getting Nosuchmethod exception even though there's unspecified method in the code

[Jack Tauson]

I am having an issue with the struts (1.x) code when a cancel button is clicked. Here's the java code with action methods:

public class CustomerApproveTypeAction extends AbstractCustomerApproveTypeAction {
	private final Log log = LogFactory.getLog(CustomerApproveTypeAction.class);

	public ActionForward edit(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
			log.debug("entering 'edit' method - QS: " + request.getQueryString());
		}

			return mapping.findForward("edit");
		}

		
		return mapping.findForward("home");
	}

	/**
	 * Save the info from the screen (being edited)
	 * 
	 * 
	 */
	public ActionForward save(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
			log.debug("entering 'save' method...");
		}

		
		return new ActionForward("/report.html?meth=viewResult&bc=" + kc);
	}

	/**
	 * Approve the info from the screen (being edited)
	 * 
	 * 
	 */
	public ActionForward approve(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		if (log.isDebugEnabled()) {
			log.debug("entering 'approve' method...");
		}

		
		return new ActionForward("/report.html?meth=viewResult&kc=" + kc);
	}
    
	
	public ActionForward unspecified(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		return mapping.findForward("home");
	}

}

And here's how all the methods are called from the JSP (customerApproveType.jsp) and they all work fine when the Approve and Save buttons are clicked.

<tr>
			<td colspan="2" align="center">
<html:submit
					styleClass="button" property="approve"
					onclick="this.form.meth.value='approve'">Approve</html:submit>
				</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td colspan="2" align="center">
<html:submit
					styleClass="button" property="save"
					onclick="this.form.meth.value='save'">Save</html:submit> <html:cancel
					styleClass="button">Cancel</html:cancel></td>
		</tr>

However, as soon as cancel button is clicked, I keep getting:

[INFO] SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet [action] in context with path [/myapp] threw exception [java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Action[/customerApproveType] does not contain specified method (check logs)] with root cause
[INFO] java.lang.NoSuchMethodException: Action[/customerApproveType] does not contain specified method (check logs)

so on and so forth ....

[INFO] org.springframework.web.HttpRequestMethodNotSupportedException: Request method 'POST' not supported

Why is it happening like this even though I have the following method in the code to handle cancel button related operations I believe?

public ActionForward unspecified(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
			HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
		return mapping.findForward("home");
	}

[Stephan van Hulst]

What makes you think the unspecified() method should be called?

[Jack Tauson]

Stephan van Hulst wrote:What makes you think the unspecified() method should be called?

Since there is no onclick event of the cancel button like it's there for other buttons like onclick="this.form.meth.value='save'" (for example). Please explain if my thinking is incorrect here. I guess I can define an action method for the cancel button and call it like "onclick="this.form.meth.value='cancel'" but I was hoping that unspecified method would take care of it.


Thanks!

[Stephan van Hulst]

No, what I mean is, why would the cancel tag specifically call a method named "unspecified"? Why not "other" or "cancel" or any other arbitrary name?

Where did you get the method name "unspecified" from?

[Paul Clapham]

This post from 18 years ago here seems to think there should be an "unspecified" method as well: Unspecified method. And there's other pages out on the web which suggest something like

public final class MyAction extends DispatchAction {

    @Override
    public ActionForward unspecified(final ActionMapping mapping, final ActionForm form, final HttpServletRequest request,
        final HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception {
    }
}

These seem to be for Struts 1, some say so and others are so ancient they must be Struts 1. But then the question seems to be about Struts 1 as well. There's also a post from 10 years ago here Struts 1 No Longer Supported in which it's mentioned that the last release of Struts 1 was 15 years ago and that it was de-supported because of security issues.

I don't know the answer to the OP's question except to guess that the "unspecified" method described there isn't in a class which extends DispatchAction; using @Override would test that immediately. (Full disclosure: I'm not a Struts programmer.)

[Ron McLeod]

Jack Tauson wrote:Since there is no onclick event of the cancel button like it's there for other buttons like onclick="this.form.meth.value='save'" (for example). Please explain if my thinking is incorrect here. I guess I can define an action method for the cancel button and call it like "onclick="this.form.meth.value='cancel'" but I was hoping that unspecified method would take care of it. ...

As you already mentioned, there is no onclick handler defined for the Cancel button.  Is the event bubbling/propagating upwards and being handled by another element?
<tr>   <td >      <html:submit         styleClass="button" property="approve"         onclick="this.form.meth.value='approve'">Approve</html:submit>   </td> </tr> <tr>   <td >      <html:submit         styleClass="button" property="save"         onclick="this.form.meth.value='save'">Save</html:submit>      <html:cancel         styleClass="button">Cancel</html:cancel>   </td> </tr>

[Ron McLeod]

I have never looked at Stuts before, but I am guessing that it uses convention over configuration, and that at runtime, it using reflection/introspection to try and locate the appropriate class and method to handle the event.

Most likely if you examine the URL of the request which was triggered by clicking on the Cancel button, it will become more clear which method was expected but not found.

[Jack Tauson]

Stephan van Hulst wrote:No, what I mean is, why would the cancel tag specifically call a method named "unspecified"? Why not "other" or "cancel" or any other arbitrary name?

Where did you get the method name "unspecified" from?

The code I'm looking at is 12 years old so I've no idea. But I will try to investigate based on what others have suggested.

[Jack Tauson]

Ron McLeod wrote:Most likely if you examine the URL of the request which was triggered by clicking on the Cancel button, it will become more clear which method was expected but not found.

You mean examine the URL in the network tab of the web browser (which shows up after pressing F12 in Firefox)?

[Stephan van Hulst]

Please show us:

AbstractCustomerApproveTypeAction

struts-config.xml

[Jack Tauson]

Please find the shorter version of both files below:


AbstractCustomerApproveTypeAction

public abstract class AbstractCustomerApproveTypeAction extends DispatchAction {

	public ActionMessages validateForm(ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request) {
	}

	protected void mapFormToBean(UpdateCustomerForm updateCustomerForm, Order order) {

	}

	private void fillCustomer(CustomerHandler cph, Order order) {

	}
	protected CustomerHandler updateOrderUsingId(Order order, Integer userId) {

	}
	protected void updateCtrfile(Order order, Case cs) {
		
	}
	protected CustomerFile makeCustomerFile(Order order, Case cs, CustomerHandler cph, Manager mgr) {
		
		return customerFile;
	}
}

struts-config.xml where the bean is defined for CustomerApproveTypeAction

<bean name="/customerApproveManual"
		class="com.abc.web.CustomerApproveTypeAction"
		scope="prototype">
		<property name="orderManager">
			<ref bean="orderManager" />
		</property>
		
</bean>