2009 Marty Hall

The JSP Standard Tag g Library (JSTL)

Handling Variable Length Data Variable-Length in MVC-Based JSP Pages
Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
3

Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

2009 Marty Hall

For live Java training, please see training courses at http://courses.coreservlets.com/. Servlets, JSP, Struts, http //co rses coreser lets com/ Ser lets JSP Str ts JSF, Ajax, GWT, Java 5, Java 6, Spring, Hibernate, JPA, and customized combinations of topics. p
Taught by the author of Core Servlets and JSP, More Servlets and JSP, and this tutorial Available at public JSP tutorial. venues, or customized versions can be held on-site at your Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/ Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. organization. Contact [email protected] for details. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Agenda
Obtaining JSTL documentation and code The JSTL Expression Language Looping Tags
Looping a certain number of times Looping over data structures Improving Ajax MVC data handling examples data-handling

Conditional Evaluation Tags

Single choice Multiple choices

Database Access Tags g Other Tags

7

2009 Marty Hall

Overview and Installation

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
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Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

JSTL Overview
Full JSTL
Contains many common and useful JSP custom tags Particularly useful when you are using MVC, but the data contains a varying number of entries Based on the Struts looping and logic tags Not part of the JSP 1.2, 2.0, or 2.1 specs
It is a separate specification that requires a separate download

Expression language
The JSP expression language came from JSTL, but is now p part of JSP 2.0, JSP 2.1, and JSF , ,

The JSTL Specification is available in PDF

9

http://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=52

Downloading JSTL
JSTL 1.1
H Home page
http://jakarta.apache.org/taglibs/doc/ standard-doc/intro.html

D Download l d
http://jakarta.apache.org/site/downloads/ downloads_taglibs-standard.cgi

D Documentation (Javadoc) t ti (J d )
http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jstl/1.1/docs/tlddocs/

Note
Many server packages (e.g., MyFaces) and IDEs (e.g., MyEclipse) already have JSTL 1.1 bundled

JSTL 1.2
As of 10/2008, only available as part of Java EE 5
Not as a separate download for use in other servers
10

Enabling JSTL with Eclipse or MyEclipse

Eclipse
Download from Apache site Drag jstl.jar and jstl jar standard.jar onto WEB-INF/lib
Th also get listed i They l t li t d in Web App Libraries I usually rename JAR files to h fil t show exact version t i

They also show up here. You drop them here.

MyEclipse
Follow Eclipse directions above, or above File New Web Project, select JSTL 1.1 option

11

Enabling JSTL Manually

Put in Web App
Drop JAR files in the WEB-INF/lib folder of your Web app

Put in CLASSPATH
Add the JAR files to the CLASSPATH used by your development environment p Do not add to the CLASSPATH used by the server

12

The JSTL Expression Language

Accessed via ${expression} Similar to JavaScript and XPath Provides shorthand notation to access:
Attributes of standard servlet objects Bean properties Map List, and Array elements Map, List

Is standard part of JSP 2.0 and 2.1

In JSTL, EL can be used only in attributes of JSTL tags JSTL In JSP 2.0, the EL can be used anywhere
web.xml element and page directive attribute let you disable the EL for backward compatibility

EL covered in separate lecture

13

2009 Marty Hall

Iteration Tags
Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
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Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Constructs for Handling Variable Length Variable-Length Data

Simplest for P f Page Author

Bean
${cust.withdrawals}

Custom tag (non-looping)

<mytags:withDrawalTable customer ${cust} customer="${cust}" border="..." headerStyles="..." .../>

Custom tag (looping)

Most Control for Page Author

S examples in Advanced C See l i Ad d Custom Tags T lecture

JSTL loop p JSP scripting loop

17

Looping Tags: Summary

Looping with explicit numeric values
<c:forEach var="name" begin="x" end="y" step="z"> Blah, blah ${name} </c:forEach>

Looping over data structures

Can loop down arrays, strings, collections, maps arrays strings collections
<c:forEach var="name" items="array-or-collection"> Blah, blah ${name} </c:forEach>

