Use if/else within textfield?

Question

I have already found several ways to use if / else tags and also how to use it within a <tr> tag.

But is it possible to use it within a <s:textfield> tag ?

I want to disable several fields (textfields and datepicker) if a certain parameter is true. At the moment, I have the whole code twice. Once with disable="true"and once without. This makes the jsp extremely verbose.

I would be very happy if there were a better/shorter way.

Answer 1

Try with this expression inside <s:textfield>

disabled="%{myCondition}"

where myCondition should evaluate to true or false.

Answer 2

There are many solutions to this problem, each one fitting it better according to the number of tags, the cleanest/shortest code ratio desired, etc...

For example, you can

1. set a variable and use it in your textfields:

   <s:set var="disabled" value="%{condition}"/>
   <s:textfield ... disabled="%{#disabled}" />
   

2. use an action method that returns a boolean, as in @PredragMaric answer:

   public boolean getConditionFromAction(){
       return (foo!=bar);
   }
   

   <s:textfield ... disabled="%{conditionFromAction}" />
   

3. create two JSP snippets and include them (overkill in case of just disabled, but helpful in other cases, like showing a complete different set of fields)

   <s:if test="%{condition}">
       <s:include page="snippetA.jsp" />
   </s:if>
   <s:else>
       <s:include page="snippetB.jsp" />
   </s:else>
   

   (in which case, remember to put

   <%@ taglib prefix="s" uri="/struts-tags" %>
   

   in the snippets too).

4. disabling them with javascript on page loading (example with jQuery):

   <script>
       $(function(){
           <s:if test="%{condition}">
               $("input[type='text']").attr('disabled','disabled');
           </s:if>
           <s:else>
               $("input[type='text']").removeAttr('disabled');
           </s:else>
       });
   </script>
   

   (better using a class selector ovbiously).

Regarding your latest comment:

I want to disable the fields if a certain condition is true to make further edits impossible.

remember that you MUST perform the controls server side, because every user is able to alter the HTML / DOM (with Firebug, or FF DevTools, Chrome DevTools etc...) or simply forging a request ad-hoc without even visiting your page, and enabling the fields you have disabled.

Client side validation is user friendly and appreciated as a first filter, server side one is mandatory.