(Using Struts 2.1.2)
I have a little "widget" (for want of a better word) which gets activated on
most pages by a call to:
<s:action name="myWidget" namespace="/widgets" executeResults="true" />
the result of that action being a small JSP that will sit snuggly inside its
little box on the overall page. That little widget is, in effect,
independent and clueless of its surroundings, and very happy for it all.
The sole job of the MyWidgetAction is gather the latest results and make
these available to the widget through a getResults() method. Here is its
original entry in struts.xml:
<package name="widgets" extends="default" abstract="false"
namespace="/widgets">
<action name="myWidget" class="com.mysite.MyWidgetAction">
<result>widget.jsp</result>
</action>
</package>
The problem occurs when the widget appears on a JSP page with a form. When
the user submits that form, if the ensuing action generates the INPUT result
(say, because there was a problem with the content of the form), the JSP
form page gets redisplayed, but it's clear that MyWidgetAction is not called
anew, and Struts2 complains:
ERROR ActionComponent:28 - Could not execute action: /widgets/myWidget
No result defined for action com.infloox.tango.teaser.TeaserAction and
result input
If, on the other hand, I change the widget's result mapping (so as to catch
results under any name):
<action name="myWidget" class="com.mysite.MyWidgetAction">
<result name="*">widget.jsp</result>
</action>
I then get the following error:
WARN OgnlValueStack:50 - Caught an exception while evaluating
expression 'results' against value stack
Caught an Ognl exception while getting property results - Class:
ognl.OgnlRuntime
File: OgnlRuntime.java
Method: getMethodValue
Line: 935 - ognl/OgnlRuntime.java:935:-1
...
Caused by: ognl.OgnlException: results [java.lang.NullPointerException]
...
("results" being the property on MyWidgetAction (with a getResults() getter)
which gets called by widget.jsp.)
I suppose one solution would be to put the results of MyWidget on the
session; on an INPUT result, at least something would get displayed (even
though not the latest results). But using the session like that seems to go
against Struts2's philosophy...
Another (prospective) option would be to involve AJAX over this question.
Alternatively, is there a way to force a re-execution of that specific
<s:action name="widget">?
