Spring MVC and WML web page? - spring

is it possible to contruct and use a WML page instead of a normal html page to render my views that contain a form?
i could not find any examples on how to achieve this and i could not even find the "form" tag in WML. Instead, from my understanding WML, uses cards with input tags to process a form of some sort but in Spring mvc's SimpleFormController it is used in conjunction to a html form not a WML input card.

Spring MVC's controller infrastructure doesn't care if the page is rendered in HTML or WML. Both HTML forms and WML cards end up generating HTTP requests when submitted, and the controller can't tell the difference.
However, Spring only provides an HTML form tag library, so if you want to generate WML, you'll have to do it all yourself.
Is this really something you want to get into, though? WML is obsolete, and only very old phones need it.

Related

MVC pattern: js code that is calling server via ajax part of view or controller?

I know that the webpage that is opened by the user is part of the view. This one is easy, but what about js code calling the server to retrieve data via ajax? Is this part of the controller or still the view?
Can the view request data like this?
Thank you very much for any help.
Javascript, including Ajax, is a client-side technology. Therefore, in the context of MVC, any js script must be part of a template file.
Note that a template file is not the view (the V in MVC), but a part of it. The view should incorporate both server-side components (classes, interfaces, etc) and client-side components (html, js, css, images, etc). For example, an instance of a view class could read some data from the domain model and then load and render a certain template file, injecting the fetched data into it (formatted), in order to be printed on the screen.
So, an ajax object should be defined in a template file. Its request to the server is handled either by the controller, or by the server-side components of the view, depending on the MVC approach that you are choosing to implement. Though, the server response should always be created by the server-side components of the view.

Embedding a flow in a DOJO dialog

I want to create a modal dialog wizard using spring web flow and dojo.
I searched for embedding the flow in a dialog using embedded mode. But I found very few examples related to this. In these examples, they used JSF dialogs and tiles framework to partially render a form.
Can we do this without using JSF and tiles framework but using jsp and dojo?
Can anyone help me to create a wizard embedded in a dojo dialog using spring web flow?
I wouldn't depend on the dojo framework I believe is no longer supported with webflow. Moreover, webflow wasn't really designed (without hacks) to be embedded inside modal dialogs. It was designed as a simple "flow" navigation from html page to page.
To achieve what you want you'll have to use jquery (or some javascript library) to interact with the current flow via ajax calls to predefined transitions/fragments and manually via javascript take the response html fragments returned by webflow contents and change the contents of your modal dialog box. You could argue this is a "hack" but this is how I achieved what you desire using webflow.
A user asked a similar question a few months ago and i provided a thorough answer explaining how to use webflow + ajax + transitions in dialog boxes.
How to include a pop-up dialog box in subflow

