When is the class that extends ActionForm executed

[Nelson Nadal]

I have a login.jsp that when you submit the action is /login

it has a LoginAction.java that has a code...

  return mapping.findForward("success");  

in struts-config.xml

  <action 
path="/login" 
type="com.shoppingcart.LoginAction" 
attribute="com.shoppingcart.LoginFormBean" 
name="LoginFormBean" 
scope="request" 
input="/Login.jsp">
<forward name="success" path="/Search.jsp"/>
</action>  

... so when it forwards to "/Search.jsp" my question is...
will it execute the SearchForm.java indicated also in struts-config.xml (below)?

 <!-- Action mapping for the search action -->
<action 
path="/search" 
type="com.shoppingcart.SearchAction" 
attribute="com.shoppingcart.SearchForm" 
name="SearchForm" 
scope="request" 
input="/Search.jsp">
</action>
   

What I only know is, it will only execute if submit a form and the action in the form is action="/search". Or it will still execute even only you forward it to "/Search.jsp"?

Please enlighten me, thanks

[Merrill Higginson]

The answer to the question

When is the class that extends ActionForm executed?

is that it never executes. A class doesn't execute at all, ever. Only a method executes.

A better question would be "when do the methods of this class execute?". The answer is that each of the methods are called at different times in the Struts request life cycle.

I'd suggest you study the UML diagrams in the following URL to learn more about the Struts request life cycle and what gets called when.

http://rollerjm.free.fr/pro/Struts11.html

Disclaimer: The above URL applies to Struts 1.1, and is not entirely accurate for later releases. However, I'd still suggest getting an understanding of this version's life cycle and then learning the changes for the particular version that you're using.

[Nelson Nadal]

Thank you very much for prompt reply, will read more on this. Till next time.