[FormProc-developer] I haven't tested FormProcService yet

[Ken K. <kk...@ig...>]

First let me say that at ign.com we're been using our own validation
framework for over a year. Now I'm surveying what others have done. Your
framework looks very well done.

* * *

If you leave the age field blank, you get:

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at org.formproc.example.IsIntRule.validate(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.validation.RuleValidator.validate(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.validation.ValidatorGroup.validate(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.Form.validate(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.Form.process(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.Form.process(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.Form.process(Unknown Source)
	at org.formproc.servlet.HttpForm.process(Unknown Source)

 <shared-validator name="age">
  <validator type="group">
   <validator type="rule">
    <rule>org.formproc.example.IsIntRule</rule>
    <error>Valid number required</error>
    <error lang="fr">L'âge valide a exigé.</error>
   </validator>
   <validator type="expression">
    <pattern>[1-9][0-9]*</pattern>
    <error>Age must be 1 or greater</error>
   </validator>
  </validator>
 </shared-validator>

Should the expression validator be listed before the IsIntRule?

Since the age field isn't marked required, why do the validators get applied
when the field is blank?

* * *

In the example, you decided to hold the form's state in a User in the
session. This doesn't seem correct to me. It seems preferable to redisplay
the invalid form w/ the invalid strings. After all, you're validating from
the HttpRequest via HttpForm. So would the code be something like this?

Age:
<% if (! elementResults.isValid("age")) { >%
<input type="text" name="age" value="<%= req.getParameter("age") %>">
<font color="#ff0000">
<% else { %>
<input type="text" name="age" value="<%= user.getAge() %>">
<font>
<% } %>
<%= form.getMessage("age", locale) %>
</font>

* * *

formManager.configure(form);

To avoid repeated parsing of the XML, should the formManager be instantiated
once per app?

* * *

> BTW: Have you tried the FormProcService which is a TurbineService
> implementation yet?  I haven't tested it yet so I would be interested if
> anyone who does use Turbine on a regular basis would take a look at it.
> It is in the CVS in the turbine-service module.

Turbine 2.1? Did you program this service? Is there any documentation?

Thx. -Ken