Looping down delimited strings

forTokens
18

Looping Tags: Motivation

JSP without JSTL
<UL> <% for(int i=0; i<messages.length; i++) { String message = messages[i]; %> <LI><%= message %> <% } %> </UL>

JSP with JSTL

<UL> <c:forEach var="message" items="${messages}"> <LI>${message} <LI>${ } </c:forEach> </UL>

19

Looping with Simple Numeric Values

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%> uri="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <UL> <c:forEach var="i" begin="1" end="10"> <LI>${i} LI ${i} </c:forEach> </UL>

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Looping with a Designated Step Size

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core % uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <UL> <c:forEach var="seconds" begin="0" end="${pageContext.session.maxInactiveInterval}" step="100"> <LI>${seconds} seconds. seconds </c:forEach> <LI>Timeout exceeded. </UL>

21

Looping Down Arrays (Servlet)

public class ArrayServlet extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, request HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { String[] words = { "foo", "bar", "baz"}; foo , bar , baz }; request.setAttribute("words", words); String address = "/WEB-INF/results/array-loop.jsp"; RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher(address); dispatcher.forward(request, response); } }

Note url-pattern in web.xml is /test-array

22

Looping Down Arrays

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri= http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core %> uri="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <H2>Key Words:</H2> <UL> <c:forEach var= word var="word" items="${words}"> <LI>${word} </c:forEach> </UL> <H2>Values of the test Parameter:</H2> a ues o t e a a ete : / <UL> <c:forEach var="val" ${p } items="${paramValues.test}"> <LI>${val} </c:forEach> </UL>

23

Note for Older Servers

Examples in this lecture assume JSP 2.0+
JSTL also runs i older servers, b you h l in ld but have to replace l direct output of ${foo} with <c:out value="$foo"/>

Previous example (JSP 2.0+) p ( )

<UL> <c:forEach var="word" items="${words}"> <LI>${word} </c:forEach> </UL>

Previous example (JSP 1.2) p ( )

<UL> <c:forEach var="word" items="${words}"> <LI><c:out value="${word}"/> </c:forEach> </UL>
24

${foo} vs. <c:out value="${foo}"/>

c:out runs on older servers
Oracle 9i, BEA WebLogic 8.x, IBM WebSphere 5.x

c:out escapes HTML (XML) characters

<c:out value="<h1>"/> outputs &lt;h1&gt;
Very important if value being output comes from end user. Disable with <c:out value="" escapeXml="false"/> value= escapeXml= false />

c:out lets you supply a default value

<c:out value ${foo} default="explicit value / or c:out value="${foo}" default explicit value"/> <c:out value="${foo}" default="${calculatedValue}"/> The default is output when ${foo} evaluates to null

25

Looping Down Collections: Notes

Can loop down collections other than arrays
items can refer to an array, collection (List, Map, Set, etc.), comma-separated String, Iterator, or Enumeration

Can access sub elements of local variable sub-elements

<c:forEach var="bean" items="${collectionOfBeans}"> ${bean.property} { p p y} </c:forEach> <c:forEach var="collection" items= ${collectionOfCollections} > items="${collectionOfCollections}"> ${collection[part]} </c:forEach> For details on accessing collections and sub-elements, see separate lecture on the JSP expression language
26

Looping Down Arrays: Accessing SubElements (Servlet)

public class ArrayServlet2 extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) l throws ServletException, IOException { Name[] names = { new Name("Bill", "Gates"), new Name("Larry" "Ellison") Name("Larry", "Ellison"), new Name("Sam", "Palmisano"), new Name("Scott", "McNealy"), new Name("Eric", "Schmidt"), new Name( Jeff , "Bezos") }; Name("Jeff" Bezos ) request.setAttribute("names", names); String[][] sales = { {"2005", "12,459", "15,622"}, { 2006 , 18,123 , 17,789 }, {"2006", "18,123", "17,789"}, {"2007", "21,444", "23,555"} }; request.setAttribute("sales", sales); String address = "/WEB-INF/results/array-loop2.jsp"; RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher(address); dispatcher.forward(request, response); } Note: url-pattern is /test-array2 }

