Look Up And Dispatch-1

a dispatchaction contains a number of different methods other than the standard execute(). these methods are executed based on some request parameter. your action mapping in struts-config specifies the request parameter to examine. then, whatever the value of that parameter is for a given request, struts will try to execute the method in the action whos name matches the value of the parameter. a lookupdispatch action by contrast determines which method to call not based directly on a request parameter's value, but by doing a lookup to determine the method, based on the value of the parameter. you provide a method that accepts the value of the request parameter and returns the method to execute. how you actually implement the lookup is of course up to you, but a simple map is probably most typical. i suppose if i were to state the difference as concisely as possible, i would probably say this... the method to execute on a dispatchaction is determined by struts based on the value of a specified request parameter, whereas the method to execute on a lookupdispachaction is determined by your action itself based on the value of a specified request parameter