Sounds to me like you're heading in the right
direction with this. I'm sure we'll know more after
you get this piece implemented and users start testing
it out. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
--- Tim Fennell <hidden> wrote:
> Hey Nic,
>
> Thanks for the feedback!
>
> 1. I don't think it'll overly complicate the form
> tag. Most of the
> logic is already present today in the
> stripes:wizard-fields tag. I'm
> not quite sure which way I'm going to move things.
> I may simply have
> the form tag instantiate and use the wizard-fields
> tag whenever it
> encounters a wizard form. Or maybe move the wizardy
> code into helper
> class.
>
> The form tag already shares some of the logic too,
> for managing the
> submission of fields that may not even submit a key
> if they are empty/
> non-selected (radios, checkboxes, multi-selects).
> Most of the
> machinery is there, so I'm not overly worried about
> this.
>
> 2. I did think about this, and I think to do it
> _right_ involves
> either being non-multi-window safe, or runs the risk
> of having lots
> of orphaned data in session. The reason I like the
> hidden field
> approah is that if someone pops open a second window
> half way through
> the flow and takes two different routes, they are
> independent of each
> other (or at least can be). To do that using
> session you'd have to
> generate a new key field every time the user was
> presented with a
> form, and manage the removal and clean up of
> abandoned sets of wizard
> information in session. It's definitely doable, but
> it seems more
> complex to manage....
>
> -t
>
>
> On Jan 11, 2006, at 10:43 AM, Nic Holbrook wrote:
>
> > Sounds like a good start. You've thought this out
> > pretty well. I have a couple of questions I would
> > like to present.
> >
> > 1. Will the wizard tag logic overly complicate
> the
> > main form tag and make it hard to maintain? I
> really
> > like annotations, but just wanted to see how much
> > extra logic will be added to the tag. Would it be
> > cleaner to have a <stripes:wizardForm> tag?
> >
> > 2. Hidden fields will work, but I was just
> curious as
> > to why you don't generate an encryped key and
> store
> > the wizard form data in the session until it
> completes
> > at which time it can be discarded?
> >
> > I like your ideas. I'm just trying to throw out
> some
> > alternates to see if they have been considered.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Nic Holbrook
> >
> >
> > --- Tim Fennell <hidden> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Everyone,
> >>
> >> Firstly, welcome to the new, reduced size
> >> Stripes-Dev list. It's
> >> down to 9 people now, and I think everyone on the
> >> list has some
> >> interest in the direction Stripes is taking. As
> a
> >> result I hope to
> >> use this as a sounding board. I'm hoping that
> you
> >> will take a little
> >> time to really think about things that I post
> here
> >> and offer my
> >> feedback! Let's see how it works.
> >>
> >> I've been putting the building blocks in place
> >> during the last couple
> >> of releases to introduce a good wizard pattern
> >> implementation in
> >> Stripes. What I mean by wizard is really one
> >> logical form/submission
> >> that is broken across multiple pages from the
> user's
> >> perspective.
> >> Either because there's just too much to display
> on
> >> one page, or
> >> because there are decision points and different
> sets
> >> of fields would
> >> be displayed to the user based on input. The
> >> classical example is
> >> the registration flow where you're forced to
> enter
> >> reams of personal
> >> information to sign up for a sight ;)
> >>
> >> The way I've done this before (and intend to do
> it
> >> in Stripes) is
> >> through the automatic writing of hidden fields on
> >> the JSP to carry
> >> input from earlier pages forward (and later pages
> >> backward when there
> >> is backward navigation too). They key to this
> >> approach is being able
> >> to correctly apply required field validation for
> >> only those fields
> >> that show up on the JSP. But also to validate
> all
> >> required fields
> >> when the final submission is made.
> >>
> >> If you've played with the 'wizard-fields' tag,
> >> you'll have gotten the
> >> basic idea for what I'm planning. In the last
> >> version of Stripes I
> >> added the mechanism so that the form tag can
> write
> >> out a 'fields
> >> present' hidden field that lists out the
> checkboxes
> >> and selects
> >> present on the page in order that they can be
> >> validated correctly if
> >> the user does not enter a value.
> >>
> >> So, here's what I'm planning. A form will
> somehow
> >> (more in a bit)
> >> identify the fact that it is a wizard form. When
> a
> >> wizard form is
> >> processed, in the doEndTag of the form the
> following
> >> will be done:
> >> - Write out hidden fields for all values in the
> >> request for which a
> >> form field was not present in the form
> >> - of course, excluding things like the
> parameter
> >> that identified
> >> the event etc.
> >> - Write out the 'fields present' hidden field so
> >> the server will
> >> know which fields to do req'd field validation on
> >>
> >> The first decision I need to make is how to
> identify
> >> a form as a
> >> wizard. I'm leaning strongly towards another
> >> annoation on the
> >> ActionBean, @Wizard. It's presence would inform
> the
> >> form tag that
> >> the form should be treated as a wizard. The
> other
> >> option I can think
> >> of would be to add an attribute to the <form>
> tag.
> >> The upside of the
> >> annotation is that it's done once, and it's clear
> in
> >> the Java code
> >> that it's a wizard. The downside is that it
> would
> >> make it a little
> >> strange (though not impossible) to use the action
> >> bean in a non-
> >> wizard manner. Thoughts?
> >>
> >> The second decision is how to ensure that when
> the
> >> final submission
> >> occurs that we really validate all the required
> >> fields properly. Up
> >> until now the 'fields present' has been a hidden
> >> field written in
>
=== message truncated ===
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Re: [Stripes-dev] Wizard pattern implementation
