multibox , resultSet, logic:iterate

[peter parker]

I really enjoy using struts, but find it CHALLENGING sometimes to work within the framework. Here is a challenge I need help with:
I have a html:multibox with the days of the week (Sun, Mon...) The user may select any number of days and save to the database(mySQL)
When posting multiple checkboxes (html:multibox)to the Form, the Form requires me to use a String[] to accept multiple selections. In the Action, I loop through the String[] and save them to the database. However, when I'm creating my view I'm looping through a resultSet and storing Form beans in an ArrayList (for logic:iterate).
The ArrayList would not let me iterate through the collection with a String[] of days. So I had to create an ArrayList of days to compensate.
How do I set the user selected days (multibox values) in the view from logic:iterate ? Is there a better way to do this ?
Thanks,
PP

[Jason Menard]

Originally posted by peter parker:
I really enjoy using struts, but find it CHALLENGING sometimes to work within the framework. Here is a challenge I need help with:
I have a html:multibox with the days of the week (Sun, Mon...) The user may select any number of days and save to the database(mySQL)
When posting multiple checkboxes (html:multibox)to the Form, the Form requires me to use a String[] to accept multiple selections. In the Action, I loop through the String[] and save them to the database. However, when I'm creating my view I'm looping through a resultSet and storing Form beans in an ArrayList (for logic:iterate).
The ArrayList would not let me iterate through the collection with a String[] of days. So I had to create an ArrayList of days to compensate.
How do I set the user selected days (multibox values) in the view from logic:iterate ? Is there a better way to do this ?
Thanks,
PP

I'm a little confused over your implementation, particularly where your view is iterating over an ArrayList that contains Form beans. If you could elaborate on this it would be helpful.
Is the cruxt of your problem that you want to set the checkboxes correctly? Are the values for these checkboxes generated dynamically somehow or are they static? Let's assume for the moment they are static.
Your ActionForm should have a String[] that represents your checkboxes, let's call the property "selections" for now. So you have:
String[] selections
Your form bean should have the following methods:
public String[] getSelections()
public String getSelections(int index)
public void setSelections(String[] values)
public void setSelections(int index, String value)
additionally your reset() method should have the following:
selections = new String[0];
In your action, simply pass a String[] containing the values you want to your form's setSelections(String[]) method. When your jsp renders, any checkbox whose value corresponds to an element in selections will be checked.
For example, in my action:
String[] newSelections = {"apple", "banana"};
myForm.setSelections(newSelections);
If my jsp has the following:

<tr>
<td><html:multibox property="selections">apple</html:multibox>apple</td>
<td><html:multibox property="selections">orange</html:multibox>orange</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><html:multibox property="selections">pear</html:multibox>pear</td>
<td><html:multibox property="selections">banana</html:multibox>banana</td>
</tr>

... the check boxes labeled apple and banana will be checked.
Have I come remotely close or am I just totaly missing what you are trying to say?

[Jim Yingst]

So, is "Peter Parker" actually your real name? FYI we do have a policy against "obviously fictitious" names. If it's not actually your name, please edit your display name to something a little more plausible. Thanks.

[Kevin Lwinmoe]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your tips...It sure help me in understanding about multibox better than Struts Documentation page from apache website..

Would you also show me sample code of generating checkboxes dynamically...

Sticking it with fruits example...

Let's say we have three table: Items, Fruits, Fruits_Items

Items table and Fruits table has many to many relationships.
Thus, Fruits_Items is used to store foreign key of Items and Fruits

So we would use Fruits_Items table to find out which items are marked with Fruits_id. Fruits table has apple, banana, grape, etc.

instead of this
String[] newSelections = {"apple", "banana"};
myForm.setSelections(newSelections);

how would you get the apple and banana into new Selections.

FYI, I am using hibernate and struts 1.1

P.S. This is not a database question. I am simply mentioned about database schema so that everyone know how I will be retrieving data from database.