Hi Joseph,
Thanks for you input. The figure you mentioned makes perfect sense to me. I might have modelled it differently, but I understand what the author of the sequence diagram is communicating.
I don't have any problem with the "syntax" of figure 8-10, it's the semantics. The responsibilities of the controller don't make sense to me, i.e. I even think they are depicted wrong in the diagram.
I had already made up my mind about the wrongness of the diagram. I was just wondering why nobody else has posted anything of the kind. Even now I seem to be the only one having doubts about the validity of the (semantics of the) diagram.
For example: the diagram suggests that there is a method 'setCatalogVO' and 'getProducts' for CatalogController, and that there is a method 'setCatalogVO' (!) for ProductPageJSP. Also, you start to wonder where ProductPageJSP gets it reference to CatalogController from. I would think the same way that the catalogVO's could have been passed. With regard to my remark about tight coupling, in terms of MVC it seems that the View needs to go through the Controller in order to access the Model.
I already intended to keep it simple. Cade's book is very useful to give a sense of the scope of the exam. The diagrams show at most a very high level of design. Therefore, I do not intend to use any framework, only some (obligatory) high-level
J2EE design
patterns such as Front Controller. IMO the examiners are mostly (only?) interested in meeting the requirements AS GIVEN and the quality of service. I don't think it is necessary to elaborate on the use cases unless really necessary in order to meet the original intentions (whatever those may be --> assumptions seem to be unavoidable).
Regards, Wen