Developing JSP Pages 

Use

JSP enables you to produce dynamic content for the presentation layer in a Web application. More information about the JSP lifecycle and its phases: JSP Life Cycle .

A JSP page consists of elements and template text. Elements are instances of element types known to the Web container. Template text is any non-JSP code. Elements are encapsulated into template text, usually static HTML. The Java Server Pages Specification defines the following syntax elements:

●      Scripting elements

You use scripting elements to generate dynamic content. There are three types of scripting elements.

○       Expressions - Java expressions evaluated at request processing time. The result of an expression is inserted in the HTML output.

○       Scriptlets - valid Java code fragments executed at request processing time

○       Declarations - used for declaring Java variables and methods and are initialized at JSP page initialization time

●      Directives

You use directives to pass global information to the Web Container during the translation and compilation phases. The directives are: page, taglib, and include. For tag files we also have: tag, attribute, variable.

●      Actions

You use standard actions to manipulate Java objects. Actions are processed at request processing time.

The specification also defines a set of implicit objects available for use within scriptlets and scriptlet expressions through scripting variables that are declared implicitly at the beginning of the page. More information: Implicit Objects.

The JSP technology also comes with the JSTL libraries, a collection of actions representing many common tasks, such as writing output, communicating with a database, an so on. To use the JSTL libraries, you only import them with the taglib directive in your JSP pages. More information: JSTL.

Java EE 5 also provides an integration of the former JSF Expression Language and JSP Expression Language into one Unified Expression Language (EL). The Unified EL supports scriptless JSP development, user-defined functions, and deferred evaluation of expressions.

More information about the EL: Unified Expression Language.

More information about JSP syntax:  JSP Syntax Elements Outline.

Procedure

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       1.      In the Developer Studio, use the JSP wizard to create the stubs of the JSP page.

More information: Creating JSP Files in the Developer Studio.

       2.      Using the JSP syntax elements, develop the embedded programming logic, mixed with static HTML and JavaScript content.