[OpenLayers-Users] openlayers,geoserver in external web app

[pierre de fermat]

Hi
I am creating a web app (dojo/struts/postgres/postgis) which amongst
other things, need to deliver GIS capabilities.

The base infrastructure (security,logging,caching etc) is in place and
other modules are under development. I took up openlayers as my
frontend js for rendering maps from geoserver.

For other modules, the request (ajax and regular) goes through my
struts filter layers -> action class->dao->db route. However,
openlayer requires configuration of wms services URL (provided by the
geoserver) . I can't direct those requests directly to geoserver. I
need my app to trap requests do bunch of validations and then process
it. I am sure any app developer would have gone through the same issue
that i am facing right now.

i am thinking of 'tricking' openlayer by giving the URL of a struts
action which captures the parameters from the request URL, and then
requesting the geoserver internally for the response.This way i could
manage session, security etc and keep geoserver internally facing. Is
this recomendded? Is there a better way to make openlayer work with
external web app?

Regards
Pierre