Spring MVC dropdown box example
In Spring MVC, form tags – <form:select />, <form:option /> or <form:options />, are used to render HTML dropdown box. See following examples :
//SimpleFormController
protected Map referenceData(HttpServletRequest request) throws Exception {
Map referenceData = new HashMap();
Map<String,String> country = new LinkedHashMap<String,String>();
country.put("US", "United Stated");
country.put("CHINA", "China");
country.put("SG", "Singapore");
country.put("MY", "Malaysia");
referenceData.put("countryList", country);
}
1. <form:select />
Generate a dropbox box with ${countryList}.
<form:select path="country" items="${countryList}" />
HTML code
<select id="country" name="country">
<option value="US">United Stated</option>
<option value="CHINA">China</option>
<option value="SG">Singapore</option>
<option value="MY">Malaysia</option>
</select>
2. <form:options />
The <form:options /> have to enclosed with the select tag.
<form:select path="country">
<form:options items="${countryList}" />
</form:select>
HTML code
<select id="country" name="country">
<option value="US">United Stated</option>
<option value="CHINA">China</option>
<option value="SG">Singapore</option>
<option value="MY">Malaysia</option>
</select>
3. <form:option />
The <form:option /> have to enclosed with the select tag as well, and render a single select option, see the following combination.
<form:select path="country">
<form:option value="NONE" label="--- Select ---"/>
<form:options items="${countryList}" />
</form:select>
HTML code
<select id="country" name="country">
<option value="NONE">--- Select ---</option>
<option value="US">United Stated</option>
<option value="CHINA">China</option>
<option value="SG">Singapore</option>
<option value="MY">Malaysia</option>
</select>
4. List box
To render a list box, just add the “multiple=true” attribute in the select tag.
<form:select path="country" items="${countryList}" multiple="true" />
HTML code, with a hidden value to handle the country selections.
<select id="country" name="country" multiple="multiple">
<option value="US">United Stated</option>
<option value="CHINA">China</option>
<option value="SG">Singapore</option>
<option value="MY">Malaysia</option>
</select>
<input type="hidden" name="_country" value="1"/>
For dropdown box, list box or “select” options, as long as the “path” or “property” is equal to the “select option key value“, the options will be selected automatically.
Full dropdown box example
Let’s go thought a complete Spring MVC dropdown box example :
1. Model
A customer model class to store the dropdown box value.
File : Customer.java
package com.mkyong.customer.model;
public class Customer{
String country;
String javaSkills;
public String getCountry() {
return country;
}
public void setCountry(String country) {
this.country = country;
}
public String getJavaSkills() {
return javaSkills;
}
public void setJavaSkills(String javaSkills) {
this.javaSkills = javaSkills;
}
}
2. Controller
A SimpleFormController
to handle the form dropdown box value. Make the java skills’s “Spring” as the default dropdown box selected value.
File : DropDownBoxController.java
package com.mkyong.customer.controller;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
import org.springframework.validation.BindException;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.ModelAndView;
import org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.SimpleFormController;
import com.mkyong.customer.model.Customer;
public class DropDownBoxController extends SimpleFormController{
public DropDownBoxController(){
setCommandClass(Customer.class);
setCommandName("customerForm");
}
@Override
protected Object formBackingObject(HttpServletRequest request)
throws Exception {
Customer cust = new Customer();
//make "Spring" as the default java skills selection
cust.setJavaSkills("Spring");
return cust;
}
@Override
protected ModelAndView onSubmit(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response, Object command, BindException errors)
throws Exception {
Customer customer = (Customer)command;
return new ModelAndView("CustomerSuccess","customer",customer);
}
protected Map referenceData(HttpServletRequest request) throws Exception {
Map referenceData = new HashMap();
Map<String,String> country = new LinkedHashMap<String,String>();
country.put("US", "United Stated");
country.put("CHINA", "China");
country.put("SG", "Singapore");
country.put("MY", "Malaysia");
referenceData.put("countryList", country);
Map<String,String> javaSkill = new LinkedHashMap<String,String>();
javaSkill.put("Hibernate", "Hibernate");
javaSkill.put("Spring", "Spring");
javaSkill.put("Apache Wicket", "Apache Wicket");
javaSkill.put("Struts", "Struts");
referenceData.put("javaSkillsList", javaSkill);
return referenceData;
}
}
3. Validator
A simple form validator to make sure the “country” and “javaSkills” dropdown box is selected.