27

Looping Down Arrays: Accessing SubElements (Bean)

public class Name { private String firstName; private String lastName; public Name(String firstName, String lastName) { setFirstName(firstName); setLastName(lastName); } public String getFirstName() { return(firstName); } public void setFirstName(String firstName) { this.firstName = firstName; } public String getLastName() { return(lastName); } public void setLastName(String lastName) { this.lastName = lastName; } }
28

Looping Down Arrays: Accessing SubElements (JSP)

<H2>Attendees at the coreservlets.com Party</H2> <UL> <c:forEach var="name" items="${names}"> <LI>${name.firstName} ${name.lastName} </c:forEach> </UL> <H2>Comparing Apples and Oranges</H2> <TABLE BORDER="1"> <TR><TH>Year</TH> <TH>Apples Sold</TH> <TH>Oranges Sold</TH></TR> <c:forEach < f E h var="row" it " " items="${sales}"> "${ l }"> <TR><c:forEach var="col" items="${row}"> <TD>${col}</TD> </c:forEach> </c:forEach> </TABLE>
29

Looping Down Arrays: Accessing SubElements (Result)

30

Loop Status
You can assign varStatus
<c:forEach var="name" items="${names}" varStatus="status">

You can check status.subProperty status subProperty

Usually using c:if (covered later in this lecture)

Status subproperties

31

index (int: the current index) first (boolean: is this the first entry?) last (boolean: is this the first entry?) begin (Integer: value of 'begin' attribute) end (Integer: value of end' attribute) d (I t l f d' tt ib t ) step (Integer: value of 'step' attribute)

Loop Status: Example

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %> <% String[] names = {"Joe", "Jane", "Juan", "Juana"}; request.setAttribute("names", names); %> <h2>Names: <c:forEach var="name" items="${names}" varStatus="status"> ${name}<c:if test="${!status.last}">,</c:if> </c:forEach> </h2>

32

Looping Down CommaDelimited Strings

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri= http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core %> uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <UL> <c:forEach var="country" items="Australia,Canada,Japan,Philippines,Mexico,USA"> <LI>${country} </c:forEach> </UL>

33

Looping Down ArbitrarilyDelimited Strings

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core % uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %> <UL> <c:forTokens var="color" items="(red (orange) yellow)(green)((blue) violet)" delims="()"> <LI>${color} </c:forTokens> </UL>

Point:
forTokens built on forEach: you can build your own custom tags based on JSTL tags
34

 2009 Marty Hall

Looping Tags in Action: Ajax Data Handling

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
35

Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Original Version
In Ajax Data Handling lecture, showed example that displayed lists of cities
JavaScript
Sent out request to server Took data back in XML, JSON, or string format XML JSON Extracted information and produced HTML table Inserted table into page

HTML
Loaded JavaScript files Had button that trigged the action

Servlet
P d Produced Li t of Cit objects d List f City bj t

JSP
Put city info into XML, JSON, or string format
Repeated entries for each city in List

Notes and source code for original example

http://courses.coreservlets.com/Course-Materials/ajax.html
36

HTML Code
... <fieldset> <legend>Getting XML Data from Server...</legend> <form action="#"> <label for="city-type-1">City Type:</label> <select id "city type 1"> id="city-type-1"> <option value="top-5-cities"> Largest Five US Cities</option> <option value="second-5-cities"> Second Five US Cities</option> ... </select> <br/> <input type="button" value="Show Cities" onclick='xmlCityTable("city-type-1", "xml-city-table")'/> </form> <p/> <div id="xml-city-table"></div> </fieldset>...

