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1creating Custom Tags

The document discusses creating custom tags in JSP. Custom tags allow encapsulation of complex code for reuse and segregation of business logic from presentation. A tag library consists of tag handlers that define tag functionality and a TLD file that describes tags. Tag handlers implement tag methods like doStartTag and doEndTag. The TLD file specifies tags and their attributes, and is referenced in JSP pages using taglib directives.

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92 views30 pages

1creating Custom Tags

The document discusses creating custom tags in JSP. Custom tags allow encapsulation of complex code for reuse and segregation of business logic from presentation. A tag library consists of tag handlers that define tag functionality and a TLD file that describes tags. Tag handlers implement tag methods like doStartTag and doEndTag. The TLD file specifies tags and their attributes, and is referenced in JSP pages using taglib directives.

Uploaded by

api-3775545
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Creating Custom Tags

Objectives
In this lesson, you will learn to:
 Use JSP custom tags

 Create a JSP page by using custom

tags
Need for Custom Tag Library
 To segregate presentation and

business logic and detaching


designers from the intricacies of
programming constructs
 Provide a mechanism to

encapsulate complex recurring


codes
 Reuse the codes or tasks in a
The Tag Library
☛ Consists of a collection of functionally related, user-
defined tags called custom tags
✓ Custom tags are user-defined and explicitly render
information about the type of data
✓ Are very similar to XML tags
✓ Allows interactions between the user and the browser
✓ Facilitates reuse of existing codes to improve work
productivity
Comparing the HTML and XML code outputs
☛ The HTML code:
<HTML>
<BODY>
<TABLE align=“center”>
<TR><TD>Ms Anne Brown</TD>
<TD>9,Sunley House,GunthorpeStreet
</TD>
<TD>London E1-7RW</TD>
</TR
</TABLE>
<BODY>
</HTML>
The HTML code (Contd.)
☛ The output:
✓ Is presentation-centric
✓ Contains no additional information about the type and
importance of each section of data input
✓ Use of predefined HTML tags results in loss of
information about the type of data
The XML code
☛ The XML code:
<CUSTOMERDETAILS>
<NAME>
<TITLE>Ms</TITLE>
<FIRSTNAME>Anne</FIRSTNAME>
<LASTNAME>Brown</LASTNAME>
</NAME>
<ADDRESS
The XML code (Contd.)
<APTNAME>9, Sunley House</APTNAME>
<STREETNAME>Gunthorpe Street</STREETNAME>
<COUNTRY>London</COUNTRY>
<ZIP>E1-7RW</ZIP>
</ADDRESS>
</CUSTOMERDETAILS>
The XML code (Contd.)
☛ The output:
The XML code (Contd.)
✓ Is more data- centric
✓ Data is presented in a format with emphasis on its type
✓ Specific custom tags such as firstname, lastname,
street, and zip are used to differentiate various
sections of the data
Advantages of XML
☛ Easy to code
☛ Use of explicit custom tags allows exchange of data at
different levels without having to decode or interpret its
structure
☛ Exchange of data between organizations without the need
to understand the intricacies of business
☛ The detailed rules and specifications followed in the XML
code are written in Document Type Definition (DTD)
Custom Tags
☛ Enable segregation of business complexities from the
content presentation
☛ Incorporate features such as:
✓ Communication
✓ Object accessibility
✓ Nesting
Structure of a Tag
☛ Contain the start/end tags and a body
☛ Can be categorized as body tags or empty tags
☛ Can also be nested to contain tags of various levels
☛ Can include attributes used as parameters to customize
the tag behavior
 The tag library consists of:
 Tag handler
 Contain definitions of the classes and
methods
 Define the functionality of the tag
 Tag Library Descriptor file (TLD)

Is an XML file
 Describes the tag library
 The tag handler:
 Is used to define the working of custom tags
 Derives its methods from the
javax.servlet.tagext package
 Implements the TagSupport interface for
tags with an empty body
 Implements the BodyTagSupport interface
for tags that use a body
 Also includes classes from other packages,
such as javax.servlet.jsp and java.io
 Can be structured for a basic tag, a
tag with attributes, and a tag with a
body

