5.2. Setting DynaActionForm Initial Values
Problem
You need to initialize the properties in a dynamic action form declared in the struts-config.xml file.
Solution
Specify an initial value for a property of a
DynaActionForm using the
initial attribute of the
form-property element.
<form-bean name="MyForm" type="org.apache.struts.action.DynaActionForm">
<form-property name="firstName" type="java.lang.String"
initial="George"/>
<form-property name="lastName" type="java.lang.String"
initial="Burdell"/>
<form-property name="javaCoder" type="java.lang.Boolean"
initial="true"/>
<form-property name="friend" type="java.lang.String[]"
size="3"
initial="Larry,Moe,Curly"/>
</form-bean>Discussion
DynaActionForms simplify your life as a Struts
developer. There is no Java code to write, and when requirements
change and you must add fields to a form, you need only change some
XML and the Actions that use the form. When
working with these forms, a common question that comes up is how to
populate the form with initial values. The Solution shows how this
can be done using the initial attribute of the
form-property element. This attribute specifies a
default value for a property. The property is set to this value when
the form is created or when the initialize( ) method is called on the form. The time of creation depends on the scope of the form. If the scope is "request," a new form is created for each new request that uses the form. For session scope, the form is created when it can't be found in the ...