JSP

About the Tutorial

Java Server Pages (JSP) is a server-side programming technology that enables the
creation of dynamic, platform-independent method for building Web-based applications.
JSP have access to the entire family of Java APIs, including the JDBC API to access
enterprise databases. This tutorial will teach you how to use Java Server Pages to develop
your web applications in simple and easy steps.

Audience
This tutorial has been prepared for the beginners to help them understand basic
functionality of Java Server Pages (JSP) to develop your web applications. After completing
this tutorial you will find yourself at a moderate level of expertise in using JSP from where
you can take yourself to next levels.

Prerequisites
We assume you have little knowledge of how web applications work over HTTP, what is
web server and what is web browsers. It will be great if you have some knowledge of web
application development using any programming language.

Copyright & Disclaimer

 Copyright 2017 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.

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Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain, copy, distribute or republish
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We strive to update the contents of our website and tutorials as timely and as precisely as
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Ltd. provides no guarantee regarding the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of our
website or its contents including this tutorial. If you discover any errors on our website or
in this tutorial, please notify us at contact@tutorialspoint.com

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Table of Contents
About the Tutorial .................................................................................................................................... i

Audience .................................................................................................................................................. i

Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................ i

Copyright & Disclaimer............................................................................................................................. i

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... ii

JSP ─ OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................. 1

What is JavaServer Pages? ...................................................................................................................... 1

Why Use JSP? .......................................................................................................................................... 1

Advantages of JSP ................................................................................................................................... 2

What is Next? .......................................................................................................................................... 2

JSP — ENVIRONMENT SETUP .............................................................................................. 3

Setting up Java Development Kit ............................................................................................................. 3

Setting up Web Server: Tomcat ............................................................................................................... 3

Setting up CLASSPATH ............................................................................................................................. 6

JSP ─ ARCHITECTURE ........................................................................................................... 7

JSP Processing ......................................................................................................................................... 7

JSP ─ LIFECYCLE ................................................................................................................... 9

Paths Followed By JSP ............................................................................................................................. 9

JSP ─ SYNTAX ..................................................................................................................... 12

Elements of JSP ..................................................................................................................................... 12

JSP ─ DIRECTIVES ............................................................................................................... 23

The page Directive ................................................................................................................................ 23

JSP - The page Directive......................................................................................................................... 25

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The include Directive ............................................................................................................................. 29

JSP - Include Directive ........................................................................................................................... 30

The taglib Directive ............................................................................................................................... 32

JSP - The taglib Directive ....................................................................................................................... 32

JSP ─ ACTIONS ................................................................................................................... 34

Common Attributes............................................................................................................................... 34

The <jsp:include> Action ....................................................................................................................... 35

The <jsp:useBean> Action ..................................................................................................................... 36

The <jsp:setProperty> Action ................................................................................................................ 37

The <jsp:getProperty> Action ................................................................................................................ 38

The <jsp:forward> Action ...................................................................................................................... 40

The <jsp:plugin> Action ......................................................................................................................... 41

The <jsp:text> Action ............................................................................................................................ 42

JSP ─ IMPLICIT OBJECTS ..................................................................................................... 44

JSP ─ CLIENT REQUEST....................................................................................................... 48

JSP ─ SERVER RESPONSE .................................................................................................... 54

JSP ─ HTTP STATUS CODES ................................................................................................ 60

Methods to Set HTTP Status Code ......................................................................................................... 64

HTTP Status Code Example .................................................................................................................... 64

JSP ─ FORM PROCESSING .................................................................................................. 66

The Methods in Form Processing .......................................................................................................... 66

Reading Form Data using JSP ................................................................................................................. 66

GET Method Example Using URL ........................................................................................................... 67

GET Method Example Using Form ......................................................................................................... 68

POST Method Example Using Form ....................................................................................................... 68

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Passing Checkbox Data to JSP Program ................................................................................................. 70

Reading All Form Parameters ................................................................................................................ 72

JSP ─ FILTERS ..................................................................................................................... 74

Servlet Filter Methods ........................................................................................................................... 74

JSP Filter Example ................................................................................................................................. 75

JSP Filter Mapping in Web.xml .............................................................................................................. 76

Using Multiple Filters ............................................................................................................................ 77

Filters Application Order ....................................................................................................................... 78

JSP — COOKIES HANDLING ................................................................................................ 79

The Anatomy of a Cookie ...................................................................................................................... 79

Servlet Cookies Methods ....................................................................................................................... 80

Setting Cookies with JSP ........................................................................................................................ 81

Reading Cookies with JSP ...................................................................................................................... 83

Delete Cookies with JSP ........................................................................................................................ 85

JSP — SESSION TRACKING ................................................................................................. 87

Maintaining Session Between Web Client And Server ........................................................................... 87

The session Object ................................................................................................................................ 88

Deleting Session Data ............................................................................................................................ 92

JSP — FILE UPLOADING ..................................................................................................... 94

Creating a File Upload Form .................................................................................................................. 94

Writing Backend JSP Script .................................................................................................................... 95

JSP — HANDLING DATE ..................................................................................................... 99

Getting Current Date & Time ............................................................................................................... 100

Date Comparison ................................................................................................................................ 101

Date Formatting using SimpleDateFormat .......................................................................................... 101

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Simple DateFormat Format Codes ....................................................................................................... 102

JSP ─ PAGE REDIRECTING ................................................................................................ 104

JSP ─ HITS COUNTER ........................................................................................................ 106

Hit Counter Resets .............................................................................................................................. 107

JSP ─ AUTO REFRESH ....................................................................................................... 108

Auto Page Refresh Example ................................................................................................................ 108

JSP ─ SENDING EMAIL ...................................................................................................... 110

Send a Simple Email ............................................................................................................................ 110

