Best way to store user's choices in JSP site

[vajra1987]

Hello everybody

I am working on a Website built on JSP and Servlets . one of the features of the site is to give user the chance to subscribe to different newsletters under different categories.

So for example, user1 surfs to the page which displays category sport and under that some options (check boxes) and he can choose zero or more, and he clicks to add the next catetory options , for example entertainement.


I am new at Java and I'd be grateful if you help me with my questions:

1. What is the best way to keep user's choices as he surfs and adds options under each category ? I thought of using session vars , in form of arrays, but I wonder if there is a better more efficient way ?

2. At the last page, user is shown the category names with two links beside them , edit and remove (he will not see the individual choices under each category) ... could you also advise what is the best way to implement this as well? For example if I use array session vars, I am not sure how to display that particular page again ...


The categories and options under each are stored in database. User's choices are not commited to DB until he reviews the summary and clicks confirm button at the last stage.

Thank you in advance
Vajra

[r035198x]

Hello everybody

I am working on a Website built on JSP and Servlets . one of the features of the site is to give user the chance to subscribe to different newsletters under different categories.

So for example, user1 surfs to the page which displays category sport and under that some options (check boxes) and he can choose zero or more, and he clicks to add the next catetory options , for example entertainement.


I am new at Java and I'd be grateful if you help me with my questions:

1. What is the best way to keep user's choices as he surfs and adds options under each category ? I thought of using session vars , in form of arrays, but I wonder if there is a better more efficient way ?

2. At the last page, user is shown the category names with two links beside them , edit and remove (he will not see the individual choices under each category) ... could you also advise what is the best way to implement this as well? For example if I use array session vars, I am not sure how to display that particular page again ...


The categories and options under each are stored in database. User's choices are not commited to DB until he reviews the summary and clicks confirm button at the last stage.

Thank you in advance
Vajra

Tha values that your user enters are automatically passed to the next page as parameters if you include them in a form.
You can get them in the next JSP page using request.getParameter or request.getParameterValues (if the values are array type).

[vajra1987]

Tha values that your user enters are automatically passed to the next page as parameters if you include them in a form.
You can get them in the next JSP page using request.getParameter or request.getParameterValues (if the values are array type).

Thank you for your reply. There are two things to consider :

1. There are around 6,7 categories. So each time user selects options from each , this should be kept until end of the process. If I use request parameters they will only last from one page to next.

2. From the summary page , something like this is displayed to user if he has choices from 3 categoires of Sport , Social, Home ; but he did not choose anything from Movies and other categories:

Sport : edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)
Social : edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)
Home edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)


The user should have a choice to go back to each category page and edit it (he will see his previous choices in check boxes), or just by clicking a link in the final summary page, to remove it. I don't think this can be done using request parameters.

Could you please help?
Thank you

[r035198x]

Thank you for your reply. There are two things to consider :

1. There are around 6,7 categories. So each time user selects options from each , this should be kept until end of the process. If I use request parameters they will only last from one page to next.

2. From the summary page , something like this is displayed to user if he has choices from 3 categoires of Sport , Social, Home ; but he did not choose anything from Movies and other categories:

Sport : edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)
Social : edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)
Home edit (hyperlink) , remove (hyperlink)


The user should have a choice to go back to each category page and edit it (he will see his previous choices in check boxes), or just by clicking a link in the final summary page, to remove it. I don't think this can be done using request parameters.

Could you please help?
Thank you

Store the values in the session then.

[vajra1987]

Store the values in the session then.

Is array the only way to do this ? Are there any kind of table structures available fit for this purpose ?

Thanks

[r035198x]

Is array the only way to do this ? Are there any kind of table structures available fit for this purpose ?

Thanks

You mentioned options in your problem description so I thought you were using selects which are really just Javascript arrays.