JSTL in Action
JSTL in Action shows you how to write rich, dynamic web pages without programming. From simple loops to tricky XML processing, every feature of JSTL is covered and exercised in numerous useful examples. Whether you are a novice page author or an experienced Java programmer, this book shows you easy ways to create powerful web sites.
Table of Contents detailed table of contents
preface
acknowledgments
about this book
about the cover illustration
Part 1 Background
1. Dynamic web sites
1.1. The boring life of a web browser
1.2. The simple ideas behind dynamic web content
1.3. What you need to run JSTL
1.3.1. JSP containers
1.4. Real-world web applications
1.5. Summary
2. Foundation: XML and JSP
2.1. Introduction to XML
2.1.1. A dose of tag terminology
2.1.2. The relevant rules of XML
2.2. Introduction to JSP
2.2.1. JSP tag syntax
2.2.2. Standard JSP tags
2.2.3. JSP tag libraries
2.2.4. Other JSP directives
2.2.5. JSP comments
2.2.6. How JSP organizes data
2.3. Summary
Part 2 Learning JSTL
3. The expression language
3.1. Expressions and the <c:out> tag
3.1.1. What expressions look like
3.1.2. Where expressions work
3.1.3. Default values in <c:out>
3.1.4. Special characters and <c:out>
3.2. Scoped variables and the expression language
3.2.1. Basic syntax to access scoped variables
3.2.2. Different types of scoped data
3.3. Request parameters and the expression language
3.3.1. HTML forms
3.3.2. A page that reads request parameters
3.4. More powerful expressions
3.4.1. Different ways to access properties
3.4.2. Accessing other data with the expression language
3.4.3. Comparisons
3.4.4. Boolean operations and parentheses
3.4.5. Multiple expressions
3.5. Saving data with <c:set>
3.6. Deleting data with <c:remove>
3.7. Summary
4. Controlling flow with conditions
4.1. Different kinds of decisions
4.2. Yes-or-no conditions with <c:if>
4.2.1. The basic syntax of <c:if>
4.2.2. Using <c:if> within HTML tags
4.2.3. Multiple <c:if> tags
4.2.4. Nested <c:if> tags
4.2.5. The var and scope attributes
4.3. Mutually exclusive conditions with <c:choose>, <c:when>, and <c:otherwise>
4.3.1. Why JSTL has complex conditional tags
4.3.2. How the complex con-ditional tags work
4.3.3. Rules for using the complex conditional tags
4.4. Summary
5. Controlling flow with loops
5.1. General-purpose looping with <c:forEach>
5.2. Iterating over strings with <c:forTokens>
5.2.1. How JSTL parses strings
5.3. Advanced iteration with <c:forEach> and <c:forTokens>
5.3.1. Looping over part of a collection
5.3.2. Looping over numbers
5.3.3. Loop status
5.4. Loop example: scrolling through results
5.4.1. Understanding the example
5.4.2. Using varStatus in the example
5.5. Summary
6. Importing text
6.1. Including text with the <c:import> tag
6.1.1. Absolute and relative URLs
6.1.2. Retrieving data from URLs
6.1.3. Saving information for later
6.1.4. Communicating with imported pages
6.1.5. Import example: a customized header
6.2. Redirecting with <c:redirect>
6.3. Formatting URLs with <c:url>
6.3.1. How to use <c:url>
6.3.2. Why to use <c:url>
6.4. Summary
7. Selecting XML fragments
7.1. XPath’s vision of an XML document
7.2. XPath’s basic syntax
7.2.1. Deep descendants
7.2.2. Attributes
7.2.3. Predicates and element order
7.2.4. Strings and booleans
7.3. XPath variables and JSTL
7.4. JSTL, XPath, and namespaces
7.5. More advanced XPath
7.5.1. Nodes and axes
7.5.2. Contexts
7.5.3. Further reading
7.6. Summary
8. Working with XML fragments
8.1. Parsing documents with <x:parse>
8.1.1. Sources of XML
8.2. Accessing XML with <x:out> and <x:set>
8.2.1. Finding a document
8.2.2. The <x:out> tag
8.2.3. The <x:set> tag
8.3. Control flow based on XML documents
8.3.1. Simple conditions with <x:if>
8.3.2. Compound conditions with <x:choose>
8.3.3. Looping over parts of a document with <x:forEach>