Send an HTML Email ............................................................................................................................ 112

Send Attachment in Email ................................................................................................................... 114

User Authentication Part..................................................................................................................... 117

Using Forms to Send Email .................................................................................................................. 117

JSP ─ STANDARD TAG LIBRARY (JSTL) TUTORIAL .............................................................. 119

Install JSTL Library ............................................................................................................................... 119

Classification of The JSTL Tags ............................................................................................................. 119

Core Tags............................................................................................................................................. 119

JSTL Core <c:out> Tag .......................................................................................................................... 121

JSTL Core <c:set> Tag ........................................................................................................................... 121

JSTL Core <c:remove> Tag ................................................................................................................... 122

JSTL Core <c:catch> Tag ....................................................................................................................... 124

JSTL Core <c:if> Tag ............................................................................................................................. 125

JSTL Core <c:choose>, <c:when>, <c:otherwise> Tag ........................................................................... 125

JSTL Core <c:choose>, <c:when>, <c:otherwise> Tag ........................................................................... 127

JSTL Core <c:choose>, <c:when>, <c:otherwise> Tag ........................................................................... 128

JSTL Core <c:import> Tag ..................................................................................................................... 129

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JSTL Core <c:forEach>, <c:forTokens> Tag ........................................................................................... 130

JSTL Core <c:forEach>, <c:forTokens> Tag ........................................................................................... 132

JSTL Core <c:param> Tag ..................................................................................................................... 134

JSTL Core <c:redirect> Tag ................................................................................................................... 135

JSTL Core <c:url> Tag ........................................................................................................................... 136

Formatting Tags .................................................................................................................................. 137

JSTL Core <fmt:formatNumber> Tag .................................................................................................... 138

JSTL Core <fmt:parseNumber> Tag ...................................................................................................... 141

JSTL Core <fmt:formatDate> Tag ......................................................................................................... 143

JSTL Core <fmt:parseDate> Tag ........................................................................................................... 146

JSTL Core <fmt:bundle> Tag ................................................................................................................ 148

JSTL Core <fmt:setLocale> Tag ............................................................................................................. 151

JSTL Core <fmt:setBundle> Tag ............................................................................................................ 153

JSTL Core <fmt:timeZone> Tag ............................................................................................................ 154

JSTL Core <fmt:setTimeZone> Tag ....................................................................................................... 156

JSTL Core <fmt:message> Tag .............................................................................................................. 157

JSTL Core <fmt:requestEncoding> Tag ................................................................................................. 159

SQL tags .............................................................................................................................................. 160

JSTL SQL <sql:setDataSource> Tag ....................................................................................................... 161

JSTL SQL <sql:query> Tag ..................................................................................................................... 163

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 164

JSTL SQL <sql:update> Tag ................................................................................................................... 166

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 167

JSTL SQL <sql:param> Tag.................................................................................................................... 169

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 171

JSTL SQL <sql:dateParam> Tag ............................................................................................................ 173

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 174

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JSTL SQL <sql:transaction> Tag ............................................................................................................ 176

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 178

XML Tags ............................................................................................................................................. 180

JSTL XML <x:out> Tag .......................................................................................................................... 182

JSTL XML <x:parse> Tag ....................................................................................................................... 183

JSTL XML <x:set> Tag ........................................................................................................................... 185

JSTL XML <x:if> Tag ............................................................................................................................. 187

JSTL XML <x:forEach> Tag .................................................................................................................... 188

JSTL XML <x:choose>, <x:when>, <x:otherwise> Tags ......................................................................... 190

JSTL XML <x:choose>, <x:when>, <x:otherwise> Tags ......................................................................... 192

JSTL XML <x:choose>, <x:when>, <x:otherwise> Tags ......................................................................... 194

JSTL XML <x:transform> Tag ................................................................................................................ 196

JSTL XML <x:param> Tag ..................................................................................................................... 199

JSTL Functions ..................................................................................................................................... 201

JSTL fn:contains() Function .................................................................................................................. 203

JSTL fn:containsIgnoreCase() Function ................................................................................................ 204

JSTL fn:endsWith() Function ................................................................................................................ 205

JSTL fn:escapeXml() Function .............................................................................................................. 206

JSTL fn:indexOf() Function ................................................................................................................... 207

JSTL fn:join() Function ......................................................................................................................... 208

JSTL fn:length() Function ..................................................................................................................... 209

JSTL fn:replace() Function.................................................................................................................... 210

JSTL fn:split() Function ........................................................................................................................ 210

JSTL fn:startsWith() Function............................................................................................................... 211

JSTL fn:substring() Function ................................................................................................................. 212

JSTL fn:substringAfter() Function ......................................................................................................... 213

JSTL fn:substringBefore() Function ...................................................................................................... 214

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JSTL fn:toLowerCase() Function ........................................................................................................... 215

JSTL fn:toUpperCase() Function ........................................................................................................... 216

JSTL fn:trim() Function ........................................................................................................................ 216

JSP ─ DATABASE ACCESS .................................................................................................. 218

Create Table ........................................................................................................................................ 218

Create Data Records ............................................................................................................................ 219

SELECT Operation ................................................................................................................................ 219

INSERT Operation ................................................................................................................................ 221

DELETE Operation ............................................................................................................................... 222

UPDATE Operation .............................................................................................................................. 224

JSP ─ XML DATA ............................................................................................................... 226

Sending XML from a JSP ...................................................................................................................... 226

Processing XML in JSP ......................................................................................................................... 226

Formatting XML with JSP..................................................................................................................... 228

JSP ─ JAVABEANS ............................................................................................................. 231

JavaBeans Properties .......................................................................................................................... 231

JavaBeans Example ............................................................................................................................. 231