AngularJS first(landing page) with dynamic content

I am a complete newbie to AngularJS. I want to check the feasibility of using it in my new Project which is a web application. I already have a few pages created in project using Struts2 Spring and hibernate. To convert these following are points I understand:
Convert server side API to REST style which returns JSON data
Question: Can I use dynamic HTML to load using AngularJS. I guess yes. not sure how?
Currently I use velocity Templates on server side to populate data in HTML templates and send it as response in AJAX? What would change if i try to use AngularJS?
I have a landing page which is used to show some images and data associated with it which is stored in DB. How can I show it using AngularJS?
Question: Shall I load the HTML template which contains only one div tag when I hit website URL(mysite.com) and then fire AJAX requests to load the dynamic HTML?
If I use AndularJS does it invalidate use of Struts2 altogether if I choose to implement my Data API as REST with JSON? I guess not as I will still need to load dynamic HTML views which will be generated on Server correct?
How to maintain HTTP session state on server side if I use REST data API with AngularJS on client?
I know I can search and read about answers to above questions on net somewhere. I just need them at one place so that I can carry discussion and other questions that arise from it.
I may answer some of your questions:
1) Convert server side API to REST style which returns JSON data
Yes
Question : Can I use dynamic HTML to load using AngularJS. I guess
yes. not sure how?
Currently I use velocity Templates on server side to populate data in HTML templates and send it as response in AJAX? What would change
if i try to use AngularJS?
If I understood you right, you want to generate templates on server-side. In this case - you just don't need AngularJs - your views are prepopulated on server and browser recieves static content (from client-side point of view). If you want to use AngularJs, then your templates will become static content (from server-side point of view) and they will be populated by angular via REST services.
2) I have a landing page which is used to show some images and data
associated with it which is stored in DB. How can I show it using
AngularJS?
Question : Shall I load the HTML template which contains
only one div tag when I hit website URL(mysite.com) and then fire AJAX
requests to load the dynamic HTML?
Not exactly. One div would be enough for jQuery-based approuch (you would use something like $.ajax and then appended data in imperative way). In case of Angular you will need to return template. It may look like this:
<ul ng-controller="MyCtrl">
<li ng-repeat="item in data">
<img ng-src="item.image.src">
<span>{{item.data.someTextProperty}}</span>
</li>
</ul>
And some AngularJs controller that will fire request to REST service (via your AngularJs service, probably) and autmatically fill template with results
function MyCtrl($scope, $http) {
$http.get('/rest/data').success(function(result) {
$scope.data = result;
});
}
3) If I use AndularJS does it invalidate use of Struts2 altogether if
I choose to implement my Data API as REST with JSON? I guess not as I
will still need to load dynamic HTML views which will be generated on
Server correct?
I think it will only invalidate use of View of MVC in Struts, since AngularJS will just replace it. Also it will make you to use something like RESTful controllers (not quite familliar with Struts, but I think there is something like this)
4) How to maintain HTTP session state on server side if I use REST
data API with AngularJS on client?
This is not short answer, but basically there is following pattern. AngualrJs provides http interceptors, that may intercept requests and responses. If response with code 401 (which is unauthorized) is intercepted, you may provide your user with a login form to restore session and after this action will be completed, retry last request. Also, here you may find another aspect of this question.
I hope my answer helped you.

Is it possible to render body with ajax in asp .net mvc project with layout?

Is it possible to render body with ajax in asp .net mvc project with layout?
Yes, it is possible, but it doesn't make any sense as it will result in a completely broken and invalid markup. You will end up with a 2 headed and 2 body beast like Quazimodo. Actions that are requested view AJAX normally should return only partial views, not full views with layout. Or if you if you belong to some bandwidth saving party you could have your actions return JSON and then use a client side templating framework in order to lay out the markup.
RenderBody is used on page postbacks to render a new HTML document with data from the server that has been annotated with the Razor templating engine. AJAX is used to retrieve data from the server asychronously (in a JSON format typically). An AJAX request can be used to retrieve the same data that RenderBody() would, but it wouldn't make much sense and isn't best practice.

Two forms (one in layout and one in Page) how to handle in asp.net mvc3

I am working on a mobile website in ASP.NET MVC3. I have a page where i have search bar in my header. this header is coming from my Layout page which is common to all other Views. And inside my specific page, I have page specific content(forms).
For my Customer/Add action, I return the Add View of Customer which is strongly typed to my CustomerViewModel. I will have form tag in my Add View which will be posted to HttpPost Add Action method when form gets submitted. That is fine. My question is how will i handle the search box content ? I believe only one form is allowed in the page.So if i have a SearchViewModel which is binded to my Search View(Partial), It is going to be 2 forms in my page. So i can not do that.
I can handle the search part by reading the content in java script and calling another action to get Search results.Is that the only way to do that ? I am worried about those devices where java script is disabled. What should i do ? Please advice
No. You can have more than 1 form on the page. In fact, here you should. Your Add Customer page should submit to 1 action method, but your search form should submit to a different action method.
If you are familiar with webforms, that framework only allows you to have 1 form on the page, but not because HTML requires it. Webforms requires it because it is the only way the framework can carry all of the data from various server controls across POST requests (using ViewState). Webforms has historically not been very HTML or HTTP friendly.
You just can't have forms nested within other forms in HTML, but it is completely legal (and recommended in MVC) to have more than 1 form on a page.
As for AJAX, I would not worry about devices that do not have javascript enabled. There are only like 6 or 7 people on the planet that don't have javascript on their web devices, and if someone disables javascript, they won't be able to experience 99% of the rest of the web anyhow.

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