File : DropDownBoxValidator.java
package com.mkyong.customer.validator;
import org.springframework.validation.Errors;
import org.springframework.validation.ValidationUtils;
import org.springframework.validation.Validator;
import com.mkyong.customer.model.Customer;
public class DropDownBoxValidator implements Validator{
@Override
public boolean supports(Class clazz) {
//just validate the Customer instances
return Customer.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz);
}
@Override
public void validate(Object target, Errors errors) {
Customer cust = (Customer)target;
ValidationUtils.rejectIfEmptyOrWhitespace(errors, "javaSkills", "required.javaSkills");
if("NONE".equals(cust.getCountry())){
errors.rejectValue("country", "required.country");
}
}
}
File : message.properties
required.country = Please select a country!
required.javaSkills = Please select a java Skill!
4. View
A JSP page to show the use of Spring’s form tag <form:select />, <form:option /> and <form:options />.
File : CustomerForm.jsp
<%@ taglib prefix="form" uri="http://www.springframework.org/tags/form"%>
<html>
<head>
<style>
.error {
color: #ff0000;
}
.errorblock {
color: #000;
background-color: #ffEEEE;
border: 3px solid #ff0000;
padding: 8px;
margin: 16px;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h2>Spring's form select, option, options example</h2>
<form:form method="POST" commandName="customerForm">
<form:errors path="*" cssClass="errorblock" element="div" />
<table>
<tr>
<td>Country :</td>
<td><form:select path="country">
<form:option value="NONE" label="--- Select ---" />
<form:options items="${countryList}" />
</form:select>
</td>
<td><form:errors path="country" cssClass="error" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Java Skills :</td>
<td><form:select path="javaSkills" items="${javaSkillsList}"
multiple="true" /></td>
<td><form:errors path="javaSkills" cssClass="error" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="3"><input type="submit" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form:form>
</body>
</html>
Use JSTL to display submitted value.
File : CustomerSuccess.jsp
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%>
<html>
<body>
<h2>Spring's form select, option, options example</h2>
Country : ${customer.country}
<br /> Java Skills : ${customer.javaSkills}
<br />
</body>
</html>
5. Spring Bean Configuration
Link it all ~
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd">
<bean
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.support.ControllerClassNameHandlerMapping" />
<bean class="com.mkyong.customer.controller.DropDownBoxController">
<property name="formView" value="CustomerForm" />
<property name="successView" value="CustomerSuccess" />
<!-- Map a validator -->
<property name="validator">
<bean class="com.mkyong.customer.validator.DropDownBoxValidator" />
</property>
</bean>
<!-- Register the Customer.properties -->
<bean id="messageSource"
class="org.springframework.context.support.ResourceBundleMessageSource">
<property name="basename" value="message" />
</bean>
<bean id="viewResolver"
class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
<property name="prefix">
<value>/WEB-INF/pages/</value>
</property>
<property name="suffix">
<value>.jsp</value>
</property>
</bean>
</beans>
6. Demo
Access the page – http://localhost:8080/SpringMVCForm/dropdownbox.htm
If the user did not select any dropdown box value while submitting the form, display and highlight the error message.
If the form is submitted successfully, just display the submitted dropdown box values.
How is this file being accessed through dropdownbox.htm? I don’t understand where this mapping is coming from because I’ve dug through the code and there isn’t anything relating to dropdownbox or htm.
Thanks.
Thanks for the tutorial. I have a problem showing the item/description of the selected value in the view page. Like the CustomerSuccess.jsp page is display the value of the dropdown. How can i display the item/description instead of value. For example, the country field diaplay MY instead of Malaysia.
hello Mkyong, can you post an example which gives information about how to populate a dropdown and retrieve values selected in a multiple select dropdown on form submit.
It doesnt works this way.
Thanks for this nice Tutorial. I have a question regarding the multiple select. If a User have the ability to select mor than one value how can I recieve a list of object so that I can map them to my database. Like I understand it here we only get back on Object so it only works if one value is selected right?
