Question

I have a jsp file in which I have a form. It shows data about an “account” data structure we have. There’s a button to remove the data from that data structure.

<form action="removeThisData.html" method="post">
  ... blah blah blah ...
  <input type="submit" value="Remove"/>
</form>

Now, there’s a component that I want to be editable. Basically, I want that third blah to be turned into a date. Here’s what I wish I could do.

<form action="removeThisData.html" method="post">
  ... blah blah blah ...
  <input type="submit" value="Change blah to date"/>
  <input type="submit" value="Remove"/>
</form>

Unfortunately, that button just acts upon the form action, which invokes the functionality mapped to “removeThisData.html”.

How can I get two different behaviors from the same form? Is the invocation of multiple actions even possible within the same form? If it is not, is there a way to preserve all the information within a single scope or do I have to repeat the data/information in two different forms?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You could rename removeThisData.html to, say, "manageThisData.html“. You can examine the "value" of the submit button on the server-side and perform suitable action, based on the value, which would be one of “Remove” or “Change blah to date“.