RE: [Springframework-developer] Support for state/controller chaining in Portlets? (not quite webflow)

[Boyce, K. G. <Kei...@bc...>]

I created a portlet app with webflow. I read that back button
functionality is fixed but I have't tested it yet.=0D

-----Original Message-----
From: spr...@li...
[mailto:spr...@li...] On Behalf
Of Tim Kettering
Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 4:00 PM
To: spr...@li...
Subject: [Springframework-developer] Support for state/controller
chaining in Portlets? (not quite webflow)


Hi everyone,

I'm just throwing this out here to see what other people have to say.  I
can see from the list that there are a few developers actively working
on portal solutions using Spring MVC.  We are starting on our first
project using this as well, and one of the issues I'm trying to figure
out now is the matter of maintaining state in a portlet. =0D

In a typical CRUD example, if we have a portlet to display, edit and
maange information about a certain object, like a Book. We'd have view,
edit and delete functionality for example.=0D

In a typical non-portlet webapp, we could easily split those up across
different servlets for fine-grained areas of responsibility. =0D

But it's not as simple with portlets, because there are limitations on
what can be done, and essentially, all requests would need to go thru a
single portlet configuration. =0D

So, it no longer become sufficient to configure a simple portlet
controller for a portlet.  There needs to be a way to maintain state and
to delegate the request/response process to different types of
controllers depending on the state.  Like a View page would need to go
thru a derivation of BaseCommandController, an Edit page would go thru
SimpleFormController.=0D

And not to mention adding yet another dimension when considering portlet
modes as well!

This article at IBM Developerworks pretty much covers the same issue I
am bringing up:

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/031
2_ha
nis/hanis1.html

I did look at Spring's WebFlow a few days ago to see if it could address
our issue, but in the Webflow FAQ, it pretty much states that WebFlow
should not be used in cases where the user will be using back-button, or
indeterminate actions not within a strict flow. =0D

So that kinda leaves me back at square one.  After some discussion with
my co-worker, I would imagine that this is a common problem for any
Spring portlet developer creating more than just simple portlet
functionality.  And that as Spring portlet support matures, this will be
a more common issue for everyone.  Hence this email to the list. =0D

I'm now wondering how some of you have addressed this problem, and
whether there is a need for Spring's portlet support, to be in Spring
1.3 to include some way to configure and facilitate a state process,
maybe even based on WebFlow's state machine - although I have only given
WebFlow's state functionality a brief look.

Thanks in advance,

-tim



-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by Oracle Space Sweepstakes Want to be
the first software developer in space?
Enter now for the Oracle Space Sweepstakes!
http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=3D7412&alloc_id=3D16344&op=3Dclick
_______________________________________________
Springframework-developer mailing list
Spr...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/springframework-developer


This message is a PRIVATE communication.
If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy,
or use it, and do not disclose it to others. Please notify the
sender of the delivery error by replying to this message, and then
delete it from your system. Thank you.