8.4. XML transformations using JSTL
8.4.1. Simple transformations with <x:transform>
8.4.2. Using the var attribute
8.4.3. XSLT parameters
8.4.4. Advantages of using XSLT within JSTL
8.5. An XML example: reading RSS files
8.6. Summary
9. Database-driven pages
9.1. When to use JSTL’s database support
9.1.1. When to use databases
9.1.2. Direct access from JSP pages
9.2. Setting up a database connection with <sql:setDataSource>
9.2.1. Caution against <sql:setDataSource>
9.3. Performing queries with <sql:query>
9.3.1. Performing a database query
9.3.2. Reading a query’s results
9.3.3. Limiting the size of a query’s result
9.4. Modifying data with <sql:update>
9.4.1. Simple uses of the <sql:update> tag
9.4.2. Measuring the effect of an <sql:update> tag
9.5. Using <sql:param> with adjustable queries
9.5.1. Template queries
9.5.2. Safe, convenient parameters with <sql:param>
9.5.3. Date parameters with <sql:dateParam>
9.6. Managing transactions with <sql:transaction>
9.6.1. The <sql:transaction> tag
9.6.2. Transaction isolation
9.7. SQL example: a hit counter
9.8. Summary
10. Formatting and internationalization
10.1. Printing numbers with <fmt:formatNumber>
10.1.1. Basic usage of <fmt:formatNumber>
10.1.2. Different ways to specify a value
10.1.3. Storing a number instead of printing it
10.1.4. Printing different types of numbers: percentages and currencies
10.1.5. Grouping digits together — or not
10.1.6. Controlling how many digits print
10.1.7. More control: custom number patterns
10.2. Printing dates with <fmt:formatDate>
10.2.1. Differences from <fmt:formatNumber>
10.2.2. Printing times, dates, or both
10.2.3. Printing longer or shorter dates and times
10.2.4. More control: custom date patterns
10.3. Reading numbers with <fmt:parseNumber>
10.3.1. Why you might want to parse numbers
10.3.2. How <fmt:parseNumber> works by default
10.3.3. Changing <fmt:parseNumber>'s parsing rules
10.4. Reading dates with <fmt:parseDate>
10.4.1. How <fmt:parseDate> parses dates by default
10.4.2. Changing how <fmt:parseDate> parses dates
10.5. Overriding time zones with <fmt:timeZone> and <fmt:setTimeZone>
10.5.1. How JSTL figures out time zones by default
10.5.2. Setting time zones for individual tags
10.5.3. Long-lasting changes with <fmt:setTimeZone>
10.5.4. Temporary changes with <fmt:timeZone>
10.6. Overriding locales with <fmt:setLocale>
10.6.1. How to identify locales
10.6.2. The parseLocale attribute for <fmt:parseNumber> and <fmt:parseDate>
10.7. Internationalizing text messages with <fmt:message>, <fmt:param>, <fmt:bundle>, and <fmt:setBundle>
10.7.1. Using <fmt:message>
10.7.2. Loading a bundle family with <fmt:bundle> and <fmt:setBundle>
10.8. Summary
Part 3 JSTL in action
11. Common tasks
11.1. Handling checkbox parameters
11.1.1. The HTML form
11.1.2. A simple checkbox handler
11.1.3. Handling some check boxes specially
11.2. Accepting dates
11.2.1. The HTML form
11.2.2. Handling the form and reading the date
11.3. Handling errors
11.3.1. Ignoring the issue
11.3.2. Catching errors with <c:catch>
11.3.3. Passing errors to an error page
11.4. Validating input
11.4.1. Different kinds of form validation
11.4.2. Tasks involved when validating a form
11.4.3. A sample form validation
11.5. Summary
12. Dynamic features for web sites
12.1. An online survey
12.1.1. What our survey looks like
12.1.2. Setting up the survey database
12.1.3. Adding survey questions to pages
12.1.4. How the survey works
12.2. A message board
12.2.1. What our message board looks like
12.2.2. Setting up the message database
12.2.3. Linking to appropriate message boards
12.2.4. How the message board works
12.3. Summary
13. Case study in building a web site
13.1. Managing the layout
13.1.1. A framework for channels
13.1.2. Modular channels
13.2. Adding dynamic content