Accessing JavaBeans ........................................................................................................................... 232

Accessing JavaBeans Properties .......................................................................................................... 233

JSP ─ CUSTOM TAGS ........................................................................................................ 235

Create "Hello" Tag............................................................................................................................... 235

Accessing the Tag Body ....................................................................................................................... 236

Custom Tag Attributes ........................................................................................................................ 238

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JSP — EXPRESSION LANGUAGE (EL)................................................................................. 242

Simple Syntax ...................................................................................................................................... 242

Basic Operators in EL ........................................................................................................................... 243

Functions in JSP EL .............................................................................................................................. 244

JSP EL Implicit Objects ......................................................................................................................... 245

The pageContext Object ...................................................................................................................... 245

The Scope Objects ............................................................................................................................... 246

The param and paramValues Objects .................................................................................................. 246

header and headerValues Objects ....................................................................................................... 247

JSP ─ EXCEPTION HANDLING ........................................................................................... 248

Using Exception Object ....................................................................................................................... 248

Using JSTL Tags for Error Page ............................................................................................................. 250

Using Try...Catch Block ........................................................................................................................ 252

JSP — DEBUGGING .......................................................................................................... 253

Using System.out.println() .................................................................................................................. 253

Using the JDB Logger ........................................................................................................................... 254

Debugging Tools .................................................................................................................................. 256

Using JDB Debugger ............................................................................................................................ 257

Using Comments ................................................................................................................................. 257

Client and Server Headers ................................................................................................................... 257

JSP — SECURITY............................................................................................................... 258

Role Based Authentication .................................................................................................................. 258

Form Based Authentication ................................................................................................................. 260

Programmatic Security in a Servlet/JSP ............................................................................................... 262

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JSP — INTERNATIONALIZATION| I18N| L10N .................................................................. 263

Detecting Locale .................................................................................................................................. 263

Languages Setting ............................................................................................................................... 265

Locale Specific Dates ........................................................................................................................... 266

Locale Specific Currency ...................................................................................................................... 267

Locale Specific Percentage .................................................................................................................. 268

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 JSP ─ OVERVIEW JSP

What is JavaServer Pages?

JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a technology for developing Webpages that supports dynamic
content. This helps developers insert java code in HTML pages by making use of special JSP
tags, most of which start with <% and end with %>.

A JavaServer Pages component is a type of Java servlet that is designed to fulfill the role of
a user interface for a Java web application. Web developers write JSPs as text files that
combine HTML or XHTML code, XML elements, and embedded JSP actions and commands.

Using JSP, you can collect input from users through Webpage forms, present records from a
database or another source, and create Webpages dynamically.

JSP tags can be used for a variety of purposes, such as retrieving information from a database
or registering user preferences, accessing JavaBeans components, passing control between
pages, and sharing information between requests, pages etc.

Why Use JSP?

JavaServer Pages often serve the same purpose as programs implemented using the
Common Gateway Interface (CGI). But JSP offers several advantages in comparison with
the CGI.

 Performance is significantly better because JSP allows embedding Dynamic Elements

in HTML Pages itself instead of having separate CGI files.

 JSP are always compiled before they are processed by the server unlike CGI/Perl which
requires the server to load an interpreter and the target script each time the page is
requested.

 JavaServer Pages are built on top of the Java Servlets API, so like Servlets, JSP also
has access to all the powerful Enterprise Java APIs, including JDBC, JNDI, EJB, JAXP,
etc.

 JSP pages can be used in combination with servlets that handle the business logic, the
model supported by Java servlet template engines.

Finally, JSP is an integral part of Java EE, a complete platform for enterprise class applications.
This means that JSP can play a part in the simplest applications to the most complex and
demanding.

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Advantages of JSP
Following is the list of other advantages of using JSP over other technologies:

vs. Active Server Pages (ASP)

The advantages of JSP are twofold. First, the dynamic part is written in Java, not Visual Basic
or other MS specific language, so it is more powerful and easier to use. Second, it is portable
to other operating systems and non-Microsoft Web servers.

vs. Pure Servlets

It is more convenient to write (and to modify!) regular HTML than to have plenty of println
statements that generate the HTML.

vs. Server-Side Includes (SSI)

SSI is really only intended for simple inclusions, not for "real" programs that use form data,
make database connections, and the like.

vs. JavaScript
JavaScript can generate HTML dynamically on the client but can hardly interact with the web
server to perform complex tasks like database access and image processing etc.

vs. Static HTML

Regular HTML, of course, cannot contain dynamic information.

What is Next?
I would take you step by step to set up your environment to start with JSP. I'm assuming you
have good hands-on with Java Programming to proceed with learning JSP.

If you are not aware of Java Programming Language, then we would recommend you go
through our Java Tutorial to understand Java Programming.

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 JSP ─ ENVIRONMENT SETUP JSP

A development environment is where you would develop your JSP programs, test them and
finally run them.

This tutorial will guide you to setup your JSP development environment which involves the
following steps:

Setting up Java Development Kit

This step involves downloading an implementation of the Java Software Development Kit
(SDK) and setting up the PATH environment variable appropriately.

You can download SDK from Oracle's Java site: Java SE Downloads.

Once you download your Java implementation, follow the given instructions to install and
configure the setup. Finally set the PATH and JAVA_HOME environment variables to refer
to the directory that contains java and javac, typically java_install_dir/bin and
java_install_dir respectively.

If you are running Windows and install the SDK in C:\jdk1.5.0_20, you need to add the
following line in your C:\autoexec.bat file.

set PATH=C:\jdk1.5.0_20\bin;%PATH%
set JAVA_HOME=C:\jdk1.5.0_20

Alternatively, on Windows NT/2000/XP, you can also right-click on My Computer, select

Properties, then Advanced, followed by Environment Variables. Then, you would update
the PATH value and press the OK button.

