JSTL

Sue Spielman has over 15 years hands-on experience delivering leading edge technology products. She has been working with Java ever since it was born. Sue is the President and Senior Consulting Engineer of Switchback Software LLC (www.switchbacksoftware.com) a consulting firm that specializes in business and web application development and deployment using the latest in J2EE & J2ME technologies. She is the JSP/Servlet columnist for OnJava.com and a recognized Java expert appearing in industry magazines including JavaPro, XML, and Devx.com. Sue is a featured speaker on various Java technologies at conferences throughout the United States and abroad.

An invaluable reference for any JSP developer's library. Sue makes the complicated seem simple with her conversational writing style and well thought out examples and analogies. -Matt Houser, J2EE Developer with The Washington Post and former Sun Microsystems Java Instructor.

• Preface1 Introduction1.1 What Exactly Is the JSTL?1.2 Why a JSP Standard Tag Library?1.3 Why Now?1.4 Why You Really Want to Use the JSTL1.5 The Need for Encapsulation1.6 Functional Overview1.7 JSTL Tag Libraries1.8 Getting Ready to Use the JSTL1.9 The Road to the JSTL1.9.1 Dynamic vs. Static Content1.9.2 Using Dynamic Content1.9.3 Using Dynamic Web Features1.9.4 Server-Side Processing1.10 Servlets to the Rescue1.11 Hello My Friend Servlet1.12 JavaServer Pages1.13 When a JSP, When a Servlet?1.14 Evolving JSP1.15 Custom Actions in Action1.15.1 Why Use a Custom Action1.15.2 Hello My Friend Using Custom Actions1.15.3 The TLD File 1.15.4 The Tag Handler1.16 The Power of Tag Libraries1.16.1 Need for a Tag Library1.17 Making Life Easier, JSTL in Action2 JSTL Basics2.1 Environment Setup2.2 Using the Book Examples2.3 JSP Scopes2.4 JSTL Scoped Variables2.4.1 Var and Scope Attributes2.4.2 Variable Visibility2.5 Dynamic and Static Attributes2.6 Handling Errors and Exceptions2.7 Action Body Content2.8 Configuration Settings2.9 The Config Class2.10 Summary3 Using the Expression Language3.1 Implicit Objects Available in the EL3.2 Accessing Data Structures3.3 EL Operators 3.3.1 Relational Operators3.3.2 Other Operators3.3.3 Using Operators3.4 Automatic Type Conversion3.5 Default Values3.6 Summary4 Working with the Core Actions4.1 Writing Output to the JspWriter4.2 Setting Variables4.3 Removing Variables4.4 Using 4.4.1 Handling Exceptions4.5 Decisions, Decisions, Decisions—Conditional Actions4.5.1 Simple Conditional4.5.2 Mutually Exclusive Conditionals4.5.3 Creating Custom Logic Actions4.6 Handling Iterators4.6.1 4.6.2 Paging through a Large Collection4.6.3 Looping with a Collection4.6.4 Tokenizing Data Using 4.7 URL-Related Actions4.7.1 4.7.2 4.7.3 Creating and Using Dynamic Links4.7.4 4.7.5 4.8 Untangling the Web We Weave4.8.1 The Power of 4.8.2 and the Composite View Pattern4.8.3 Storing Imported Content4.8.4 Using Character Encoding4.9 Redirecting4.10 Summary5 Working with the XML Actions5.1 Overview of Supporting Technologies5.2 eXtensible Markup Language (XML)5.2.1 Using XML Files for Data Storage5.2.2 XML APIs5.3 eXtenstible Stylesheet Language (XSL)5.3.1 Allowing for Transformation5.3.2 XSL Languages5.4 XML Path Language (XPath)5.4.1 Library Functions5.5 Variable Mappings5.6 Using the Select