Advance Java
JSP Directives
LEVEL – PRACTITIONER
About the Author
Created By: Renjith(t-renjith)/ Shanmu (105110)
Credential Trainer / Sr Architect
Information:
Version and 1.0, January 12’th 2012
Date:
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Icons Used
Hands on
Questions Tools Exercise
Coding Test Your Case Study
Standards Understanding
Best Practices
Demonstration & Industry
Workshop
Standards
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Objectives
After completing this chapter you will be able to understand:
What is JSP directive
Type of Directives
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What is a JSP Directive ?
A directive provides meta data information about the JSP file to the web
container.
Web container uses this during the translation/compilation phase of the
JSP life cycle.
Examples:
Importing tag libraries
Import required classes
Set output buffering options
Include content from external files
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Types of Directives
The JSP specification defines three directives,
Directive Purpose
Page Provides information about page, such as scripting
language that is used, content type, or buffer size
etc.
Include Used to include the content of external files.
Taglib Used to import custom tags defined in tag libraries.
Custom tags are typically developed by developers.
NOTE: Taglib directive will be explained in detail in JSP custom
tags session.
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JSP Directive Syntax
A JSP directive is declared using the following syntax.
<%@directive attribute="value" %>
Where
directive – The type of directive (page ,taglib or include)
attribute – Represents the behavior to be set for the directive to act
upon.
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Page Directive
The page directive is used to provide the metadata about the JSP page to
the container.
Page directives may be coded anywhere in JSP page.
By standards, page directives are coded at the top of the JSP page.
A page can have any number of page directives .
Any attribute except the import attribute can be used only once in a JSP
page.
Single can contain more than one attribute specified.
Syntax :
<%@page attribute1=“value” attribute2=“value” %>
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Attributes for Page Directive
Attribute Purpose
Specifies a buffering model for the output stream. Same as the servlet buffer.
buffer
<%@ page buffer="none|8kb|sizekb" %>
Controls the behavior of the servlet output buffer.
autoFlush
<%@ page autoFlush=“True\False" %>
Defines the character encoding scheme.
contentType
<%@ page contentType="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1" %>
The errorPage directive takes a valid relative URL to a JSP file to which the
errorPage control is redirected in case of any exceptions..
<%@ page errorPage="relativeURL" %>
Works in tandem with the page errorPage directive and specifies that this JSP is
isErrorPage an error page.
<%@ page isErrorPage="true|false" %>
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Attributes for Page Directive
Attribute Purpose
Specifies a super class that the generated servlet must extend
extends
<%@page extends="myServletClass"%>
Specifies a list of packages or classes to be imported for JSP to use similar to
java import..
import <%@page import="java.util.Date , java.io.FileReader"%>
More than one package can be imported either by using separate page
directive or using comma separated list in a single directive.
Defines a string that can be accessed with the servlet's getServletInfo()
info method.
<%@ page info=“information" %>
Defines the threading model for the generated Servlet.
isThreadSafe
<%@ page isThreadSafe="True|False" %>
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Attributes for Page Directive
Attribute Purpose
Defines the programming language used in the JSP page.
language
<%@page language="java" %>
Specifies whether or not the JSP page participates in HTTP sessions
session
<%@page language="java" session="true" %>
Specifies whether or not EL expression within the JSP page will be
isELIgnored ignored.
<%@ page isELIgnored="True|False" %>
Determines if scripting elements are allowed for use.
<%@ page isScriptingEnabled="True|False" %>
isScriptingEnabled
Setting to false will throw error during translation if your page contains
any scripting element such as scriplets , expression etc
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Are you confused…
Confused on seeing so many directives?
Just relax and focus on the following 4 directives
which are commonly used in application development.
Buffer
Error Page
Import
Session
Lets do some hands on these directives.
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Include Directive
This directive inserts a HTML file or a JSP file into another JSP file at translation
time as illustrated below, User views the combined
output of both the pages.
User requests for
mypage.jsp
R R
E
E
3 During the translation phase
header.jsp Q S
U P the contents of header.jsp
O
E
N
are translated along with
2 S
Includes T S mypage.jsp , gets included
E inside mypage_jsp.java as a
1
single file
mypage.jsp mypage_jsp.java
Translation
mypage.jsp
+
Header.jsp
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More on Include Directive
The include process is static, it means that the text of the included file is
added to the JSP file. (Similar to copy pasting the contents).
The included file can be a JSP file, HTML file, or text file.
If the included page is a JSP page it will be translated along with the main
JSP page.
Note :
Be careful that the included file should not contain <html>, </html>,
<body>, or </body> tags.
Because the entire content of the included file is added to the main JSP file,
these tags would conflict with the same tags in the main JSP file, causing
an error.
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How to create an include directive?
Include directive is created using the following syntax
<%@include attribute =“value”%>
Include can have only file attribute.
<%@include file =“value”%>
Where file specifies the relative path of the file to be included.
Example :
<%@include file =“header.html”%>
Includes a file named header.html
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Lend a Hand – Page and Include Directive
In this demo the associates will get familiarized with some of the commonly
used page directives and the include directive.
We will be using the following page directive attributes and include directive
in this demo
1. import
2. errorPage
3. isErrorPage
4. Session
5. buffer
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Lend a Hand :Page and Include Directive
Scenario : You are asked to create an application which accepts a person’s
name and prints a greeting . If the name user input is null the system should
display an error page.
Develop the components as given below
welcome.jsp : The page which accepts the name from the user
errorPage.jsp : The page to be displayed in case of error
greetings.jsp : The page which displays the greetings to the user
header.html :- The header for all the pages which can be reused across
pages
footer.html :- The footer for all the pages which can be reused across
pages
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Lend a Hand :Welcome Page design
Create welcome.jsp as shown below . The page should contain the following fields,
1 : Text box to accept the name
2 : Submit button for form submit.
Header page to be
included in all the
pages.
The main page
containing the form
control.
Footer page to be
included in all the
pages.
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Lend a Hand : Develop Welcome Page
Includes header.html
Includes footer.html
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Lend a Hand :Greetings Page design
Greetings page should be created as shown.
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Lend a Hand – Develop Greetings page.
The session , buffer , errorPage , import
attributes are set for the current page
using the page directive
Throw Exception if
name is null
Includes header.html
Includes footer.html
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Lend a Hand – Error Page Design
Error page should be created as shown below
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Lend a Hand – Develop Error Page
isErrorPage attribute is set
Implicit object exception is
available since isErrorPage
attribute is set true.
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Lend a Hand – Develop Header and Footer
Header.html
footer.html
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Lend a Hand – Deploy and Run
Step 1 : Deploy and Run the application
Step 2 : Invoke welcome.jsp from the browser
http://localhost:5001/DirectivesDemo/welcome.jsp
The welcome page displayed with header and footer included.
Step 3 : Enter name and submit
Greetings page will be displayed with the greeting message.
Step 4 : Invoke the welcome page again from the browser . Submit the page
without entering the name. Error page will be displayed.
Note : In case error page is not getting displayed in Internet Explorer uncheck the
option “ show friendly error message “ under the advanced tab in internet option.
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Time To Reflect
Associates to quickly summarize the following before ending the session
What are JSP directives?
What directive is used to set the error page for a jsp page?
What directive is used for importing packages into a jsp page?
How to disable session for a jsp page?
What directive is used for including external pages into a JSP
page?
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Advance Java
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JSP Directives
