Transcript jsp:include
CSC 2720
Building Web Applications
JavaServer Pages (JSP)
JSP Directives and Action Elements
JSP Directives
page directives – defines attributes that apply to an entire
JSP page
include directives – includes a resource of text or code
when the JSP page is translated
taglib directives – defines a tag library and prefix for the
custom tags used in the JSP page
Syntax:
<%@ directive attribute="value" %>
<%@ directive attribute1="value1"
attribute2="value2"
... %>
where directive can be page, include, or taglib
page Directives
Defines attributes that apply to an entire JSP page.
Which classes are imported
For examples,
To specify a different superclass for the current JSP
page
To specify the MIME type of the generated content
To indicate if the JSP page is thread safe or not
To turn on/off automatic session participation
To change the size and behavior of the output buffer
To indicate which page is to be used to handle
unexpected errors/exceptions
page Directives – import
Syntax
<%@ page import="package.class" %>
<%@ page import="package1.class1,…,packageM.classN"
%>
Note: To import all classes from a package, use package.*
Purpose
Generate import statements at for the resulting servlet class
Note:
Class files should be placed under the folder
…/Web_App_Name/WEB-INF/classes
and in the appropriate sub-folders that match the package name.
.jar library files should be placed under the folder
…/Web_App_Name/WEB-INF/lib
page Directives – contentType
Syntax
<%@ page contentType="MIME-Type" %>
Purpose
Specify the MIME type of the content generated by the JSP page
Default value is "text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"
e.g.: HTML content encoded in simplified Chinese
characters
<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=GB2312">
References
Wiki: MIME: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME
MIME reference: http://www.w3schools.com/media/media_mimeref.asp
Character set reference: http://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets
<%@ page contentType="application/vnd.ms-excel" %>
First
Last
Email Address
Marty
Hall
[email protected]
Larry
Brown
[email protected]
Bill
Gates
[email protected]
Larry
Ellison [email protected]
<%-- Note: The values are separated by tabs and not by spaces
--%>
Generating Excel
Spreadsheets
Other Attributes of the page Directive
session
Lets you turn on/off session participation
Default value is "true"
e.g.:
<%@ page session="false" %>
extends
Changes parent class of the resulting servlet
isThreadSafe
Lets you specify whether the JSP page is thread safe
Default value is "true"
Setting this attribute to "false" makes the resulting servlet a singlethreaded servlet
e.g.:
<%@ page isThreadSafe="false" %>
Other Attributes of the page Directive
language
Let you specify the scripting language
Default value is "java"
info
Allows you to insert a string that later can be retrieved using the
getServletInfo() method.
e.g.: <%@ page info="Written by XYZ" %>
buffer
Changes the minimum size of buffer used by JspWriter
The unit of the size is in kilobyte
e.g.: <%@ page buffer="none" %> means don't buffer the
output
e.g.: <%@ page buffer="12" %> means set buffer size to
12kbytes
autoflush
Requires the developer to explicitly flush buffer
Other Attributes of the page Directive
errorPage
Designates a page to handle unplanned errors (i.e., when an
exception is uncaught in the JSP page)
e.g.: <%@ page errorPage="MyErrorPage.jsp" %>
isErrorPage
Indicates if the current page is a page designated for handling error
Default value is "false"
If "true", the "exception" implicit object is made available to this
page.
You can find out from the "exception" object which JSP page is throwing
an exception and what kind of exception it is.
Note: We can also configure error pages in the web.xml (web
application deployment file).
A Note On Directive Elements
Except for "import", other attributes cannot repeat.
The following is illegal
<%@ page buffer="16384" %>
<%@ page buffer="8192" %>
The following is illegal
<%@ page buffer="16384" session="false"
buffer="8192" %>
The following is legal
<%@ page import="java.io.*" %>
<%@ page import="java.util.*" %>
The include Directive
Static include – to include the contents of other files in the
current JSP page at translation time.
Syntax: <%@ include file="relativeURL" %>
original.jsp
// Content A
<%@ include file="x.html" %>
// Content B
// Content A
// Content X
// Content B
Translated into Servlet codes
x.html
// Content X
Notes: Servers may not
detect changes made to
the included files. Thus,
you need to update the
"last modified date" of
the JSP files whenever
the included files
change.
