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From: "Sgarlata Matt" <sgarlata_matt@bah.com>
To: "Jakarta Commons Developers List" <commons-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
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 <20030921143832.E42422@minotaur.apache.org> <3F6E5F4F.80705@apache.org>
Subject: Re: [Chain] examples XML file available?
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 21:22:46 -0400
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Thanks for the test cases Ted!  More comments below...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ted Husted" <husted@apache.org>
To: "Jakarta Commons Developers List" <commons-dev@jakarta.apache.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 10:32 PM
Subject: Re: [Chain] examples XML file available?


>  > If I play with the package some more and like it, I could provide a
>  > DTD for the XML file and documentation for it.  That should save Craig
>  > and Ted from some boring work :)
>
> What might be helpful is a standalone ChainServlet that would load the
> configuration file, like the sample PlugIn does. (A HiveMind service
> might also be very cool.)

I can write the ChainServlet this week, borrowing relevant code from the
CatalogConfiguratorPlugIn :)  HiveMind looks cool, but I'm not ready to
invest time in learning it yet.

> Right now, I'm loading it as a Struts PlugIn (and imagine Craig is too),
> but that wouldn't work for everyone.
>
>
> Craig R. McClanahan wrote:
> > There's another example in the CVS HEAD sources of Struts, where we are
> > experimenting with building a replacement for the current
RequestProcessor
> > class to assemble the request processing pipeline:
> >
> >   contrib/struts-chain/src/conf/chain-config.xml
>
> Also in the Struts Contrib CVS is a PlugIn class. Problem is, other
> parts of that distribution are coupled to the Struts Nightly Build and
> won't compile under Struts 1.1 (namely the Constants.MODULE_CONFIG_KEY).
>
> I'd like to move the Struts CatalogConfiguratorPlugIn to the Commons
> Chain distro and make it an optional compile, like JSF et al. That way,
> people could start using Chain with Struts 1.1 "out of the box".
>
> Even if we could decouple the Contrib package from the Nightly Build,
> I'm thinking if we have these other optional packages here, we can also
> have one for Struts. So, the ComposableRequestProcessor would stay
> there, but the CatalogConfiguratorPlugIn would move here.
>
> Does this sound all right?

Actually, if we write a ChainServlet then do we need a Struts PlugIn at all?
If the ChainServlet is set to load before the ActionServlet and the
ChainServlet stores its catalog in a known location, Struts users should be
able to use the ChainServlet without using a PlugIn at all.  I do agree with
your reasoning that the CatalogConfiguratorPlugIn should live in Chain
instead of Struts, but I don't see a need for a PlugIn at all.

> -Ted.

Matt