Chapter 7 Using Custom Tag Libraries and the JSP Standard Tag Library

What Is a Custom Tag Library? Custom Actions Usage access to all information about the request add content to the response body as well as set response headers use any Java API to access external resources such as databases, servers, etc.

Custom Tag Implementations Java Classes

Custom Tag Implementations Tag files (An example)

Custom Tag Implementations Custom Tag Library Tag Library Descriptor (TLD) JAR

Installing a Custom Tag Library place the JAR file for the library in the WEB-INF/lib directory for the web application

Declaring a Custom Tag Library Prefix use any prefix you like except jsp, jspx, java, javax, servlet, sun, or sunw Uri When the web application is started, the container scans through the WEB-INF directory structure for files with.tld extensions and all JAR files containing files with.tld extensions in their META-INF directory

Declaring a Custom Tag Library Relation between the taglib directive, the TLD, and the implementation (tag handler) for the custom actions

Identifying a Custom Tag Library in a JSP 1.1 Container WEB-INF/web.xml

Using Actions from a Tag Library

Setting Action Attribute Values Action attributes can be of any Java type Automatic type conversion

The JSP Standard Tag Library URI for the JSTL 1.1 libraries

JSTL functions

JSTL Reference Implementation JAR files

Using Beans or Custom Actions a bean is a great carrier of information a custom action is great for processing information Custom actions can use beans as input and output