Drop Down list issues in jsp

Question

Hi,
I am facing an issue with drop down list in jsp pages on page postback. Let me explain in detail. I have a client.jsp page which has a drop down list and a text box. The drop down list is populated from an Action class (lets say testAction.java). In the client action form class there is a validation which requires the user to enter some value in the text box.
So here is the problem, when the client.jsp page loads, the drop down list is populated perfectly, but then the user clicks submit button without entering anything in the textbox, the page loads again with an error message ("Please enter some value in the textbox"). At this point the drop down list does not contain any value. Any ideas what could I do?
I am posting the code here for individual pieces,
Struts-config.xml_
<action path="/client" type="com.myapp.struts.testAction" scope="session">
<forward name="success" path="/createClient.jsp"/>
</action>
<action input="/createClient.jsp" name="ClientActionForm" path="/createClient" scope="session" type="com.myapp.struts.ClientAction">
<set-property property="cancellable" value="true" />
<forward name="success" path="/loginSuccessful.jsp"/>
<forward name="cancel" path="/Welcome.do"/>
</action>
index.jsp_
<h5><html:link action="/client" styleClass="purplelink">Create a new client</html:link></h5>
testAction.java_
public ActionForward execute(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form,
HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws Exception {
ArrayList<String> arrList = new ArrayList<String>();
arrList.add("sports");
arrList.add("music");
arrList.add("test 1");
arrList.add("test2");
request.setAttribute("mylist", arrList);
return mapping.findForward(SUCCESS);
createClient.jsp_
<select name="droplist">
<c:forEach var="itemName" items="${mylist}">
<option><c:out value="${itemName}" /></option>
</c:forEach>
</select>
<html:text property="clientName" />
ClientActionForm_
public ActionErrors validate(ActionMapping mapping, HttpServletRequest request)
ActionErrors errors = new ActionErrors();
if (getclientName() == null || getclientName().length() < 1) {
errors.add("name", new ActionMessage("error.name.required"));
return errors;
Here is the process/page flow.
index.jsp is the first page which is loaded.
Link on index.jsp calls action="/client"
This pulls mapping from struts-config and calls testAction.java
This populates the arraylist and returns to the createClient.jsp page (mapping from struts-config.xml)
Now createClient.jsp page has two fields (dropdown list and textfield=clientName) and a submit button
if user clicks submit, clientActionForm is called and does not enter anything into clientName text field, error message is returned.
At this point, the drop down list in createClient.jsp is not populated and is returned as empty, even though the scope=session in struts-config.xml
Please provide some inputs on how can I handle this issue.
Thanks
Ashish

Answer 1

I think one solution would be instead of putting the list in the request, but it in your ActionForm.
Add a field to the ClientActionForm with getters and setters.
Then change your action.
ArrayList<String> arrList = new ArrayList<String>();
arrList.add("sports");
arrList.add("music");
arrList.add("test 1");
arrList.add("test2");
ClientActionForm frm = (ClientActionForm)form;
frm.setMyList(arrList);
return mapping.findForward(SUCCESS);