The include Directive
Purposes
To reuse JSP content in multiple pages
e.g.: Menus, headers, footers, etc.
When to use
If the included file contains static text
If the included file is rarely changed
To include files (including JSP fragment files) that are placed
under the /WEB-INF folder.
Shortcoming
Lack of locality (The main file and all the included files share the
same scope difficult to debug)
Not suitable for files that’s are too big. (A Java method cannot
exceeds 64kbytes in size.)
Standard Action Elements
Special Tags that can be embedded in a JSP page
At compile time, these tags are also converted into
corresponding Java codes.
7 standard JSP action elements:
jsp:include, jsp:forward, jsp:param
More commonly used ones
jsp:useBean, jsp:setProperty, jsp:getProperty
For used with JSP Bean (Will discussed later)
jsp:plugin
For generating <OBJECT> or <EMBED> tags for Java applet.
jsp:include Action
Dynamic include – To incorporate static or dynamic
resources into the current page at request time.
Similar to using a RequestDispatcher object to include a resource
Can pass data to the included resources
Syntax
<jsp:include page="anotherURL" flush="true" />
or
<jsp:include page="anotherURL" flush="true">
<jsp:param name="name1" value="value1" />
…
</jsp:include>
jsp:include Action
original.jsp
// Content A
<jsp:include page="x.html" />
// Content B
Translated into
servlet codes
// Java codes to produce content A
pageContext.include("x.html");
// Java codes to produce content B
Compiled into
Java byte codes
Java byte
codes
Executed by web container
x.html
// Content X
Included into the
output stream at
rune time.
If the included
resource is a JSP
file, the output
produced by the
JSP file is
included in the
output stream of
original.jsp.
jsp:include Action
Advantages over the include directive
Easier to maintain
Changes made to the included files automatically reflected in the
files that include them.
Easier to debug (Strong locality)
Shortcoming
Slower
Cannot include files placed in /WEB-INF folder
When to use
If the file is subject to modification very often
If the size of the file is huge
Include Example – Menu
<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<html><head><title>JSP Menu Demo</title></head>
<body>
<table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" >
<tr><td><%@ include file="menu.html" %></td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#aacccc">Contents goes here ...</td></tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
In this example, using <jsp:include …> produces same output
menu.html (note: With include directive, you can give any file extension to this file.)
<table border="0"
<tr><td>Menu Item
<tr><td>Menu Item
<tr><td>Menu Item
</table>
cellpadding="0" width="100%">
1</td></tr>
2</td></tr>
3</td></tr>
Reusable JSP Content: ContactSection.jsp
<%@ page import="java.util.Date" %>
<%-- The following become fields in each servlet object that
results from a JSP page that includes this file. --%>
<%!
private int accessCount = 0;
private Date accessDate = new Date();
private String accessHost = "<I>No previous access</I>";
%>
<hr />
© 2000
<a href="http://www.my-company.com/">my-company.com</a>.
This page has been accessed <%= ++accessCount %>
times since server reboot. It was last accessed from
<%= accessHost %> at <%= accessDate %>.
<% accessHost = request.getRemoteHost(); %>
<% accessDate = new Date(); %>
…
<BODY>
<TABLE BORDER=5 ALIGN="CENTER">
<TR><TH CLASS="TITLE">
Some Random Page</TABLE>
<P> Information about our products and services.
<P> Blah, blah, blah.
<P> Yadda, yadda, yadda.
<%@ include file="ContactSection.jsp" %>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Using the JSP
Content
jsp:forward Action
Used to instruct a web server to stop processing
the current page and start another one.
Similar to using a RequestDispatcher object to forward
a request
Syntax
<jsp:forward page="anotherURL" />
or
<jsp:forward page="anotherURL">
<jsp:param name="param1" value="value1">
…
</jsp:forward>
Note: For both jsp:include and jsp:forward
The parameters passed to the included/forwarded
resources can be obtained as
request.getParameter("paramName")
If the value of page attribute begins with '/', then
the path is evaluated relative to the application root
folder. Otherwise the path is evaluated relative to
the current folder.
References
Wikipedia: JavaServer Pages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaServer_Pages
Free Tutorial (Java, JSP, Java Servlets)
http://www.courses.coreservlets.com/Course-Materials/
Sample JSP codes
http://www.java2s.com/Code/Java/JSP/CatalogJSP.htm