Raible's Wiki: ValidationAndList

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__Part V:__ [Adding Validation and List Screen|ValidationAndList] - Adding validation logic to the personForm so that firstName and lastName are required fields and adding a list screen to display all person records in the database.

__Part IV:__ [Adding Validation and List Screen|ValidationAndList] - Adding validation logic to the PersonForm so that firstName and lastName are required fields and adding a list screen to display all person records in the database.

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;:''This tutorial depends on __Part IV:__ [Configuring Tiles and Action CRUD methods|ConfiguringTiles].''

;:''This tutorial depends on __Part III:__ [Creating Actions and JSPs|CreateActions].''

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This tutorial will show you how to add Validation logic (client and server-side) to the personForm object using Struts' Validator. We'll also create a list screen using the [Display Tag Library|http://displaytag.sf.net] to display all the people in the database.

This tutorial will show you how to add Validation logic (client and server-side) to the PersonForm object using Struts' Validator. We'll also create a list screen using the [Display Tag Library|http://displaytag.sf.net] to display all the people in the database.

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* [4] Add ''getPeople'' methods to PersonDao and Manager

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To use the Struts Validator, normally you have to write a validation.xml file by hand. If you're not using AppFuse, you also have to configure the Validator Plugin and error keys in your ApplicationResources_en.properties. For more information on this, see the [Validation Made Easy Tutorial|http://www.reumann.net/do/struts/lesson3/step8].

To use the Struts Validator, normally you have to write a validation.xml file by hand. If you're not using AppFuse, you also have to configure the Validator Plugin and error keys in your ApplicationResources.properties. For more information on this, see the [Validation Made Easy Tutorial|http://www.learntechnology.net/struts-lesson-3.do] (there's also a [rich set of tutorials|http://www.learntechnology.net/struts-lesson-1.do] for Struts itself).

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Using XDoclet, it's much easier - you just need to add a couple of ''@struts.validator'' tags to the Person class. Open it up (src/dao/**/model/Person.java) and modify the getFirstName() and getLastName() methods to include ''@struts.validator type="required"'' tags.

Thanks to XDoclet, it's much easier - you just need to add a couple of ''@struts.validator'' tags to the Person class. Open it up (src/dao/**/model/Person.java) and modify the getFirstName() and getLastName() methods to include ''@struts.validator type="required"'' tags.

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Now if you save Person.java and run __ant webdoclet__, a validation.xml file will be generated in build/appfuse/WEB-INF/. It's contents should have now have an entry for "personForm".

Now if you save Person.java and run __ant clean webdoclet__, a validation.xml file will be generated in build/appfuse/WEB-INF/. Its contents should have now have an entry for "personForm".

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To enable client-side validation in our personForm.jsp, a javascript JSP tag and script is required at the bottom of personForm.jsp. The following should already exist (thanks to viewgen).

Client-side validation is enabled by default in personForm.jsp. There is an <html:javascript> JSP tag and script at the bottom of this page that enables it. The following should already exist (thanks to AppGen) - but you might need to uncomment it if you commented it out in the last tutorial.

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%%note __NOTE:__ If you have nested objects with validation rules, those will be picked up and put into validation.xml. This is because an @struts.validator tag gets added to the setter of the nested object when the form is generated (using metadata/templates/struts_form.xdt). If you have many-to-many bi-directional relationships between objects, this can cause a problem. There are two solutions to fix this. The first is to remove the @struts.validator tag from struts_form.xdt and manually place it on the setter in your POJO. The second is [described here|https://appfuse.dev.java.net/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=88].%%

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* validate="true" parameter="action" input="edit"

* validate="true" parameter="method" input="edit"

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To make sure things are ''really'' working as expected, you can turn off JavaScript and ensure the server-side validation is working. This is easy in [Mozilla Firebird|http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/] (my favorite browser), just go to Tools → Options → Web Features and uncheck "Enable JavaScript". Now if you clear the fields and save the form, you should see the following:

To make sure things are ''really'' working as expected, you can turn off JavaScript and ensure the server-side validation is working. This is easy in [Firefox|http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/] (my favorite browser), just go to Tools → Options → Web Features and uncheck "Enable JavaScript". Now if you clear the fields and save the form, you should see the following:

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%%(border: 1px solid black; margin: 0 auto; height: 202px; width: 423px)

%%(border: 1px solid black; margin: 0 auto; height: 215px; width: 521px)

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person = new Person();

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The reason I'm passing in a person object to the ''getPeople'' method is to allow for filtering (based on values in person) in the future.

The reason I'm passing in a person object to the ''getPeople'' method is to allow for filtering (based on values in person) in the future. Adding this parameter in your getPeople() method signature is optional, but the rest of this tutorial assumes you have done this.

