form:select does not set the selected value - spring

Question

Basically I need a CRUD application for payments. Each payment is assigned to one account.
My jsp page shows the correct list of "account" objects but it does not set the selected account.
Question: How can I achieve a dropdown box with the assigned account pre-selected?
Question: The assignment (account to payment) works, but only with the below code in my PaymentDaoImpl.java (marked as workaround). Why is this the case?
PaymentDaoImpl.java
..
#Override
#Transactional
public int insertRow(Payment obj) {
// Session session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().openSession();
Session session = sessionFactory.openSession();
// !!!! workaround?? If I don't do this, account won't be assigned
int accountId = obj.getAccount().getId();
Account account = (Account) session.get(Account.class, accountId);
obj.setAccount(account);
Transaction tx = session.beginTransaction();
session.saveOrUpdate(obj);
tx.commit();
Serializable id = session.getIdentifier(obj);
session.close();
return (Integer) id;
}
..
jsp:
<form:select path="account.id" >
<form:option value="-1" label="Select Account" />
<form:options items="${accountList}" itemValue="id" itemLabel="iban" />
</form:select>
Domain Account.java:
package com.beingjavaguys.domain;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.GenerationType;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.*;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
#Entity
public class Account {
#Id
#GeneratedValue
private int id;
private String iban;
private String bank;
private String beschreibung;
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
public String getIban() {
return iban;
}
public void setIban(String iban) {
this.iban = iban;
}
public String getBank() {
return bank;
}
public void setBank(String bank) {
this.bank = bank;
}
public String getBeschreibung() {
return beschreibung;
}
public void setBeschreibung(String beschreibung) {
this.beschreibung = beschreibung;
}
}
Domain Payment
package com.beingjavaguys.domain;
import javax.persistence.CascadeType;
import javax.persistence.Entity;
import javax.persistence.FetchType;
import javax.persistence.GeneratedValue;
import javax.persistence.Id;
import javax.persistence.JoinColumn;
import javax.persistence.ManyToOne;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
#Entity
public class Payment {
private int id;
private Account account;
private float amount;
private String text;
private String comment;
#Id
#GeneratedValue
public int getId() {
return id;
}
public void setId(int id) {
this.id = id;
}
#ManyToOne(cascade = CascadeType.ALL, targetEntity = Account.class, fetch=FetchType.EAGER)
#JoinColumn(name="fk_account")
public Account getAccount() {
return account;
}
public void setAccount(Account account) {
this.account = account;
}
public float getAmount() {
return amount;
}
public void setAmount(float amount) {
this.amount = amount;
}
public String getText() {
return text;
}
public void setText(String text) {
this.text = text;
}
public String getComment() {
return comment;
}
public void setComment(String comment) {
this.comment = comment;
}
}
PaymentController.java
package com.beingjavaguys.controller;
import java.util.List;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Controller;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.ModelAttribute;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestParam;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import com.beingjavaguys.domain.Payment;
import com.beingjavaguys.services.AccountService;
import com.beingjavaguys.services.PaymentService;
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/payment")
public class PaymentController {
#Autowired
PaymentService dataService;
#Autowired
AccountService accountService;
#RequestMapping("form")
public ModelAndView getForm(#ModelAttribute Payment obj) {
ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView("payment/form");
mav.addObject("accountList", accountService.getList());
return mav;
}
#RequestMapping("insert")
public ModelAndView insert(#ModelAttribute Payment obj) {
dataService.insertRow(obj);
return new ModelAndView("redirect:list");
}
#RequestMapping("list")
public ModelAndView getList() {
List objList = dataService.getList();
return new ModelAndView("payment/list","objList",objList);
}
#RequestMapping("delete")
public ModelAndView deleteUser(#RequestParam int id) {
dataService.deleteRow(id);
return new ModelAndView("redirect:list");
}
#RequestMapping("edit")
public ModelAndView editUser(#RequestParam int id,#ModelAttribute Payment obj) {
ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView("payment/form");
Payment paymentObj = dataService.getRowById(id);
mav.addObject("accountList", accountService.getList());
mav.addObject("paymentObj", paymentObj);
return mav;
}
#RequestMapping("update")
public ModelAndView updateUser(#ModelAttribute Payment obj) {
dataService.updateRow(obj);
return new ModelAndView("redirect:list");
}
}
Can you have a look on my implementation of the AccountEditor? I need the AccountService to lookup the account, or not? However, I don't get the service instantiated here..
public class AccountEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {
#Autowired
AccountService dataService; // == null ??
#Override
public void setAsText(String text) {
Account account = lookupAccount(text); // lookup account by accountId
// text
setValue(account);
}
private Account lookupAccount(String text) {
int id = Integer.parseInt(text);
return dataService.getRowById(id);
}
}

Answer 1

What you need is a PropertyEditor implementation to convert from a String accountId to an Account object. Then in your jsp you use the path form:select path="account" instead of form:select path="account.id"
Implement a PropertyEditor as follows
public class AccountEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport{
#Override
public void setAsText(String text){
Account account = lookupAccount(text); //lookup account by accountId text
setValue(account);
}
}
Then register your AccountEditor in your controller
#InitBinder
public void initBinder(WebDataBinder binder){
binder.registerCustomEditor(Account.class , new AccountEditor());
}
With the above changes you wont need your workaround. Your solution is only setting the id property of the account and not the whole object