Hi,
Good example for Select option. I am new to Springs. I am working on Spring form I am getting an error
2011-10-05 22:27:14,971 [ERROR] [http-0.0.0.0-8080-1] org.springframework.web.servlet.tags.form.SelectTag – Neither BindingResult nor plain target object for bean name ‘categoryFinder’ available as request attribute
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Neither BindingResult nor plain target object for bean name ‘categoryFinder’ available as request attribute.
In my JSP I have given the commandName correctly. The name I have given is what I am passing from the controller. In controller I am passing ModelAndView(“”,”categoryFinder”,categoryFinder). This I am passing from get as well as in Post as I need same page for multiple entries.
Also when using select option how to set the default value and when passing the value from controller, I want to display that as default value.
could you help me on this.
Thanks in advance
Madhu
I m geeting same problem..did you find the solution?
Getting the same problem. let me know how u resolved it….
mkyong can we implement the same using MultiActionController & how?
XML – https://mkyong.com/spring-mvc/spring-mvc-multiactioncontroller-example/
Annotation – https://mkyong.com/spring-mvc/spring-mvc-multiactioncontroller-annotation-example/
when i am use
it display like that:”com.utsav.Model.countryModel@68a61b83″
I want to display a drop-down box, and select an option on that drop-down box.
The selected value will differ each time the page is loaded, based on the user.
Can you please explain in more detail how it can be accomplished?
Were you able to find a solution to select value that differs each time the page is loaded? I’m encountering a similar problem. Your reply would be helpful?
how to dynamically pass the list values rather than hardcoding in the controllers.
where is dropdownbox.htm?????
I have a requirement, like in a form:select it is showing a number of 20 rows out of 24, would there be an option to make it visible 24 without scroll? I have tried size and height which didn’t work, it should show as a drop down without scroll basically.
The downloaded example doesnt even have the spring config file.
This does not work. I have downloaded it and ran it fresh and i get the following error:
org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name ‘org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.support.ControllerClassNameHandlerMapping#0’ defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/mvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml]: Initialization of bean failed; nested exception is org.springframework.beans.factory.CannotLoadBeanClassException: Cannot find class [com.mkyong.customer.controller.DropDownBoxController] for bean with name ‘com.mkyong.customer.controller.DropDownBoxController#0’ defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/mvc-dispatcher-servlet.xml]; nested exception is java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.mkyong.customer.controller.DropDownBoxController
Please help.
THANK YOU!! The referenceData method is NEVER called!! The form backing controller needs to return a MAV with customer as an object on it and also mav.addObject(“countryList”, referenceData()); This shows the “keys” of the map in the combo. How to change it to values, no fking clue
do you have example dropdown box for relation table ?
how make select dependent de other for example country state where state have Long id and String name, do you have any example?
hello with which version of java what made the project go?
hola con que version de java lo haz realizado el proyecto?
Hello, i am new in Spring, please help me, why do we need “formView” and “succesessView” in spring bean configuration?
Ic not multipl select bean
public class Customer{
String country;
String javaSkills; //this do bi multiple select possible List
??????????????????????????
Where is the mapping for dropdownbox.htm. I dig out the whole code but didnot fin anything.If I want to change the mapping from where can I achieve this??
Neither BindingResult nor plain target object for bean name ‘customerForm’ available as request attribute. Am getting above exception when i implemented the same. kindly help me.
How can I display “China” instead of “CHINA” on the last image of this tutorial?
Could please make it work for edit version. I am able to get it working for add.
Values selected are going to join table.
But for the edit screen not able to show selected values in multi select.
Any solution?
as does the same with “Spring MVC 3.0”?
Hello,
I have a question. Is it possible to send object to spring form and get object from form?
Hi I have one qstn, If i submit my form ,based on some Spring form values it should go to different jsps. For example if I provide XXX value for one of Spring Form field it should go to SOMEXXX.jsp and similarly if i Provide YYY Value for that field it should go to SOMEYYY.jsp. Can u pls help me how to do that ?
i don’t want to import, i want to buy here in Ecuador direct from the big importers of electronics, mp3, video cameras, etc
Thanks for this nice Tutorial! It helped me a lot.
Thanks for this nice Tutorial.
How & where to set default dropdown value using Spring based tag?
i mean, i have a Spring based ‘Gender’ tag which provide 2 options: male and female, but by default male whould be selected.
in this case, could you please help…
How to set default value for Spring based tag.