doPost() not happening

[Katie Doody]

Hello, I am trying to create a servlet that will open a pdf document based on the passing the MIME header.

So I made my action ServletRequestAware. I am using struts 2. I then placed the doPost() in the action and set the form in the jsp to post to this action. It does not seem to be doing the do post. Any ideas?

Action:
public class CWABillA extends ActionSupport implements ServletRequestAware


Struts.xml:
<action name="ShowBillPDF" class="com.mudnebr.cwa.action.CWABillA" >
<result>/tiles/keepScreen.jsp</result>
</action>

web.xml:
<servlet>
<servlet-name>CWABillA</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.mudnebr.cwa.action.CWABillA</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>CWABillA</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/CWABillA.action</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
jsp:
<s:form action="CWABillA.action" method="post" theme="simple">

[Bhaarat Sharma]

Im no expert in struts 2 but shouldnt the action name in your jsp <s:form tag and struts.xml be the same?

[Katie Doody]

I guess not, this was already set up this way and it is definitely calling the action but it is not doing the doPost(). If I was starting it new I would keep them the same but I don't have to rewrite it. I have put messages in and it goes through the action but never gets to the do post. Am I making a bad assumption since this action class is really a servlet that it will do the doPost()?
[ November 02, 2007: Message edited by: Katie Doody ]

[Merrill Higginson]

You will need to make up your mind: Either write a servlet or write a Struts 2 Action class. It can't be both. Since you declared the class as a Struts action class, that's how it's functioning, and the doPost method is never called.

[Katie Doody]

Is there a way to get the action class to call the servlet? The action class finds the document and downloads the document to a common location.

[Merrill Higginson]

Why do you need it to be a Servlet? There's nothing a Servlet can do that an Action class can't do.

[Katie Doody]

I am trying to use mime to open a pdf. I think this has to be done in a doPost() that is why I thought of adding the doPost to my action class because I thought the action class could do anything a servlet could do but on the other hand i wanted to keep the servlet that opens pdf's separate so that I could reuse it.

[Brent Sterling]

I am pretty sure that the only thing that implementing the ServletRequestAware interface does is tell Struts to populate the request (HttpServletRequest) property of your action class. It does not change your action into a servlet.

- Brent

[Katie Doody]

I have tried this both ways but i am not sure how to tell the action to invoke the servlet. I am really looking for some help, i know that the way i am doing it does not seem to be working. I would really appreciate some help even if it is just pointing me in the right direction.

[Katie Doody]

So would it be faux pas to extend HttpServlet in my action class so I can use the doPost() method?

[Brent Sterling]

I do not understand why you think you need to do your processing in a doPost method. I have only played around a little with Struts 2, but I am pretty sure you can get at the request and response objects (yep, I see a ServletResponseAware interface as well) so it seems like you could do all your processing in your action.

- Brent

[Katie Doody]

I bet that is my problem. I was having a problem with the response.getoutputstream being null. I bet if I use the response aware it will work. Thank you so much.