Unable to extract a list from Velocity template (Workflow Post Function Plugin Module)

[Robbie Wareham]

Hi,

I have a Velocity template that is attempting to allow users to select multiple Project Categories;

<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2">
    #foreach ($projectCategory in $projectCategories)
        <tr>
            <td><input type="checkbox" name="projectCategories" value="$projectCategory.getId()"
                #if (${selectedProjectCategories})
                    #if (${selectedProjectCategories.contains($projectCategory.getId())})
                       CHECKED
                    #end
                #end
            ></td>
            <td>#displayConstantIcon ($projectCategory) $projectCategory.getName()</td>
        </tr>
    #end
</table>

By using the same "name" property for each checkbox, I can access all the selected ids from the parameters;

public Map<String, Object> getDescriptorParams(Map params) {

    if (params != null && params.containsKey("projectCategories")){
        return MapBuilder.build( "projectCategories", params.get("projectCategories"));
    }

    return MapBuilder.build( "projectCategories", new ArrayList<String>());
}

However, when I then extract these via the "FunctionDescriptor", the ArrayList is now a string and I am unable to access the original values;

functionDescriptor.getArgs().get("projectCategories")

Any ideas? To get around this I have had to use unique "name" properties prefixed with a common string, and then extract each entry in the params which has a key that starts with the common string.  This really smells to me!

Thanks

Robbie