http://jira.springframework.org/browse/SWF-626

spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/action/AbstractAction.java

@@ -186,14 +186,6 @@ public abstract class AbstractAction implements Action, InitializingBean {
 		Event result = doPreExecute(context);
 		if (result == null) {
 			result = doExecute(context);
-			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
-				if (result != null) {
-					logger.debug("Action '" + getActionNameForLogging() + "' completed execution; result is '"
-							+ result.getId() + "'");
-				} else {
-					logger.debug("Action '" + getActionNameForLogging() + "' completed execution; result is [null]");
-				}
-			}
 			doPostExecute(context);
 		} else {
 			if (logger.isInfoEnabled()) {

spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/ActionExecutor.java

@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.webflow.engine;
 
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.springframework.webflow.execution.Action;
 import org.springframework.webflow.execution.Event;
 import org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext;
@@ -28,6 +30,8 @@ import org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext;
  */
 public class ActionExecutor {
 
+	private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(AnnotatedAction.class);
+
 	/**
 	 * Private constructor to avoid instantiation.
 	 */
@@ -44,7 +48,14 @@ public class ActionExecutor {
 	 */
 	public static Event execute(Action action, RequestContext context) throws ActionExecutionException {
 		try {
-			return action.execute(context);
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Executing action " + getTargetAction(action));
+			}
+			Event event = action.execute(context);
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Action execution completed; result = " + event);
+			}
+			return event;
 		} catch (ActionExecutionException e) {
 			throw e;
 		} catch (Exception e) {
@@ -54,4 +65,12 @@ public class ActionExecutor {
 							.getAttributes(), e);
 		}
 	}
+
+	private static Action getTargetAction(Action action) {
+		if (action instanceof AnnotatedAction) {
+			return getTargetAction(((AnnotatedAction) action).getTargetAction());
+		} else {
+			return action;
+		}
+	}
 }

spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/AnnotatedAction.java

@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.webflow.engine;
 
+import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
 import org.springframework.core.style.ToStringCreator;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
@@ -36,6 +38,8 @@ import org.springframework.webflow.execution.RequestContext;
  */
 public class AnnotatedAction extends AnnotatedObject implements Action {
 
+	private static final Log logger = LogFactory.getLog(AnnotatedAction.class);
+
 	// well known attributes
 
 	/**
@@ -138,10 +142,16 @@ public class AnnotatedAction extends AnnotatedObject implements Action {
 
 	public Event execute(RequestContext context) throws Exception {
 		try {
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Putting action execution attributes " + getAttributes());
+			}
 			context.getAttributes().putAll(getAttributes());
 			Event result = getTargetAction().execute(context);
 			return postProcessResult(result);
 		} finally {
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Clearing action execution attributes " + getAttributes());
+			}
 			context.getAttributes().removeAll(getAttributes());
 		}
 	}
@@ -160,6 +170,10 @@ public class AnnotatedAction extends AnnotatedObject implements Action {
 		if (isNamed()) {
 			// qualify result event id with action name for a named action
 			String qualifiedId = getName() + "." + resultEvent.getId();
+			if (logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				logger.debug("Qualifying action result '" + resultEvent.getId() + "'; qualified result = '"
+						+ qualifiedId + "'");
+			}
 			resultEvent = new Event(resultEvent.getSource(), qualifiedId, resultEvent.getAttributes());
 		}
 		return resultEvent;

spring-webflow/src/main/java/org/springframework/webflow/execution/Action.java

@@ -98,6 +98,5 @@ public interface Action {
 	 * <i>recoverable</i> exceptions should be caught within this method and an appropriate result outcome returned
 	 * <i>or</i> be handled by the current state of the calling flow execution.
 	 */
-	// TODO consider changing the execute return value to a simple string for 2.0
 	public Event execute(RequestContext context) throws Exception;
 }

spring-webflow/src/test/java/org/springframework/webflow/action/FormActionTests.java

@@ -73,6 +73,10 @@ public class FormActionTests extends TestCase {
 	public static class TestBeanValidator implements Validator {
 		private boolean invoked;
 
+		public boolean getInvoked() {
+			return invoked;
+		}
+
 		public boolean supports(Class clazz) {
 			return TestBean.class.equals(clazz);
 		}

spring-webflow/src/test/java/org/springframework/webflow/engine/model/builder/xml/XmlFlowModelBuilderTests.java

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ import junit.framework.TestCase;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.support.StaticListableBeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
 import org.springframework.validation.BindingResult;
+import org.springframework.webflow.action.FormAction;
+import org.springframework.webflow.action.FormActionTests.TestBeanValidator;
 import org.springframework.webflow.definition.StateDefinition;
 import org.springframework.webflow.engine.Flow;
 import org.springframework.webflow.engine.builder.FlowAssembler;
@@ -313,9 +315,12 @@ public class XmlFlowModelBuilderTests extends TestCase {
 			}
 		}));
 		FlowExecution execution = factory.createFlowExecution(flow);
+		FormAction action = (FormAction) flow.getApplicationContext().getBean("formAction");
+		assertFalse(((TestBeanValidator) action.getValidator()).getInvoked());
 		execution.start(null, new MockExternalContext());
 		MockExternalContext context = new MockExternalContext();
 		context.setEventId("submit");
 		execution.resume(context);
+		assertTrue(((TestBeanValidator) action.getValidator()).getInvoked());
 	}
 }