How to use the alias interceptor for the properties of utility class object in action

Question

I have an Action class named MyFirstClass in which I have a String variable and a User variable as follows:

public class MyFirstClass extends ActionSupport implements ModelDriven<User>,Preparable {

    User user;
    
    private String nickName;

    public void prepare(){
       user = new User();       
    }

    public User getModel(){
       return user;
    }
    .........................
    ........................    
}

The User class has String variables as userName and userAge .

As my Action class has implemented ModelDriven interface, the variables of the User class are supposed to get/set on the request.

I have a JSP file also which is designed as follows:

<s:form action="index">
<s:actionerror/>
<s:textfield name="myname" label="UserName:">
</s:textfield>
<s:textfield name="myage" label="UserAge:">
</s:textfield>
<s:submit key="submit" name="submit"/>
</s:form>

and struts.xml is designed as:

<package name="default" namespace="/" extends="struts-default">
        <action name="index" class="com.actionClasses.MyFirstClass">
            <param name="aliases">#{'myname':'nickName','myname':user.userName,'myage':user.age}</param>
            <interceptor-ref name="alias"/> 
            <interceptor-ref name="basicStack"/>        
            <result name="success">/success.jsp</result>
            <result name="input">/user.jsp</result>                
        </action>
</package>

My problem is:

Since my JSP page text fields' name do not match with the property names in the User class. I am not able to set the request parameters, like this, to the corresponding properties in the action with the help of alias interceptor.

Answer 1

Change the configuration for aliases to match property names, also use defaultStack you need it because it contains modelDriven interceptor .

You have stated

User class has String variables as userName and userAge .

If the form is like

user.jsp:

<s:form action="index">
<s:actionerror/>
<s:textfield name="name" label="UserName:">
</s:textfield>
<s:textfield name="age" label="UserAge:">
</s:textfield>
<s:submit key="submit" name="submit"/>
</s:form>

and result is

success.jsp:

<s:actionerror/>
<s:label name="userName" label="UserName:"/><br/>
<s:label name="userAge" label="UserAge:"/><br/>

the configuration should be:

<package name="default" namespace="/" extends="struts-default">
    <action name="index" class="com.actionClasses.MyFirstClass">
        <param name="aliases">#{'name':'userName','age':'userAge'}</param>
        <interceptor-ref name="defaultStack"/>        
        <interceptor-ref name="alias"/> 
        <result name="success">/success.jsp</result>
        <result name="input">/user.jsp</result>                
    </action>
</package>

---

The alias interceptor is at the end because it should be after modelDriven .