37

Servlet Code
public class ShowCities extends HttpServlet { p public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, ( p q q , HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache"); response.setHeader("Pragma", "no cache") response setHeader("Pragma" "no-cache"); String cityType = request.getParameter("cityType"); List<City> cities = findCities(cityType); request.setAttribute("cities", cities); String format = request.getParameter("format"); String outputPage; if ("xml".equals(format)) { response.setContentType( text/xml ); response setContentType("text/xml"); outputPage = "/WEB-INF/results/cities-xml.jsp"; } ... RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher(outputPage); dispatcher.include(request, response); }
38

Original JSP Code (before jstl/cities xml.jsp) (before-jstl/cities-xml jsp)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <cities> <headings> <heading>City</heading> <heading>Time</heading> <heading>Population</heading> <heading>Pop lation</heading> </headings> <city> <name>${cities[0].name}</name> <time>${cities[0].shortTime}</time> <population>${cities[0].population}</population> </city> ... <! <! Repeated for cities 1, 2, and 3 --> 1 2 > <city> <name>${cities[4].name}</name> <time>${cities[4].shortTime}</time> <population>${cities[4].population}</population> </city> </cities>

39

Problems with JSP Code

Repetitive
Almost-identical city entries repeated five times If the city format changes, all five entries need to change

Presumes exactly five cities

Will not work with a different number of cities
Even though both the servlet code and the client-side client side JavaScript code can handle any number of cities

Solution
U JSTL Use

40

Updated JSP Code (cities xml.jsp) (cities-xml jsp)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <cities> <headings> <heading>City</heading> <heading>Time</heading> <heading>Population</heading> </headings> <%@ taglib prefix c prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %> <c:forEach var="city" items="${cities}"> c ty <city> <name>${city.name}</name> <time>${city.shortTime}</time> p p ${ y p p } p p <population>${city.population}</population> </city> </c:forEach> </cities>

41

Alternative Version (Using XML Syntax: cities xml.jspx) cities-xml jspx)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <cities xmlns:c="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core"> xmlns:c= http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core > <headings> <heading>City</heading> <heading>Time</heading> <heading>Population</heading> </headings> <c:forEach var city items="${cities}"> var="city" items ${cities} > <city> <name>${city.name}</name> t e ${c ty.s o t e} /t e <time>${city.shortTime}</time> <population>${city.population}</population> </city> </c:forEach> </cities>
42

XML Data: Results

43

JSON Version: Original (before jstl/cities json.jsp) (before-jstl/cities-json jsp)

{ headings: ["City", "Time", "Population"], cities: [["${cities[0] name}" "${cities[0] shortTime}" [["${cities[0].name}", "${cities[0].shortTime}", "${cities[0].population}"], ["${cities[1].name}", "${cities[1].shortTime}", "${cities[1].population}"], "${cities[1] population}"] ["${cities[2].name}", "${cities[2].shortTime}", "${cities[2].population}"], ["${cities[3].name}", "${cities[3].shortTime}", ["${ iti [3] }" "${ iti [3] h tTi }" "${cities[3].population}"], ["${cities[4].name}", "${cities[4].shortTime}", "${cities[4].population}"]] ${ i i [4] l i } ]] }

44

JSON Version: Updated (cities json.jsp) (cities-json jsp)

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri= http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core uri="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core" %> { headings: ["City", "Time", "Population"], cities: [ <c:forEach var city items="${cities}" varStatus="status"> var="city" items ${cities} varStatus status > ["${city.name}","${city.shortTime}","${city.population}"] <c:if test="${!status.last}">,</c:if> </c:forEach> / ] }
This is important because Internet Explorer crashes for arrays and JSON objects with trailing commas. E.g., these crash in IE: var nums = [1, 2, 3, ]; var obj = { a: 1, b: 2, c: 3, };

45

JSON Version: Results

46

Delimited String Version: Original (before jstl/cities string.jsp) (before-jstl/cities-string jsp)