On Unix (Solaris, Linux, etc.), if the SDK is installed in /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_20 and you use
the C shell, you will put the following into your .cshrc file.

setenv PATH /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_20/bin:$PATH

setenv JAVA_HOME /usr/local/jdk1.5.0_20

Alternatively, if you use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like Borland

JBuilder, Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, or Sun ONE Studio, compile and run a simple program
to confirm that the IDE knows where you installed Java.

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Setting up Web Server: Tomcat

A number of Web Servers that support JavaServer Pages and Servlets development are
available in the market. Some web servers can be downloaded for free and Tomcat is one of
them.

Apache Tomcat is an open source software implementation of the JavaServer Pages and
Servlet technologies and can act as a standalone server for testing JSP and Servlets, and can
be integrated with the Apache Web Server. Here are the steps to set up Tomcat on your
machine:

 Download the latest version of Tomcat from http://tomcat.apache.org/.

 Once you downloaded the installation, unpack the binary distribution into a convenient
location. For example, in C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.29 on windows, or
/usr/local/apache-tomcat-5.5.29 on Linux/Unix and create CATALINA_HOME
environment variable pointing to these locations.

Tomcat can be started by executing the following commands on the Windows machine:

%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\startup.bat

or

C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.29\bin\startup.bat

Tomcat can be started by executing the following commands on the Unix (Solaris, Linux, etc.)
machine:

$CATALINA_HOME/bin/startup.sh

or

/usr/local/apache-tomcat-5.5.29/bin/startup.sh

After a successful startup, the default web-applications included with Tomcat will be available
by visiting http://localhost:8080/.

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Upon execution, you will receive the following output:

Further information about configuring and running Tomcat can be found in the documentation
included here, as well as on the Tomcat web site: http://tomcat.apache.org

Tomcat can be stopped by executing the following commands on the Windows machine:

%CATALINA_HOME%\bin\shutdown
or

C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.29\bin\shutdown

Tomcat can be stopped by executing the following commands on Unix (Solaris, Linux, etc.)
machine:

$CATALINA_HOME/bin/shutdown.sh

or

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/usr/local/apache-tomcat-5.5.29/bin/shutdown.sh

Setting up CLASSPATH
Since servlets are not part of the Java Platform, Standard Edition, you must identify the
servlet classes to the compiler.

If you are running Windows, you need to put the following lines in your C:\autoexec.bat
file.

set CATALINA=C:\apache-tomcat-5.5.29
set CLASSPATH=%CATALINA%\common\lib\jsp-api.jar;%CLASSPATH%

Alternatively, on Windows NT/2000/XP, you can also right-click on My Computer, select

Properties, then Advanced, then Environment Variables. Then, you would update the
CLASSPATH value and press the OK button.

On Unix (Solaris, Linux, etc.), if you are using the C shell, you would put the following lines
into your .cshrc file.

setenv CATALINA=/usr/local/apache-tomcat-5.5.29
setenv CLASSPATH $CATALINA/common/lib/jsp-api.jar:$CLASSPATH

NOTE: Assuming that your development directory is C:\JSPDev (Windows) or

/usr/JSPDev (Unix), then you would need to add these directories as well in CLASSPATH.

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 JSP ─ ARCHITECTURE JSP

The web server needs a JSP engine, i.e., a container to process JSP pages. The JSP container
is responsible for intercepting requests for JSP pages. This tutorial makes use of Apache which
has built-in JSP container to support JSP pages development.

A JSP container works with the Web server to provide the runtime environment and other
services a JSP needs. It knows how to understand the special elements that are part of JSPs.

Following diagram shows the position of JSP container and JSP files in a Web application.

JSP Processing
The following steps explain how the web server creates the Webpage using JSP:

 As with a normal page, your browser sends an HTTP request to the web server.

 The web server recognizes that the HTTP request is for a JSP page and forwards it to
a JSP engine. This is done by using the URL or JSP page which ends with .jsp instead
of .html.

 The JSP engine loads the JSP page from disk and converts it into a servlet content.
This conversion is very simple in which all template text is converted to println( )
statements and all JSP elements are converted to Java code. This code implements
the corresponding dynamic behavior of the page.

 The JSP engine compiles the servlet into an executable class and forwards the original
request to a servlet engine.

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 A part of the web server called the servlet engine loads the Servlet class and executes
it. During execution, the servlet produces an output in HTML format. This output is
further passed on to the web server by the servlet engine inside an HTTP response.

 The web server forwards the HTTP response to your browser in terms of static HTML
content.

 Finally, the web browser handles the dynamically-generated HTML page inside the
HTTP response exactly as if it were a static page.

All the above mentioned steps can be seen in the following diagram:

Typically, the JSP engine checks to see whether a servlet for a JSP file already exists and
whether the modification date on the JSP is older than the servlet. If the JSP is older than its
generated servlet, the JSP container assumes that the JSP hasn't changed and that the
generated servlet still matches the JSP's contents. This makes the process more efficient than
with the other scripting languages (such as PHP) and therefore faster.

So in a way, a JSP page is really just another way to write a servlet without having to be a
Java programming wiz. Except for the translation phase, a JSP page is handled exactly like a
regular servlet

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 JSP ─ LIFECYCLE JSP

In this chapter, we will discuss the lifecycle of JSP. The key to understanding the low-level
functionality of JSP is to understand the simple life cycle they follow.

A JSP life cycle is defined as the process from its creation till the destruction. This is similar
to a servlet life cycle with an additional step which is required to compile a JSP into servlet.

