[pegitha]

Here is how I normally handle something like this:

Code:

public ActionForward getWidgets(ActionMapping mapping, ActionForm form, HttpServletRequest request,
            HttpServletResponse response) throws Exception
    {
       
        ActionMessages errors = new ActionMessages();
        
        ActionForward forward = new ActionForward();

        try
        {
           
            List widgets=WidgetManager.getWidgets();
            forward = mapping.findForward("gotthem");

        }
        catch (NoWidgetsFoundException e)
        {
            errors.add("noWidgetsLeftError", new   ActionMessage("error.noWidgetsLeftError"));
            saveErrors(request, errors);
        }

        return (forward);
    }

My WidgetManager.getWidgets() throws a NoWidgetsFoundException. That is caught in the Action and then you create a new ActionMessage. The message that is going to be displayed is still in the ApplicationResource.properties file, just like the errors you collect in the Form.validate() method.