Attribute5.7 Accessing Resources5.7.1 Node Types5.7.2 Node Functions5.8 eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation (XSLT)5.8.1 XSLT Namespace5.9 Parsing XML Documents5.9.1 Action5.9.2 Filtering5.9.3 Using the Advanced Attributes5.10 Using and 5.10.1 Action 5.10.2 Action5.11 and in Action 5.12 Using XML Documents to Determine Flow Control5.12.1 Action 5.12.2 Using 5.12.3 , , and Actions5.13 Going Loopy with 5.13.1 Nested forEach Loops5.14 XML Transformation Actions5.14.1 Action5.15 Transforming Content5.16 Providing Parameters to Transformations5.16.1 Action5.16.2 Performing Multiple Transformations5.17 Summary6 Working with the Internationalization and Formatting Actions6.1 Locales6.1.1 Internationalization vs. Localization6.2 Why be Language Independent?6.3 Localizing an Application Using Resource Bundles6.4 Types of I18N Architectures6.5 First, the Action6.6 Localization Context6.7 Localization Context Sample6.8 Preferred Locales6.8.1 Setting the Preferred Locales6.9 Formatting Locales6.10 How Resource Bundles are Decided6.10.1 Resource Bundle Lookup Differences6.11 Resource Bundle Lookup Samples6.12 Using the LocaleSupport Class6.13 Setting and Using Locales6.13.1 Action6.13.2 Having a Fallback Locale6.14 Using Messages and Resource Bundles6.14.1 Action6.14.2 Action6.14.3 Action6.14.4 Action6.15 Setting the Resource Bundle for 6.16 Adding a parameter to 6.17 Formatting Actions6.17.1 Determining the Time Zone6.17.2 Action6.17.3 Action 6.18 Setting and Using Time Zones6.19 Working with Timestamps6.20 Formatting and Parsing Timestamps6.20.1 Action6.20.2 6.20.3 Customizing the Format6.21 Using and Parsing Timestamps6.22 Working with Numbers6.22.1 Action6.22.2 Action6.22.3 Formatting Numbers6.22.4 Parsing Numbers6.23 Encoding the Client Response6.24 Summary7 SQL Tag Library Using the SQL Actions7.1 The Available Actions7.2 Working with the Data Source7.2.1 7.3 Configuring a Data Source7.4 Using a Data Source7.5 Maxrows Configuration Setting7.6 Configuring and Using a Data Source7.7 How to Modify Data7.7.1 Action7.7.2 How to Use var with 7.8 Interfaces and Classes7.8.1 Result Interface7.8.2 SQLExecutionTag Interface7.8.3 ResultSupport Class7.9 Finding What You Need with 7.9.1 Action7.10 Passing Parameters to SQL Statements7.10.1 Dealing with Date Parameters7.11 Working with Result Sets7.11.1 Accessing Rows and Columns7.11.2 Using Result Set Metadata7.12 Dealing with Transactions7.12.1 Words of Caution7.13 Action 7.14 How to Use 7.15 Summary7.16 Conclusion8 JSTL Quick Reference8.1 Expression Language Syntax8.1.1 Literals8.1.2 “[]” and “.” Operators8.1.3 Arithmetic Operators8.1.4 Relational Operators8.1.5 Logical Operators8.1.6 Empty Operator8.1.7 Operator Precedence8.1.8 Reserved Words8.1.9 Coercion Rules8.1.10 Accessing Named Variables8.1.11 Implicit Objects8.2 Configuration Settings8.3 Core Tag Library8.3.1 Tag Library URI8.3.2 General Purpose Actions8.3.3 Conditional Actions8.3.4 Iterator Actions8.3.5 URL Related Actions8.4 XML Tag Library8.4.1 Tag Library URI8.4.2 XML Core Actions8.4.3 XML Flow Control8.4.4 Iterator Actions8.4.5 Transformation Actions8.5 SQL Tag Library8.5.1 Tag Library URI8.5.2 Actions8.6 I18N Tag Library8.6.1 Tag Library URI8.6.2 Internationalization Actions8.6.3 Formatting ActionsIndex