Paths Followed By JSP

The following are the paths followed by a JSP

 Compilation

 Initialization

 Execution

 Cleanup

The four major phases of a JSP life cycle are very similar to the Servlet Life Cycle. The four
phases have been described below:

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JSP Compilation
When a browser asks for a JSP, the JSP engine first checks to see whether it needs to compile
the page. If the page has never been compiled, or if the JSP has been modified since it was
last compiled, the JSP engine compiles the page.

The compilation process involves three steps:

 Parsing the JSP.

 Turning the JSP into a servlet.

 Compiling the servlet.

JSP Initialization
When a container loads a JSP it invokes the jspInit() method before servicing any requests.
If you need to perform JSP-specific initialization, override the jspInit() method:

public void jspInit(){

// Initialization code...
}

Typically, initialization is performed only once and as with the servlet init method, you
generally initialize database connections, open files, and create lookup tables in the jspInit
method.

JSP Execution
This phase of the JSP life cycle represents all interactions with requests until the JSP is
destroyed.

Whenever a browser requests a JSP and the page has been loaded and initialized, the JSP
engine invokes the _jspService() method in the JSP.

The _jspService() method takes an HttpServletRequest and an HttpServletResponse as

its parameters as follows:

void _jspService(HttpServletRequest request,

HttpServletResponse response)
{
// Service handling code...
}

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The _jspService() method of a JSP is invoked on request basis. This is responsible for
generating the response for that request and this method is also responsible for generating
responses to all seven of the HTTP methods, i.e., GET, POST, DELETE, etc.

JSP Cleanup
The destruction phase of the JSP life cycle represents when a JSP is being removed from use
by a container.

The jspDestroy() method is the JSP equivalent of the destroy method for servlets. Override
jspDestroy when you need to perform any cleanup, such as releasing database connections
or closing open files.

The jspDestroy() method has the following form:

public void jspDestroy()

{
// Your cleanup code goes here.
}

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 JSP ─ SYNTAX JSP

In this chapter, we will discuss Syntax in JSP. We will understand the basic use of simple
syntax (i.e., elements) involved with JSP development.

Elements of JSP
The elements of JSP have been described below:

The Scriptlet
A scriptlet can contain any number of JAVA language statements, variable or method
declarations, or expressions that are valid in the page scripting language.

Following is the syntax of Scriptlet:

<% code fragment %>

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:scriptlet>
code fragment
</jsp:scriptlet>

Any text, HTML tags, or JSP elements you write must be outside the scriptlet. Following is the
simple and first example for JSP:

<html>
<head><title>Hello World</title></head>
<body>
Hello World!<br/>
<%
out.println("Your IP address is " + request.getRemoteAddr());
%>
</body>
</html>

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NOTE: Assuming that Apache Tomcat is installed in C:\apache-tomcat-7.0.2 and your

environment is setup as per environment setup tutorial.

Let us keep the above code in JSP file hello.jsp and put this file in C:\apache-tomcat-
7.0.2\webapps\ROOT directory. Browse through the same using URL
http://localhost:8080/hello.jsp. This would generate the following result:

JSP Declarations
A declaration declares one or more variables or methods that you can use in Java code later
in the JSP file. You must declare the variable or method before you use it in the JSP file.

Following is the syntax for JSP Declarations:

<%! declaration; [ declaration; ]+ ... %>

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:declaration>
code fragment
</jsp:declaration>

Following is an example for JSP Declarations:

<%! int i = 0; %>

<%! int a, b, c; %>
<%! Circle a = new Circle(2.0); %>

JSP Expression
A JSP expression element contains a scripting language expression that is evaluated,
converted to a String, and inserted where the expression appears in the JSP file.

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 JSP

Because the value of an expression is converted to a String, you can use an expression within
a line of text, whether or not it is tagged with HTML, in a JSP file.

The expression element can contain any expression that is valid according to the Java
Language Specification but you cannot use a semicolon to end an expression.

Following is the syntax of JSP Expression:

<%= expression %>

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:expression>
expression
</jsp:expression>

Following example shows a JSP Expression:

<html>
<head><title>A Comment Test</title></head>
<body>
<p>
Today's date: <%= (new java.util.Date()).toLocaleString()%>
</p>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

JSP Comments
JSP comment marks the text or the statements that the JSP container should ignore. A JSP
comment is useful when you want to hide or "comment out", a part of your JSP page.

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 JSP

Following is the syntax of the JSP comments:

<%-- This is JSP comment --%>

Following example shows the JSP Comments:

<html>
<head><title>A Comment Test</title></head>
<body>
<h2>A Test of Comments</h2>
<%-- This comment will not be visible in the page source --%>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

There are a small number of special constructs you can use in various cases to insert
comments or characters that would otherwise be treated specially. Here's a summary:

Syntax Purpose

<%-- comment --%> A JSP comment. Ignored by the JSP engine.

<!-- comment --> An HTML comment. Ignored by the browser.

<\% Represents static <% literal.

%\> Represents static %> literal.

\' A single quote in an attribute that uses single quotes.

\" A double quote in an attribute that uses double quotes.

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 JSP

JSP Directives
A JSP directive affects the overall structure of the servlet class. It usually has the following
form:

<%@ directive attribute="value" %>

There are three types of directive tag:

Directive Description

Defines page-dependent attributes, such as scripting

<%@ page ... %>
language, error page, and buffering requirements.

<%@ include ... %> Includes a file during the translation phase.

Declares a tag library, containing custom actions, used in the

<%@ taglib ... %>
page

We would explain the JSP directive in a separate chapter — JSP - Directives

JSP Actions
JSP actions use constructs in XML syntax to control the behavior of the servlet engine. You
can dynamically insert a file, reuse JavaBeans components, forward the user to another page,
or generate HTML for the Java plugin.

