org.springframework.webflow.execution.Action Maven / Gradle / Ivy
/*
* Copyright 2004-2007 the original author or authors.
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
* you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
* You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
package org.springframework.webflow.execution;
/**
* A command that executes a behavior and returns a logical execution result a
* calling flow execution can respond to.
*
* Actions typically delegate down to the application (or service) layer to
* perform business operations. They often retrieve data to support response
* rendering. They act as a bridge between a SWF web-tier and your middle-tier
* business logic layer.
*
* When an action completes execution it signals a result event describing the
* outcome of that execution (for example, "success", "error", "yes", "no",
* "tryAgain", etc). In addition to providing a logical outcome the flow can
* respond to, a result event may have payload associated with it, for example a
* "success" return value or an "error" error code. The result event is
* typically used as grounds for a state transition out of the current state of
* the calling Flow.
*
* Action implementations are often application-scoped singletons instantiated
* and managed by a web-tier Spring application context to take advantage of
* Spring's externalized configuration and dependency injection capabilities
* (which is a form of Inversion of Control [IoC]). Actions may also be stateful
* prototypes, storing conversational state as instance variables. Action
* instance definitions may also be locally scoped to a specific flow definition
* (see use of the "import" element of the root XML flow definition element.)
*
* Note: Actions are directly instantiatable for use in a standalone test
* environment and can be parameterized with mocks or stubs, as they are simple
* POJOs. Action proxies may also be generated at runtime for delegating to POJO
* business operations that have no dependency on the Spring Web Flow API.
*
* Note: if an Action is a singleton managed in application scope, take care not
* to store and/or modify caller-specific state in a unsafe manner. The Action
* {@link #execute(RequestContext)} method runs in an independently executing
* thread on each invocation so make sure you deal only with local data or
* internal, thread-safe services.
*
* Note: an Action is not a controller like a Spring MVC controller or a Struts
* action is a controller. Flow actions are commands. Such commands do
* not select views, they execute arbitrary behavioral logic and then return an
* logical execution result. The flow that invokes an Action is responsible for
* responding to the execution result to decide what to do next. In Spring Web
* Flow, the flow is the controller.
*
* @author Keith Donald
* @author Erwin Vervaet
*/
public interface Action {
/**
* Execute this action. Action execution will occur in the context of a
* request associated with an active flow execution.
*
* Action invocation is typically triggered in a production environment by a
* state within a flow carrying out the execution of a flow definition. The
* result of action execution, a logical outcome event, can be used as
* grounds for a transition out of the calling state.
*
* Note: The {@link RequestContext} argument to this method provides access
* to data about the active flow execution in the context of the currently
* executing thread. Among other things, this allows this action to access
* {@link RequestContext#getRequestScope() data} set by other actions, as
* well as set its own attributes it wishes to expose in a given scope.
*
* Some notes about actions and their usage of the attribute scope types:
*
* - Attributes set in
* {@link RequestContext#getRequestScope() request scope} exist for the life
* of the currently executing request only.
*
- Attributes set in {@link RequestContext#getFlashScope() flash scope}
* exist until the next external user event is signaled. That time includes
* the current request plus any redirect or additional refreshes to the next
* view.
*
- Attributes set in {@link RequestContext#getFlowScope() flow scope}
* exist for the life of the flow session and will be
* cleaned up automatically when the flow session ends.
*
- Attributes set in
* {@link RequestContext#getConversationScope() conversation scope} exist
* for the life of the entire flow execution representing a single logical
* "conversation" with a user.
*
*
* All attributes present in any scope are typically exposed in a model
* for access by a view when an "interactive" state type such as a view
* state is entered.
*
* Note: flow scope should generally not be used as a general purpose cache,
* but rather as a context for data needed locally by other states of the
* flow this action participates in. For example, it would be inappropriate
* to stuff large collections of objects (like those returned to support a
* search results view) into flow scope. Instead, put such result
* collections in request scope, and ensure you execute this action again
* each time you wish to view those results. 2nd level caches managed
* outside of SWF are more general cache solutions.
*
* Note: as flow scoped attributes are eligible for serialization they
* should be Serializable.
*
* @param context the action execution context, for accessing and setting
* data in a {@link ScopeType scope type}, as well as obtaining other flow
* contextual information (e.g. request context attributes and flow
* execution context information)
* @return a logical result outcome, used as grounds for a transition in the
* calling flow (e.g. "success", "error", "yes", "no", * ...)
* @throws Exception a exception occured during action execution, either
* checked or unchecked; note, any recoverable exceptions should be
* caught within this method and an appropriate result outcome returned
* or be handled by the current state of the calling flow execution.
*/
public Event execute(RequestContext context) throws Exception;
}