Question

I am using spring and I have a child model with a objectify key object – “Key parent”

The getAsText prints ok when form is being loaded, but when the form submit, setAsText is skipped. Any reason? and the parentType is empty when it arrives the Controller. Is it the form issue or controller or the editor?

(side track: Is there an editor written for Objectify Key <-> String mapping?)

Jsp

<form:hidden path="parentType"  />

Controller

    @InitBinder
    protected void initBinder(HttpServletRequest request,
            ServletRequestDataBinder binder) throws Exception {


        /** Key Conversion **/
        binder.registerCustomEditor(com.googlecode.objectify.Key.class,  new KeyEditor());
}
@RequestMapping(value = "/subtype-formsubmit", method = RequestMethod.POST)
    public ModelAndView subTypeFormSubmit(@ModelAttribute("productSubType") @Valid ProductSubType productSubType,
            BindingResult result){
        ModelAndView mav = new ModelAndView();

        //OK, getting the value
        log.info(productSubType.getType()); 

            //NOT OK, productSubType.getParentType() always null, and setAsText is not called?!
        log.info(productSubType.getParentType().toString()); 

        return mav;
    }

KeyEditor.java

public class KeyEditor extends PropertyEditorSupport {

private static final Logger log = Logger
        .getLogger(KeyEditor.class.getName());

public KeyEditor(){
    super();
}

@Override
public String getAsText() {
    Long id = ((Key) getValue()).getId();
    String kind = ((Key) getValue()).getKind();
    log.info(kind + "." + id.toString());
    return kind + "." + id.toString();
}

@Override
public void setAsText(String text) throws IllegalArgumentException {
    log.info(text);
    String clazz = text.substring(0, text.indexOf("."));
    Long id = Long.parseLong(text.substring(text.indexOf(".")));
    log.info(clazz+":"+id);
    Class c=null;
    Key<?> key=null;
    try {
        c = Class.forName(clazz);
        key = new Key(c, id);
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        log.info("ex" + ex.toString());
        ex.printStackTrace();
    }

    setValue(key);
}

}

Answer 1

You need to call Class.forName with the complete class name, including packages.

I think that Key#getKind() returns the simple class name without packages. Also text.substring(0, text.indexOf(".")); (in setAsText) tells me there are no dots in clazz, so you’re not feeding the correct input to Class.forName

Options:

• if all your classes are in the same package, then just prepend that to clazz (not a very robust solution)
• Since you have to register all of your entities anyway (ObjectifyService.register(YourEntity.class);), then you can simultaneously create a map from kind to complete class name, and then use it in setAsText.

But there might be better options…