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public void testGetPeople() {

List results = mgr.getPeople(new Person());

assertTrue(results.size() > 0);

public void testGetPeople() throws Exception {

List results = new ArrayList();

person = new Person();

results.add(person);

// set expected behavior on dao

personDao.expects(once()).method("getPeople")

.will(returnValue(results));

List people = personManager.getPeople(null);

assertTrue(people.size() == 1);

personDao.verify();

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Save all your files and make sure everything compiles with __ant clean compile__. Now you should be able to run both tests by running the following:

In order for these tests to compile, you need to add the ''getPeople()'' method to the PersonDao and PersonManager interfaces, and their implementations.

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!!Add getPeople() method to DAO and Manager [#4]

Open src/dao/**/dao/PersonDao.java and add the getPeople() method signature:

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

public List getPeople(Person person);

}]

Now add the same method signature to src/service/**/service/__PersonManager.java__. Save all your files and adjust the imports in your tests. Next you need to implement the getPeople() method in your implementation classes. Open src/dao/**/dao/hibernate/PersonDaoHibernate.java and add the following method:

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

public List getPeople(Person person) {

return getHibernateTemplate().find("from Person");

}

}]

You'll notice here that nothing is being done with the ''person'' parameter. This is just a placeholder for now - in the future you may want to filter on it's properties using [Hibernate's Query Language|http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/reference/en/html/queryhql.html] (HQL) or using [Criteria Queries|http://www.hibernate.org/hib_docs/reference/en/html/querycriteria.html].

''An example using a Criteria Query:''

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

// filter on properties set in the person object

HibernateCallback callback = new HibernateCallback() {

public Object doInHibernate(Session session) throws HibernateException {

Example ex = Example.create(person).ignoreCase().ignoreZeroes()

.enableLike(MatchMode.ANYWHERE);

return session.createCriteria(Person.class).add(ex).list();

}

};

return (List) getHibernateTemplate().execute(callback);

}]

</div>

Now implement the ''getPeople()'' method in src/service/**/impl/PersonManagerImpl.java:

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

public List getPeople(Person person) {

return dao.getPeople(person);

}

}]

After saving all your changes, you should be able to run both tests by executing the following:

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If everything works - ''nice job!'' Now we need to add this ''retrieve all'' functionality to the web tier.

If everything works - ''nice job!'' Now you need to add this ''retrieve all'' functionality to the web tier.

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!!Add testSearch method to Action Test [#5]

!!Add testSearch() method to Action Test [#5]

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;:%%(color: blue)''I copied the testSearch method from UserActionTest.java and changed the "User" stuff to "Person".''

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addRequestParameter("action", "Search");

addRequestParameter("method", "Search");

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assertTrue(getRequest().getAttribute(Constants.PERSON_LIST) != null);

assertNotNull(getRequest().getAttribute(Constants.PERSON_LIST));

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Now save all your changes. You won't be able to run __ant test-cactus -Dtestcase=PersonAction__ yet since ''PersonAction.search()'' does not exist (yet). Let's add it.

Now save all your changes. You won't be able to run __ant test-web -Dtestcase=PersonAction__ yet since ''PersonAction.search()'' does not exist (yet).

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* @struts.action-forward name="list" path=".personList"

* @struts.action-forward name="list" path="/WEB-INF/pages/personList.jsp"

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// Exceptions are caught by ActionExceptionHandler

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Now if you run __ant test-cactus -Dtestcase=PersonAction__, you will get an error that the .personList definition does not exist. Or, at least that is what the following error is trying to say:

Run __ant test-web -Dtestcase=PersonAction__.

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{{{

Testcase: testSearch(org.appfuse.webapp.action.PersonActionTest): FAILED

was expecting '/appfuse/.personList' but received '/appfuse.personList'

}}}

__Nice!__

%%(color:green)BUILD SUCCESSFUL\\

Total time: 1 minute 26 seconds%%

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Let's create the JSP to hold our list and a Tile's definition for it. There should already be a personList.jsp in the ''web'' folder of your project. Copy this file to web/pages/personList.jsp. If it's not there, you can use the ViewGen Tool to create it. To do this from the command-line, navigate to extras/viewgen and run __ant -Dform.name=PersonForm__. This will generate a PersonFormList.jsp in extras/viewgen/build.

Open the personList.jsp file in ''web/pages''. You'll probably want to change the code to show the plural form of the items you're listing. The generated name in this example is "persons" and it should probably be people. At or near line 31, you should have the following line:

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Once personList.jsp exists in ''web/pages'', open it for editing.

At the top of the file is a <bean:struts> tags that exposes the edit screen's forward as a page-scoped variable. This should already have a value of "editPerson".