There is only one syntax for the Action element, as it conforms to the XML standard:

<jsp:action_name attribute="value" />

Action elements are basically predefined functions. Following table lists out the available JSP
Actions:

Syntax Purpose

jsp:include Includes a file at the time the page is requested.

jsp:useBean Finds or instantiates a JavaBean.

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 JSP

jsp:setProperty Sets the property of a JavaBean.

jsp:getProperty Inserts the property of a JavaBean into the output.

jsp:forward Forwards the requester to a new page.

jsp:plugin Generates browser-specific code that makes an OBJECT or

EMBED tag for the Java plugin.

jsp:element Defines XML elements dynamically.

jsp:attribute Defines dynamically-defined XML element's attribute.

jsp:body Defines dynamically-defined XML element's body.

jsp:text Used to write template text in JSP pages and documents.

We would explain JSP actions in a separate chapter — JSP - Actions

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 JSP

JSP Implicit Objects

JSP supports nine automatically defined variables, which are also called implicit objects. These
variables are:

Objects Description

request This is the HttpServletRequest object associated with the

request.

response This is the HttpServletResponse object associated with the

response to the client.

out This is the PrintWriter object used to send output to the

client.

session This is the HttpSession object associated with the request.

application This is the ServletContext object associated with

application context.

config This is the ServletConfig object associated with the page.

pageContext This encapsulates use of server-specific features like higher

performance JspWriters.

page This is simply a synonym for this, and is used to call the
methods defined by the translated servlet class.

Exception The Exception object allows the exception data to be

accessed by designated JSP.

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 JSP

We would explain JSP Implicit Objects in a separate chapter — JSP - Implicit Objects.

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 JSP

Control-Flow Statements
You can use all the APIs and building blocks of Java in your JSP programming including
decision-making statements, loops, etc.

Decision-Making Statements
The if...else block starts out like an ordinary Scriptlet, but the Scriptlet is closed at each line
with HTML text included between the Scriptlet tags.

<%! int day = 3; %>

<html>
<head><title>IF...ELSE Example</title></head>
<body>
<% if (day == 1 | day == 7) { %>
<p> Today is weekend</p>
<% } else { %>
<p> Today is not weekend</p>
<% } %>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

Now look at the following switch...case block which has been written a bit differentlty
using out.println() and inside Scriptletas:

<%! int day = 3; %>

<html>
<head><title>SWITCH...CASE Example</title></head>
<body>
<%
switch(day) {
case 0:
out.println("It\'s Sunday.");
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 JSP

break;
case 1:
out.println("It\'s Monday.");
break;
case 2:
out.println("It\'s Tuesday.");
break;
case 3:
out.println("It\'s Wednesday.");
break;
case 4:
out.println("It\'s Thursday.");
break;
case 5:
out.println("It\'s Friday.");
break;
default:
out.println("It's Saturday.");
}
%>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

Loop Statements
You can also use three basic types of looping blocks in Java: for, while,and do…while blocks
in your JSP programming.

Let us look at the following for loop example:

<%! int fontSize; %>

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 JSP

<html>
<head><title>FOR LOOP Example</title></head>

<body>
<%for ( fontSize = 1; fontSize <= 3; fontSize++){ %>
<font color="green" size="<%= fontSize %>">
JSP Tutorial
</font><br />
<%}%>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

Above example can be written using the while loop as follows:

<%! int fontSize; %>

<html>
<head><title>WHILE LOOP Example</title></head>
<body>
<%while ( fontSize <= 3){ %>
<font color="green" size="<%= fontSize %>">
JSP Tutorial
32
 JSP

</font><br />
<%fontSize++;%>
<%}%>
</body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result:

JSP Operators
JSP supports all the logical and arithmetic operators supported by Java. Following table lists
out all the operators with the highest precedence appear at the top of the table, those with
the lowest appear at the bottom.

Within an expression, higher precedence operators will be evaluated first.

Category Operator Associativity

Postfix () [] . (dot operator) Left to right

Unary ++ - - ! ~ Right to left

Multiplicative */% Left to right

Additive +- Left to right

Shift >> >>> << Left to right

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 JSP

Relational > >= < <= Left to right

Equality == != Left to right

Bitwise AND & Left to right

Bitwise XOR ^ Left to right

Bitwise OR | Left to right

Logical AND && Left to right

Logical OR || Left to right

Conditional ?: Right to left

Assignment = += -= *= /= %= >>= Right to left

<<= &= ^= |=

Comma , Left to right

JSP Literals
The JSP expression language defines the following literals:

 Boolean: true and false

 Integer: as in Java

 Floating point: as in Java

 String: with single and double quotes; " is escaped as \", ' is escaped as \', and \ is
escaped as \\.

 Null: null

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 JSP ─ DIRECTIVES JSP

In this chapter, we will discuss Directives in JSP. These directives provide directions and
instructions to the container, telling it how to handle certain aspects of the JSP processing.

A JSP directive affects the overall structure of the servlet class. It usually has the following
form:

<%@ directive attribute="value" %>

Directives can have a number of attributes which you can list down as key-value pairs and
separated by commas.

The blanks between the @ symbol and the directive name, and between the last attribute and
the closing %>, are optional.

There are three types of directive tag:

Directive Description

<%@ page ... %> Defines page-dependent attributes, such as scripting

language, error page, and buffering requirements.

<%@ include ... %> Includes a file during the translation phase.

<%@ taglib ... %> Declares a tag library, containing custom actions, used in the
page

The page Directive

The page directive is used to provide instructions to the container. These instructions pertain
to the current JSP page. You may code page directives anywhere in your JSP page. By
convention, page directives are coded at the top of the JSP page.