City#Time#Population ${cities[0].name}#${cities[0].shortTime}#${cities[0].population} ${cities[0] name}#${cities[0] shortTime}#${cities[0] population} ${cities[1].name}#${cities[1].shortTime}#${cities[1].population} ${cities[2].name}#${cities[2].shortTime}#${cities[2].population} ${cities[3].name}#${cities[3].shortTime}#${cities[3].population} ${cities[3] name}#${cities[3] shortTime}#${cities[3] population} ${cities[4].name}#${cities[4].shortTime}#${cities[4].population}

47

Delimited String Version: Updated (cities string.jsp) (cities-string jsp)

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>City#Time#Population <c:forEach var="city" items="${cities}"> ${city.name}#${city.shortTime}#${city.population}</c:forEach>

48

String Version: Results

49

2009 Marty Hall

Logic Tags
Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
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Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Conditional Evaluation Tags

One choice: if
<c:if test="${someTest}"> Content </c:if>

Lots of choices: choose

<c:choose> <c:when test="test1">Content1</c:when> <c:when test="test2">Content2</c:when> ... <c:when test="testN">ContentN</c:when> <c:otherwise>Default Content</c:otherwise> </c:choose>

Caution: resist use of business logic!

51

The "if" Tag

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri= http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core %> uri="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <UL> <c:forEach var="i" begin="1" end="10"> <LI>${i} <c:if test="${i > 7}"> (greater than 7) </c:if> </c:forEach> </UL>

52

The "choose" Tag

<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%> p j j p j <UL> <c:forEach var="i" begin="1" end="10"> <LI>${i} <c:choose> <c:when test="${i < 4}"> (small) </c:when> <c:when test="${i < 8}"> (medium) </c:when> <c:otherwise> (large) </c:otherwise> </c:choose> </c:forEach> </UL>
53

2009 Marty Hall

Using JSTL in JSF g Pages

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
54

Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Output Pages vs. Direct-Access Pages

Output pages
I pages that are the result of a navigation rule (i.e., listed In h h l f i i l (i li d under to-view-id), you can use JSTL as shown on previous slides
Si Since b bean i already i request, session, or application is l d in t i li ti

Direct access pages

JSTL does not know about faces-config.xml, so you faces config.xml, cannot refer to beans that are listed there but not yet instantiated
Using direct-access pages is rare in real life, but is very g p g , y useful for testing when learning JSTL Solution: use h:outputText to refer to bean once first
Declare bean containing array of numbers in faces-config.xml First num: <h:outputText value="#{myBean.numbers[0]}/> <c:forEach var="num" items="${myBean.numbers}>...
55

JSF Does Not Know About JSTL Variables

JSTL puts data in page scope Thi works This k
<c:forEach var="name" items="${names}"> <LI>${name} { } </c:forEach> Example assumes this is an output page and "names" set earlier by JSF

This fails
<c:forEach var="name" items="names"> <LI><h:outputText al e "#{name}"/> <LI><h:o tp tTe t value="#{name}"/> </c:forEach>

Supposedly fixed in JSTL 1.2

But there are no standalone releases of JSTL 1.2 Use facelets instead
56

 2009 Marty Hall

Database Access Tags

Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
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Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

Database Access Tags

<sql:setDataSource> <sql:query>
S ifi d t source (can also be set by config settings) Specifies data ( l b tb fi tti ) Queries database and stores ResultSet in variable Q Warning: this usage violates rule of keeping business logic out of presentation layer. Instead, do database access in servlet and pass results to JSP via MVC.

<sql:update> <sql:param> <sql:dateParam> ld t P <sql:transaction>

Performs the enclosed <sql:query> and <sql:update> actions as a single transaction

58

Aside: The Microsoft Access Northwind Database

Database that comes preinstalled with Microsoft Office Mi f Offi

59

Using Microsoft Access via ODBC

Click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Data Sources, System Ad i i i T l D S S DSN, and select Add

60

Using Microsoft Access via ODBC (Continued)

Select Microsoft Access Driver, Finish, type a name under Data S d D Source N Name, and hit d hi Select

61

Using Microsoft Access via ODBC (Continued)