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

<%-- For linking to edit screen --%>

<bean:struts id="editURL" forward="editPerson"/>

}]

Now we need to add this to the metadata/web/global-forwards.xml, as well as one for viewing the list. This way, they will get included in our struts-config.xml file.

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

}]

In the first <button> you find in personList.jsp, we need to populate another forward - this time to the Add screen. Make sure your button's onclick event matches the following:

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

onclick="location.href='<html:rewrite forward="editPerson"/>'">

}]

The template we used to create this JSP has the column for the id property hard-coded, so XDoclet adds it twice. We need to remove this from personList.jsp - so delete the following from this file:

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

<display:column property="id" sort="true" headerClass="sortable"

titleKey="personForm.id"/>

}]

;:''If anyone knows of a way to modify the extras/viewgen/src/List_jsp.xdt to not include this column tag, please let me know.''

Another thing you'll probably want to change is the plural form of the items you're listing. The generated name in this example is "persons" and it should probably be people. At or near line 31, you should have the following line:

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Now we need to add a new definition to tiles-config.xml for this list screen. Open web/WEB-INF/tiles-config.xml and add the following XML:

Finally, add the title and heading keys (personList.title and personList.heading) to web/WEB-INF/classes/ApplicationResources.properties. Open this file and add the following:

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;:%%(color: blue)''I usually copy an existing list definition - i.e. .userList.''

[{Java2HtmlPlugin

</definition>

}]

Finally, we need to add these keys (personList.title and personList.heading) to web/WEB-INF/classes/ApplicationResources_en.properties. Open this file and add the following:

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{{personList.heading}} will be put into an &lth1> tag before any page content. At this point, your PersonActionTest should succeed. Save all your changes, navigate to the basedir of your project and try it by executing __ant test-cactus -Dtestcase=PersonAction__.

{{personList.heading}} will be put into an &lth1> tag before any page content.

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%%(color:green)

''__Sweet!__''\\

BUILD SUCCESSFUL\\

Total time: 1 minute 0 seconds

%%

At this point, you should be able to run __ant clean deploy__, start Tomcat and view this page in your browser at [http://localhost:8080/appfuse/editPerson.html?method=Search].

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At this point, you should be able to view this page in your browser at [http://localhost:8080/appfuse/editPerson.html?action=Search].

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{{{<verifytitle description="display Person List"

text=".*$(personList.title}.*" regex="true"/>}}}

{{{<verifytitle description="display Person List" text=".*${personList.title}.*" regex="true"/>}}}

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We use "viewPeople" instead of "list" so that the search method will be executed, rather than simply forwarding to the .personList definition (which the "list" forward points to).

Finally, declare the viewPeople forward in metadata/web/global-forwards.xml after viewUsers as below:

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To test that displaying this page works, we can create a new JSP test in test/web/web-tests.xml:

{{{<forward name="viewPeople" path="/editPerson.html?method=Search"/>}}}

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The name "viewPeople" is used instead of "list" so that the search method will be executed, rather than simply forwarding to the personForm.jsp (which the "list" forward points to).

To test that displaying this page works, create a new JSP test in test/web/web-tests.xml:

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%%note __NOTE:__ The other links in mainMenu.jsp don't use <html:link> so this JSP can be shared among the various web framework implementations in AppFuse (i.e. Spring MVC and WebWork).%%

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Where ''menu.viewPeople'' is an entry in web/WEB-INF/classes/ApplicationResources_en.properties.

Where ''menu.viewPeople'' is an entry in web/WEB-INF/classes/ApplicationResources.properties.

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Now if you run __ant clean deploy__ and start Tomcat, you should see something like the screenshot below.

Now if you run __ant clean deploy__ start Tomcat and go to [http://localhost:8080/appfuse/mainMenu.html], you should see something like the screenshot below.

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You've completed the full lifecycle of developing a set of master-detail pages with AppFuse - __congratulations__. Now the real test is if you can run all the tests in your app without failure. To test, stop tomcat and run __ant clean test-all__. This will run all the unit tests within your project. As a reminder, it should be easy to setup and test AppFuse from scratch using __ant setup-db setup-tomcat test-all__. Also, if you're looking for more robust examples - checkout [StrutsResume].

You've completed the full lifecycle of developing a set of master-detail pages with AppFuse and Struts - __Congratulations__! Now the real test is if you can run all the tests in your app without failure. To test, stop tomcat and run __ant clean test-all__. This will run all the unit tests within your project. As a reminder, it should be easy to setup and test AppFuse from scratch using __ant setup-db setup-tomcat test-all__. Also, if you're looking for more robust examples - checkout [Struts Resume|StrutsResume].

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If you'd like, you [can download the files created in this tutorial|appfuse-tutorial-struts.zip].

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ValidationAndList