Based on its structure consists of the
following
Structure methods:
of the Tag Methods to be implemented
handler

Simple tag with no body and doStartTag, doEndtag, and release


no attributes
Tag with attributes doStartTag, doEndtag, and the
respective set() and get() methods for
each of the tags defined
 Can define its functionality using the
methods from the abstract class Tag
such as:

doStartTag()
 doEndTag()
 release()
 doAfterBody()
 doBeforeBody()
 The doStartTag() method returns the
following Tag objects :
 SKIP_BODY
 EVAL_BODY_INCLUDE
 EVAL_BODY_TAG
 The doEndTag()method returns the
following Tag objects :
 SKIP_PAGE
 EVAL_PAGE
 The tag handler also includes the
following classes and methods :
 The JspWriter() method to write the
output to a JSP page
 The getAttribute() and setAttribute()
methods retrieve variable values from
scriplets
 Methods of the TagExtraInfo class such
getVariableInfo(), TagExtraInfo(),
setTagInfo(),and getTagInfo()
 The diagrammatic representation
of the execution of a JSP file
containing custom tags:
 The sequence of the execution
cycle of a JSP file containing
custom tags:
✓ The JSP engine identifies the taglib
directive in the JSP page
✓ The specified tag handler is initialized
by using the uri and prefix as
reference
✓ The get() and the set() methods
for each tag is then executed
✓ The doStartTag() method is invoked
✓ The tag body is evaluated next, but is
skipped if the SKIP_BODY field constant is
specified
✓ The setBodyContent() method is invoked
to store the output of the tag into a special
PrintWriter called JspWriter
✓ Next, the doAfter() method is invoked to
process the content generated after the
evaluation of the tag body
✓ The doEndTag() method is invoked and all
connections created earlier are closed to
direct the output to the browser
 The TLD file:
 Is an XML file that contains the tag library
description
 Contains a list and description of all the
custom tags in the library
 Can be classified into two groups:
 The first group comprises the sub-elements of the
root tag of the TLD or the <taglib> tag
 The second group within the taglib tag comprises
of the element <tag> tag
 The sub-elements of the TLD file at
the taglib level are:

Component Specifies

<TLIBVERSION> The version of the tag library such as


<TLIBVERSION>1.0</TLIBVERSION>
<JSPVERSION> The version of JSP that the tag library
depends on such as
<JSPVERSION>1.2</JSPVERSION>

<SHORTNAME> The name for the tag library


Component Specifies

<URI> The universal resource identifier, an


optional component that is a unique id for
the tag library
<INFO> The detailed information about the tag
library
<NAME> Defines a name for the tag

<TAGCLASS> Specifies the tag handler class


 The elements of the TLD file at the
tag level are listed in the table
below:
Component Description

<INFO> Provides additional information about the


tag and its functionality
<ATTRIBUTE> Specifies the attribute name and
requirement specification for the tag
<BODYCONTENT> Contains the definition for the body of the
tag
 The steps to create the TLD file are:
✓ In the Notepad, include the definitions for
the document type and its definition (DTD)
as the header
✓ Add the tlibversion, jspversion, uri, and
info tags, along with their relevant
information within the <taglib> tag
✓ Add the tag definitions separating each
element within the <tag> and </tag> tags
✓ Add </taglib> to end the taglib tag.
 The errors in JSP can be categorized as:
 Translation time errors that are handled by
the JSP engine
 Request time errors that are runtime errors
and throw exceptions
 Errors are trapped and handled in the
calling JSP page .
 Errors not trapped are forwarded to the
error page
 The error page:
 Is a separate JSP file
 Uses the following attributes of the page
directive:
 errorPage: To specify the name of an error page
in the basic JSP page
<%@ page errorPage=”errorpage.jsp” %>
 isErrorPage: To specify a JSP page as an error
page
<%@ page isErrorPage=”true” %>
 A JSP page using custom tags specifies:
 The tag usage with the taglib directive
<% @taglib uri=”taglib-examples”
prefix=”example” %>

uri is used to specify a unique identifier for the
particular tag library

prefix is used to specify a reference name for
the particular tag library
 The inclusion of a new tag named first for
the tag library example, the tag is written
as:
<example:first>

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