Struts :ValidatorForm Vs ValidatorActionForm

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	ValidatorForm	ValidatorActionForm
What	Class provided by struts framework for validating form fields	Class provided by struts framework for validating form fields
Why	Instead of manually using basic validation using validate() method in action class, harnesses the rich feature of validation framework( or descriptive validation) provided by the struts using XML Files(Validation-rule.xml & validations.xml)	Instead of manually using basic validation using validate() method in action class, harnesses the rich feature of validation framework( or descriptive validation) provided by the struts using XML Files(Validation-rule.xml & validations.xml)
How	By extending the form class Ex: Public class MyForm extends ValidatorForm{ properties & getters setters	By extending the form class Ex: Public class MyForm extends ValidatorActionForm{ properties & getters setters
Where	In any web application which is implemented using struts	In any web application which is implemented using struts
Difference	It uses ‘form name’ as identifier to invoke validation	It uses ‘action name’ as identifier to invoke validation
	The validations.xml file will be configured as <form-name =”name of the form mentioned in config file related to particular action”> Ex Validations.xml <formset> <form-name= ”myForm”> --------------------------- ---------------------------- </form-name> struts-config.xml <form-beans> <form-bean  name=”myForm” type=”--------“/> </form-beans> <action-mapping> <action path=”/myFormAction” name= ”myForm” type=………          />	The validations.xml file will be configured as <form-name =”action path mentioned in struts-config.xml”> Ex Validations.xml <formset> <form-name=”/myFormAction”> --------------------------- ---------------------------- </form-name> struts-config.xml <form-beans> <form-bean  name=”myForm” type=”--------“/> </form-beans> <action-mapping> <action path=”/myFormAction” name=”myForm” type=………          />
Benefit	It’s a clear cut way to say that this form has following validations.	Some times it happens that a single form is shared by many actions or JSP pages so to configure a single validation for form would be overkill, we are wasting time by validating all fields which are not related to our page. A page can be distinguished using ‘Action’ so it is being used here to save us from wastage.

Complete Example :

Will be posted on 09th July 2012.