Navigate to the Samples directory of MS Office, select Northwind.mdb, hit OK, then Offi l N h i d db hi OK h hit OK in following two windows

62

Using Microsoft Access via ODBC (Continued)

Driver
sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver
Comes bundled with JDK

URL
jdbc:odbc:Northwind
Local access only; for testing. Not for serious applications. y g

Username
Empty string

Password
Empty string

63

sql:setDataSource
You can set a data source globally via configuration settings or application-scoped fi i i li i d variables.
Preferred approach in real applications

Or, you can set it on a specific page

<%@ taglib prefix="sql" g p q uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql" %> <sql:setDataSource driver="sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver" j J O url="jdbc:odbc:Northwind" user="" password password=""/> />

64

sql:query
Form 1: use the sql attribute
<sql:query var="results" sql="SELECT * FROM "/>

Form 2: put the query in the body of the tag

<sql:query var "results"> <sql query var="results"> SELECT * FROM </sql:query>

Options
dataSource maxRows startRow

Caution
Embedding SQL directly in JSP may be hard to maintain.
65

Simple Example
<%@ taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core"%> uri="http://java sun com/jsp/jstl/core"%> <%@ taglib prefix="sql" uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/sql" %> <sql:setDataSource driver="sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver" url="jdbc:odbc:Northwind" user="" "" password=""/>

66

Simple Example (Continued)

<sql:query var="employees"> SELECT * FROM employees </sql:query> <UL> <c:forEach var="row" items="${employees.rows}"> <LI>${row.firstname} ${row.lastname} </c:forEach> / </UL>

67

Simple Example: Results

68

 2009 Marty Hall

Other Tags
Customized Java EE Training: http://courses.coreservlets.com/
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Servlets, JSP, Struts, JSF/MyFaces/Facelets, Ajax, GWT, Spring, Hibernate/JPA, Java 5 & 6. Developed and taught by well-known author and developer. At public venues or onsite at your location.

URL-Handling Tags
<c:import>
Read content from arbitrary URLs
Insert into page Store in variable Or make accessible via a reader

Unlike <jsp:include>, not restricted to own system

<c:redirect> di
Redirects response to specified URL

<c:param>
Encodes a request parameter and adds it to a URL May be used within body of <c:import> or <c:redirect>
70

Formatting Tags
<fmt:formatNumber>
Formats a numeric value as a number, currency value, or percent, in a locale-specific manner

<fmt:parseNumber>
Reads string representations of number, currency value, or percent p

71

<fmt:formatDate> <fmt:parseDate> <fmt:timeZone> <fmt:setTimeZone>

Internationalization (I18N) Tags

<fmt:setLocale>
Sets Locale

<fmt:setBundle> <fmt:bundle> f t b dl <fmt:message>

R ti Retrieves localized message from a resource bundle l li d f b dl

<fmt:param>

72

XML Manipulation Tags

Core
<x:parse>

XPath
<x:if> if <x:choose> <x:when> <x:otherwise> <x:forEach>

XSLT
<x:transform> <x:param>
73

Summary
JSTL overview
JSTL i similar to the old Struts looping and logic tags, but better is i il h ld S l i dl i b b JSTL is standardized, but not a standard part of JSP
You have to add JAR files to WEB-INF/lib It i supposed t b i l d d with all JSF i l is d to be included ith ll implementations t ti

Supports a concise expression language

Lets you access bean properties and implicit objects EL is standard part of JSP 2.0, JSP 2.1, and JSF

Looping tags
Explicit numeric values Arrays, collections, maps, strings, etc.

Conditional evaluation tags

Single options Multiple options
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Summary (Continued)
Database Access Tags
Always a bad idea when using MVC approach
With or without a framework like JSF or Struts

sql:setDataSource to specify a database sql:query to perform query Loop down results using iteration tags

Other tags

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Handling URLS Internationalizing pages Formatting strings Manipulating XML

Bad idea when using MVC

2009 Marty Hall

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