Following is the basic syntax of the page directive:

<%@ page attribute="value" %>

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

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 JSP

<jsp:directive.page attribute="value" />

Attributes
Following table lists out the attributes associated with page directive:

Attribute Purpose

buffer Specifies a buffering model for the output stream.

autoFlush Controls the behavior of the servlet output buffer.

contentType Defines the character encoding scheme.

Defines the URL of another JSP that reports on Java

errorPage
unchecked runtime exceptions.

Indicates if this JSP page is a URL specified by another JSP

isErrorPage
page's errorPage attribute.

Specifies a superclass that the generated servlet must

extends
extend.

Specifies a list of packages or classes for use in the JSP as

import
the Java import statement does for Java classes.

Defines a string that can be accessed with the servlet's

info
getServletInfo() method.

isThreadSafe Defines the threading model for the generated servlet.

language Defines the programming language used in the JSP page.

Specifies whether or not the JSP page participates in HTTP

session
sessions

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 JSP

Specifies whether or not the EL expression within the JSP

isELIgnored
page will be ignored.

isScriptingEnabled Determines if the scripting elements are allowed for use.

Check for more details related to all the above attributes at Page Directive.

JSP - The page Directive

The page directive is used to provide instructions to the container that pertain to the current
JSP page. You may code the page directives anywhere in your JSP page. By convention, page
directives are coded at the top of the JSP page.

Following is the basic syntax of page directive:

<%@ page attribute="value" %>

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:directive.page attribute="value" />

Attributes
Following table lists out the attributes associated with the page directive:

Attribute Purpose

buffer Specifies a buffering model for the output stream.

autoFlush Controls the behavior of the servlet output buffer.

contentType Defines the character encoding scheme.

errorPage Defines the URL of another JSP that reports on Java

unchecked runtime exceptions.

isErrorPage Indicates if this JSP page is a URL specified by another JSP

page's errorPage attribute.

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 JSP

extends Specifies a superclass that the generated servlet must

extend.

import Specifies a list of packages or classes for use in the JSP as

the Java import statement does for Java classes.

info Defines a string that can be accessed with the servlet's

getServletInfo() method.

isThreadSafe Defines the threading model for the generated servlet.

language Defines the programming language used in the JSP page.

session Specifies whether or not the JSP page participates in HTTP

sessions.

isELIgnored Specifies whether or not the EL expression within the JSP

page will be ignored.

isScriptingEnabled Determines if the scripting elements are allowed for use.

The buffer Attribute

The buffer attribute specifies the buffering characteristics for the server output response
object.

You may code a value of "none" to specify no buffering so that the servlet output is
immediately directed to the response object or you may code a maximum buffer size in
kilobytes, which directs the servlet to write to the buffer before writing to the response object.

To direct the servlet to write the output directly to the response output object, use the
following:

<%@ page buffer="none" %>

Use the following to direct the servlet to write the output to a buffer of size not less than 8
kilobytes:

<%@ page buffer="8kb" %>

The autoFlush Attribute

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 JSP

The autoFlush attribute specifies whether buffered output should be flushed automatically
when the buffer is filled, or whether an exception should be raised to indicate the buffer
overflow.

A value of true (default) indicates automatic buffer flushing and a value of false throws an
exception.

The following directive causes the servlet to throw an exception when the servlet's output
buffer is full:

<%@ page autoFlush="false" %>

This directive causes the servlet to flush the output buffer when full:

<%@ page autoFlush="true" %>

Usually, the buffer and the autoFlush attributes are coded on a single page directive as
follows:

<%@ page buffer="16kb" autoflush="true" %>

The contentType Attribute

The contentType attribute sets the character encoding for the JSP page and for the generated
response page. The default content type is text/html, which is the standard content type for
HTML pages.

If you want to write out XML from your JSP, use the following page directive:

<%@ page contentType="text/xml" %>

The following statement directs the browser to render the generated page as HTML:

<%@ page contentType="text/html" %>

The following directive sets the content type as a Microsoft Word document:

<%@ page contentType="application/msword" %>

You can also specify the character encoding for the response. For example, if you wanted to
specify that the resulting page that is returned to the browser uses ISO Latin 1, you can use
the following page directive:

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 JSP

<%@ page contentType="text/html:charset=ISO-8859-1" %>

The errorPage Attribute

The errorPage attribute tells the JSP engine which page to display if there is an error while
the current page runs. The value of the errorPage attribute is a relative URL.

The following directive displays MyErrorPage.jsp when all uncaught exceptions are thrown:

<%@ page errorPage="MyErrorPage.jsp" %>

The isErrorPage Attribute

The isErrorPage attribute indicates that the current JSP can be used as the error page for
another JSP.

The value of isErrorPage is either true or false. The default value of the isErrorPage attribute
is false.

For example, the handleError.jsp sets the isErrorPage option to true because it is supposed
to handle errors:

<%@ page isErrorPage="true" %>

The extends Attribute

The extends attribute specifies a superclass that the generated servlet must extend.

For example, the following directive directs the JSP translator to generate the servlet such
that the servlet extends somePackage.SomeClass:

<%@ page extends="somePackage.SomeClass" %>

The import Attribute

The import attribute serves the same function as, and behaves like, the Java import
statement. The value for the import option is the name of the package you want to import.

To import java.sql.*, use the following page directive:

<%@ page import="java.sql.*" %>

To import multiple packages, you can specify them separated by comma as follows:

<%@ page import="java.sql.*,java.util.*" %>

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 JSP

By default, a container automatically imports java.lang.*, javax.servlet.*,

javax.servlet.jsp.*, and javax.servlet.http.*.

The info Attribute

The info attribute lets you provide a description of the JSP. The following is a coding example:

<%@ page info="This JSP Page Written By ZARA" %>

The isThreadSafe Attribute

The isThreadSafe option marks a page as being thread-safe. By default, all JSPs are
considered thread-safe. If you set the isThreadSafe option to false, the JSP engine makes
sure that only one thread at a time is executing your JSP.

