[Springframework-developer] enhanced flow multi action support

[Keith D. <ke...@in...>]

Hey guys,

 

I added more power to the multi-action implementation to spring web flow
this evening, for dispatching related controller logic to different methods
on a single target action object.

 

Essentially, you can now more flexibly map action states to handler methods,
so when a state is entered a specific target method will be invoked.  This
lets the state definitions drive workflow - which are their strength - while
the action handlers concentrate on executing some processing and returning a
result.

 

For example, from Phonebook:

 

addActionState("bindAndValidateCriteria",

    name(multiAction("person.Search.criteria.bindAndValidate"),
"bindAndValidate"),

    new Transition[] {

        on(error(), "viewCriteria"),

        on(success(), "executeQuery")

    });

 

The above reads "for the flow being built, add an action state with the id
'bindAndValidateCriteria'.  Name the action 'bindAndValidate' and use the
multi-action implementation with bean id "person.Search.bindAndValidate"."

 

At runtime, when the above action state is entered, the selected
multi-action implementation will execute and dispatch to a single handler
method.  The handler method to use will be resolved based on the assigned
name property above  - in this case, "bindAndValidate".  Arbitrary
properties are also supported, so you can store and act on whatever further
information you like about an action associated with a single action state.

 

We'll enhance the XML DTD to support arbitrary action state properties as
well.

 

Keith

 

Keith Donald

Interface21 - http://www.springframework.com
<http://www.springframework.com/>  - Spring Training, Consulting and Support
- "From the Source"