13.2.1. Including RSS channels
13.2.2. Including other dynamic content
13.3. Registering users
13.3.1. Modifying the header
13.3.2. The registration form
13.3.3. Saving the registration
13.3.4. The user database
13.4. Authenticating users
13.4.1. Logging in users
13.4.2. Some notes about authentication
13.5. Personalizing the site
13.5.1. Filling in a form automatically
13.5.2. Displaying a chosen RSS feed
13.6. Summary
Part 4 JSTL for programmers
14. Control and performance
14.1. Scripting elements and the JSTL rtexprvalue libraries
14.1.1. Warning against scripting expressions
14.1.2. JSTL’s dual libraries
14.1.3. Scripting variables and <jsp:useBean>
14.2. Modifying properties with <c:set>
14.3. Advanced techniques for importing text
14.3.1. Representing imported text as a java.io.Reader
14.3.2. Character encoding
14.4. Advanced XML parsing and manipulation
14.4.1. XML data formats
14.4.2. Telling <x:parse> where a document came from
14.4.3. Efficient parsing with org.xml.sax.XMLFilter
14.4.4. Efficient transformations with javax.xml.transform.Result
14.5. Deciphering requests with <fmt:requestEncoding>
14.6. Exposing data to JSP pages
14.6.1. Saving data to a scope
14.6.2. Exposing dynamic data structures
14.6.3. Writing JavaBeans
14.7. Configuring JSTL
14.7.1. Providing default information to JSTL tags
14.7.2. Managing database access
14.7.3. Managing internationalization
14.8. Enforcing good page-authoring habits
14.8.1. Requiring script-free pages
14.8.2. Enumerating legal tag libraries
14.9. Summary
15. Using JSTL to develop custom tags
15.1. Developing and installing tag libraries
15.1.1. JSTL’s support for tag-handler developers
15.1.2. The tag-library descriptor (TLD)
15.1.3. Installing and using a tag library
15.2. Developing conditional tags
15.2.1. A simple conditional tag
15.2.2. A conditional tag with attributes
15.2.3. Integrating custom conditional tags with standard tags
15.2.4. Using the expression language
15.3. Developing iteration tags
15.3.1. A simple loop tag
15.3.2. More advanced iteration tags
15.4. Summary
Appendix A: JSTL reference
A.1. Expression language syntax
A.2. Core tag library
A.3. XML tag library
A.4. Database tag library
A.5. Formatting tag library
Appendix B: JSTL API (for developers)
B.1. Configuration variables
B.2. Conditions and loops
B.3. Interoperating with JSTL’s database tags
B.4. Using JSTL’s localization algorithms
Appendix C: Database tags and SQL
C.1. SQL and <sql:update>
C.2. SQL and <sql:query>
C.3. SQL miscellany
C.4. Summary
Appendix D: References and resources
D.1. JSP Standard Tag Library
D.2. XML-related references
D.3. Databases
D.4. Related standards
D.5. Miscellaneous references
index
About the Technology
JSTL is an important simplification of the Java web platform. With JSTL, page authors can now write dynamic pages using standard HTML-like tags and an easy-to-learn expression language. JSTL is a standard from the Java Community Process, and its expression language will become part of JSP 2.0.
About the book
To help readers who don't already have a JSP container run the examples in the book, there's a free companion download here. This bundle contains a ready-to-run JSP container, a JSTL implementation, and all the book's examples.
What's inside
- Mixing HTML tags and JSTL
- JSTL's expression language
- Working with loops and conditions
- Painless XML processing
- Accessing databases
- Text formatting
- Internationalization
- JSTL configuration and performance
- Many examples including
- How to register and authenticate users
- Running an online survey
- How to build a discussion forum
- Designing a web portal
About the author
Shawn Bayern is a research programmer at Yale University and coauthor of Manning's Web Development with Java Server Pages. He is the reference implementation lead for JSTL.