The following page directive sets the isThreadSafe option to false:

<%@ page isThreadSafe="false" %>

The language Attribute

The language attribute indicates the programming language used in scripting the JSP page.

For example, because you usually use Java as the scripting language, your language option
looks like this:

<%@ page language="java" %>

The session Attribute

The session attribute indicates whether or not the JSP page uses HTTP sessions. A value of
true means that the JSP page has access to a builtin session object and a value of false
means that the JSP page cannot access the builtin session object.

Following directive allows the JSP page to use any of the builtin object session methods such
as session.getCreationTime() or session.getLastAccessTime():

<%@ page session="true" %>

The isELIgnored Attribute

The isELIgnored attribute gives you the ability to disable the evaluation of Expression
Language (EL) expressions which has been introduced in JSP 2.0.

The default value of the attribute is true, meaning that expressions, ${...}, are evaluated as
dictated by the JSP specification. If the attribute is set to false, then expressions are not
evaluated but rather treated as static text.
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 JSP

Following directive sets an expression not to be evaluated:

<%@ page isELIgnored="false" %>

The isScriptingEnabled Attribute

The isScriptingEnabled attribute determines if the scripting elements are allowed for use.

The default value (true) enables scriptlets, expressions, and declarations. If the attribute's
value is set to false, a translation-time error will be raised if the JSP uses any scriptlets,
expressions (non-EL), or declarations.

The attribute’s value can be set to false if you want to restrict the usage of scriptlets,
expressions (non-EL), or declarations:

<%@ page isScriptingEnabled="false" %>

The include Directive

The include directive is used to include a file during the translation phase. This directive tells
the container to merge the content of other external files with the current JSP during the
translation phase. You may code the include directives anywhere in your JSP page.

The general usage form of this directive is as follows:

<%@ include file="relative url" >

The filename in the include directive is actually a relative URL. If you just specify a filename
with no associated path, the JSP compiler assumes that the file is in the same directory as
your JSP.

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:directive.include file="relative url" />

For more details related to include directive, check the Include Directive.

JSP - Include Directive

The include directive is used to include a file during the translation phase. This directive tells
the container to merge the content of other external files with the current JSP during the
translation phase. You may code include directives anywhere in your JSP page.

The general usage form of this directive is as follows:

<%@ include file="relative url" >

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 JSP

The filename in the include directive is actually a relative URL. If you just specify a filename
with no associated path, the JSP compiler assumes that the file is in the same directory as
your JSP.

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:directive.include file="relative url" />

Example
A good example of the include directive is including a common header and footer with
multiple pages of content.

Let us define following three files (a) header.jps, (b)footer.jsp, and (c)main.jsp as
follows:

Following is the content of header.jsp:

<%!
int pageCount = 0;
void addCount() {
pageCount++;
}
%>
<% addCount(); %>
<html>
<head>
<title>The include Directive Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<center>
<h2>The include Directive Example</h2>
<p>This site has been visited <%= pageCount %> times.</p>
</center>
<br/><br/>

Following is the content of footer.jsp:

<%@ include file="header.jsp" %>

<center>

43
 JSP

<p>Thanks for visiting my page.</p>

</center>
<%@ include file="footer.jsp" %>

Let us now keep all these files in the root directory and try to access main.jsp. You will
receive the following output:

Refresh main.jsp and you will find that the page hit counter keeps increasing.

You can design your webpages based on your creative instincts; it is recommended you keep
the dynamic parts of your website in separate files and then include them in the main file.
This makes it easy when you need to change a part of your webpage.

The taglib Directive

The JavaServer Pages API allow you to define custom JSP tags that look like HTML or XML
tags and a tag library is a set of user-defined tags that implement custom behavior.

44
 JSP

The taglib directive declares that your JSP page uses a set of custom tags, identifies the
location of the library, and provides means for identifying the custom tags in your JSP page.

The taglib directive follows the syntax given below:

<%@ taglib uri="uri" prefix="prefixOfTag" >

Here, the uri attribute value resolves to a location the container understands and
the prefix attribute informs a container what bits of markup are custom actions.

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:directive.taglib uri="uri" prefix="prefixOfTag" />

For more details related to the taglib directive, check the Taglib Directive.

JSP - The taglib Directive

The JavaServer Pages API allows you to define custom JSP tags that look like HTML or XML
tags and a tag library is a set of user-defined tags that implement custom behavior.

The taglib directive declares that your JSP page uses a set of custom tags, identifies the
location of the library, and provides a means for identifying the custom tags in your JSP page.

The taglib directive follows the syntax given below:

<%@ taglib uri="uri" prefix="prefixOfTag" >

Where the uri attribute value resolves to a location the container understands and
the prefix attribute informs a container what bits of markup are custom actions.

You can write the XML equivalent of the above syntax as follows:

<jsp:directive.taglib uri="uri" prefix="prefixOfTag" />

When you use a custom tag, it is typically of the form <prefix:tagname>. The prefix is the
same as the prefix you specify in the taglib directive, and the tagname is the name of a tag
implemented in the tag library.

Example
For example, suppose the custlib tag library contains a tag called hello. If you wanted to
use the hello tag with a prefix of mytag, your tag would be <mytag:hello> and it will be
used in your JSP file as follows:

<%@ taglib uri="http://www.example.com/custlib" prefix="mytag" %>

<html>

45
 JSP

<body>
<mytag:hello/>
</body>
</html>

We can call another piece of code using <mytag:hello>. We will see how to develop our
custom tags and how to use them in JSP - Custom Tags tutorial.

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 JSP

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