

Method Summary

Object	get(String name, int index) Return an indexed property value.
Map	getMap() Return the Map containing the property values.
protected DynaBean	newIndexedBean(String name) Creates new DynaBean instances to populate an 'indexed' property of beans - defaults to LazyDynaBean type.

Methods inherited from class org.apache.struts.validator.BeanValidatorForm

contains, get, get, getDynaBean, getDynaClass, getInstance, getStrutsConfigFormName, getValidationKey, initialize, isPathValidation, remove, set, set, set, setPathValidation, size

Methods inherited from class org.apache.struts.validator.ValidatorForm

getPage, getResultValueMap, getValidatorResults, reset, setPage, setValidatorResults, validate

Methods inherited from class org.apache.struts.action.ActionForm

getMultipartRequestHandler, getServlet, getServletWrapper, reset, setMultipartRequestHandler, setServlet, validate

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

LazyValidatorForm

public LazyValidatorForm()

Default Constructor which creates a LazyDynaBean to back this form.

LazyValidatorForm

public LazyValidatorForm(DynaBean bean)

Method Detail

get

public Object get(String name,
                  int index)

Return an indexed property value.

If the "indexed" property is a List type then any missing values are populated with a bean (created in the newIndexedBean(name) method - in this implementation this is a LazyDynaBean type.

Specified by:

get in interface DynaBean

Overrides:

get in class BeanValidatorForm

Parameters:

name - Name of the property whose value is to be retrieved

index - Index of the value to be retrieved

getMap

public Map getMap()

Return the Map containing the property values.

Provided so that properties can be access using JSTL.

newIndexedBean

protected DynaBean newIndexedBean(String name)

Creates new DynaBean instances to populate an 'indexed' property of beans - defaults to LazyDynaBean type.

Override this method if you require a different type of DynaBean.