doing database updates in struts

[Ahsan Hadi]

Hello,
Can anybody suggest the best method to do database updates using struts. I guess we need to have a updateaction servlet.
I need somebody to kindly put me in the right direction.
regards,
Ahsan.

[Jason Cox]

Struts doesn't really have a way to directly update a database.
Probably the easiest way to do it is from the Action class of the page you're trying to update.
Assuming you have all the mapping correct in the struts_config.xml file, the ActionForm should be available to the Action class via the execute() method. When you want to submit the information to a database, it should send whatever values are populated in your ActionForm.
The way I typically call the database is by referencing a button click. If you use the html:submit tag to create your buttons, you can give that button a property. This property can be referenced through the HttpRequest (also passed to the execute() method).
So say I have a button that looks like the following -
<html:submit property="submitButton" value="Submit"/>
I can reference it from the Request by calling a typical getParameter() call using that property as the parameter name.
Example -
(Assume "request" is the reference to the HttpRequest passed to execute())
if (request.getParameter("submitButton") != null) {
// make your database call here by referencing your ActionForm somehow.
}
Of course, there are plenty of other ways to do it. This is mostly just to give you an example of one way it can be done.
[ February 16, 2004: Message edited by: Rob Aught ]