Question

I am trying to create a custom type converter to convert a Collection of objects back and forth from a String. I have a text area in my form and want to create a new object in the Collection for every line break in the text area on my save. When displaying the information, I want to loop through the objects in the Collection and turn it into a String with line breaks for my text area. So far, I am unable to even get my converter to fire or receive any kind of errors based on the annotations that I have. Below is my class definition:

@Conversion()
public class FormsEdit extends JWebCrud{

Inside this class I have a List:

private List<Formfield> formFields;

Inside the Formnfield class I have a Set:

private Set<Formfieldopts> formfieldoptses = new HashSet<Formfieldopts>(0);

@TypeConversion(converter = "com.webexchange.actions.tpa.setup.forms.FormFieldOptsConverter")
public void setFormfieldoptses(Set<Formfieldopts> formfieldoptses) {
    this.formfieldoptses = formfieldoptses;
}

Can someone please direct me on how to properly setup these annotations to get the Converter to fire?

Struts 2 Version: 2.2.1

Struts Interceptor Stack:

            <interceptor-stack name="stackWithSecurity">
                            <interceptor-ref name="closeHibernateSession" />
            <!--catches exceptions pre or post action class-->
            <interceptor-ref name="exceptionInterceptor" />  
            <interceptor-ref name="security">
                <param name="excludeMethods">executeNoSecurity,executeNoSecurityOrValidation</param>
            </interceptor-ref>
            <interceptor-ref name="alias" />
            <interceptor-ref name="servletConfig" />
            <!-- Puts HTTPResponse and HTTPRequest objects on the action -->
             <interceptor-ref name="openHibernateSession" />
            <!-- Opens a db connection and creates a hibernate session -->
            <interceptor-ref name="prepare" />
            <interceptor-ref name="checkbox" /> <!-- Sets unchecked values into the action with a value of 'false' -->
            <interceptor-ref name="params" /><!-- Sets the parameters from the HTTP request to the action -->
            <interceptor-ref name="staticParams" />
            <interceptor-ref name="conversionError" />
            <!-- adds a field error when the value can't be converted to the right type -->
            <interceptor-ref name="chain">
                <!-- these properties should not be copied from one action to another on a chain -->
                <param name="excludes">dao</param>
            </interceptor-ref>
            <interceptor-ref name="validation">
                <param name="excludeMethods">
                    input,back,cancel,browse,delete,executeNoValidation,executeNoSecurityOrValidation,edit
                </param>
                <param name="validateAnnotatedMethodOnly">true</param>
            </interceptor-ref>
            <interceptor-ref name="workflow">
                <param name="excludeMethods">
                    input,back,cancel,browse,delete,executeNoValidation,executeNoSecurityOrValidation,edit
                </param>
            </interceptor-ref>
        </interceptor-stack>

Action Mapping:

        <action name="formsSave"
        class="com.webexchange.actions.tpa.setup.forms.FormsEdit"
        method="save">
        <result name="success">/jsp/centers/tpa/setup/forms/EditForms.jsp
        </result>
        <result name="input">/jsp/centers/tpa/setup/forms/EditForms.jsp
        </result>
    </action>

Answer 1

Thanks Dave for your help. My s:textarea was not pointing at the Collection I was trying to convert. After I did that the converter started to fire. What a total FAIL on my part, sorry.