Wizard form in Struts

Question

I am creating a wizard in Struts. It cotains 4 steps. For Each step I have separate ActionClass say:-

• Step1Action.java
• Step2Action.java
• Step3Action.java
• Step4Action.java

and in each class there are 2 methods input() and process().

• input() method is for showing the page in input mode
• process() method is will be use for processing the submitted data (if validation is ok)

I am carrying all data upto the last step in a session. And saving all of them in database in the last step

Similaly 4 action tags in struts.xml like :-

    <action name="step1" class="com.mycomp.myapp.action.Step1Action1" method="input">                       
      <result name="success" type="redirectAction">step2</result>   
      <result name="input">/view/step1.jsp</result>     
    </action>

    <action name="step2" class="com.mycomp.myapp.action.Step1Action2" method="input">                       
      <result name="success" type="redirectAction">step3</result>   
      <result name="input">/view/step2.jsp</result>     
    </action>

But I think I am going wrong. Please Tell me How will I handle This case?

Answer 1

There is something conceptually wrong here - and the conceptual error lies before the wizard scenario.

For one thing, a Struts2 action should not (typically) have a "input" method. A Struts2 action should DO SOMETHING (method) on behalf of a client request (URL), and return a RESULT (string) which returns a new VIEW (jsp page) to the client.

"input" is (conventionally) just a RESULT that corresponds to the case "I cannot do what I (action) am supposed to do because the data entered is incomplete, or invalid; let's tell the user to try to input the data again"

You should be sure to understand the simplest use cases (the typical input form with a result message), before attempting a wizard. See here.

Answer 2

If you are trying to develop some wizard like functionality than there is already an interceptor in struts2 for the same Scope Interceptor here are the details for the same http://struts.apache.org/2.0.14/docs/scope-interceptor.html