My form is not repopulated when validation fails - validation

Question

I have a simple page with a firstName field and a lastName field both of which are required. When I only enter one field I get the correct error message but I lose the value I have entered. I do have getters and setters for the fields and the page uses the values correctly if I enter them. Everything seems set up in the same way I had it on my previous project and I did not lose data on those pages. I know this question has been asked before but I can't find anything wrong with my code based on those answers so I am hoping someone can see what I am doing wrong.
My jsp code is:
<s:form action = "sign" validate="true" method="post" id="sign" >
<s:hidden name="dateSigned"></s:hidden>
<div class="row">
<div class = "col-md-7 col-xs-12">
<div class="col-md-3 col-sm-3 col-xs-12"><label for="firstName" class="pull-right"><span class="required">*</span><s:text name="firstName"></s:text>:</label></div>
<div class="col-md-3 col-sm-3 col-xs-12"><s:textfield name = "firstName" id = "firstName" value="" maxlength="50" class="form-control" onchange="dirtyFlag();" tabindex="4"/></div>
<div class="col-md-3 col-sm-3 col-xs-12"><label for="lastName" class="pull-right"><span class="required">*</span><s:text name="lastName"></s:text>:</label></div>
<div class="col-md-3 col-sm-3 col-xs-12"><s:textfield name = "lastName" id = "lastName" value="" maxlength="50" class="form-control" onchange="dirtyFlag();" tabindex="5"/></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<s:submit method="save" key="button.save" cssClass="submit" onclick="clearDirtyFlag();" tabindex="1"/>
</div>
My struts action is:
<action name="sign" class="gov.mo.dnr.egims.controller.request.RequestorSignatureAction">
<result name="success" type="tiles">reqSign</result>
<result name="input" type="tiles">reqSign</result>
<result name="error" type="tiles">error</result>
<result name="ownerSignature" type="redirectAction">
<param name="actionName">owner</param>
<param name="namespace">/req</param>
<param name="requestId">${requestId}</param>
</result>
</action>
My tiles code is:
<definition name="reqSign" extends="baseLayout">
<put-attribute name="navbar"
value="/WEB-INF/pages/request/nav_secondary.jsp" />
<put-attribute name="content"
value="/WEB-INF/pages/request/RequestorSignature.jsp" />
</definition>
My struts2 result-types and interceptor code is:
<result-types>
<result-type name="tiles" class="org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult" />
</result-types>
<interceptors>
<interceptor name="validUser" class="gov.mo.dnr.egims.controller.interceptors.ValidUser" />
<interceptor-stack name="validUserStack">
<interceptor-ref name="validUser" />
<interceptor-ref name="defaultStack" />
</interceptor-stack>
<interceptor name="userInRole" class="gov.mo.dnr.egims.controller.interceptors.UserInRole">
<param name="rolesList">Administrator,Geologist,Requestor,Reviewer, User</param>
</interceptor>
<interceptor-stack name="userInRoleStack">
<interceptor-ref name="userInRole" />
</interceptor-stack>
</interceptors>
My validation xml is:
<validators>
<field name="firstName">
<field-validator type="requiredstring">
<param name="trim">true</param>
<message key="errors.required" />
</field-validator>
<field-validator type="regex">
<param name="regex">^[ a-zA-Z0-9'\-,.!:##/]*$</param>
<message key="errors.invalidCharacter"/>
</field-validator>
<field-validator type="stringlength">
<param name="maxLength">50</param>
<message key="errors.maxlength"></message>
</field-validator>
</field>
<field name="lastName">
<field-validator type="requiredstring">
<param name="trim">true</param>
<message key="errors.required" />
</field-validator>
<field-validator type="regex">
<param name="regex">^[ a-zA-Z0-9'\-,.!:##/]*$</param>
<message key="errors.invalidCharacter"/>
</field-validator>
<field-validator type="stringlength">
<param name="maxLength">50</param>
<message key="errors.maxlength"></message>
</field-validator>
</field>
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
Here is the requested dirtyFlag() code (and related code):
//needToConfirm used by confirm exit
var needToConfirm = false;
//default string message to display before leaving a page when data on the page has changed
//these changes were made to allow the message displayed before exiting to be customized
var defaultWarningMessage = "There is unsaved data on this screen. Do you want to exit anyway?";
var dirtyWarningMessage = defaultWarningMessage;
//this line intercepts attempts to leave the page via clicking the X button.
window.onbeforeunload = function ()
{
if (needToConfirm)
{
var outMessage = dirtyWarningMessage;
setDirtyWarningMessage(defaultWarningMessage);
return outMessage;
}
// no changes - return nothing
}
//function to set the string message to display before leaving a page when data on the page has changed
function setDirtyWarningMessage(inMessage)
{
dirtyWarningMessage = inMessage;
}
//function to set dirty flag
function dirtyFlag()
{
//alert ("Dirty flag set");
needToConfirm = true;
}
//function to clear dirty flag
function clearDirtyFlag()
{
//alert ("Dirty flag cleared");
needToConfirm = false;
}
//function to confirm close
function confirmClose()
{
if (needToConfirm)
{
var agree=confirm("Some data on the page is modified. Do you wish to leave the page without saving changes?");
if (agree == true)
{
needToConfirm = false;
window.close();
}
else
{
return false;
}
}
else
{
window.close();
}
}

Answer 1

Guess what ?
<s:textfield name = "firstName"
id = "firstName"
value = ""
maxlength = "50"
class = "form-control"
onchange = "dirtyFlag();"
tabindex = "4"/>
value="" forces the value to always be empty.
Use value="%{firstName}", or
remove it and let name="firstName" do the job (recommended).