Table Of ContentPractical Guide to
JavaServer Pages
Robert J. Brunner
AMSTERDAM•BOSTON•HEIDELBERG•LONDON
NEWYORK•OXFORD•PARIS•SANDIEGO
SANFRANCISCO•SINGAPORE•SYDNEY•TOKYO
MorganKaufmannisanimprintofElsevier
SeniorEditor RickAdams
PublishingServicesManager SimonCrump
SeniorProductionEditor BrandyPalacios
DevelopmentEditor KarynJohnson
ProjectManagement GraphicWorldPublishingServices
TechnicalIllustration GraphicWorldIllustrationStudio
Composition CephaImagingPVTLTD.
Copyeditor GraphicWorldPublishingServices
Proofreader GraphicWorldPublishingServices
Indexer GraphicWorldPublishingServices
InteriorPrinter MaplePress
Designationsusedbycompaniestodistinguishtheirproductsareoftenclaimedastrademarksor
registeredtrademarks.InallinstancesinwhichMorganKaufmannPublishersisawareofaclaim,
theproductnamesappearininitialcapitalorallcapitalletters.Readers,however,shouldcontact
theappropriatecompaniesformorecompleteinformationregardingtrademarksandregistration.
MorganKaufmannPublishers
AnimprintofElsevierScience
340PineStreet,SixthFloor
SanFrancisco,CA94104-3205
www.mkp.com
©2003byElsevierScience(USA)
Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinany
formorbyanymeans—electronic,mechanical,photocopying,orotherwise—withouttheprior
writtenpermissionofthepublisher.
ISBN:1-55860-836-2
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper.
Contents
1 Introduction to JavaServer Pages 1
1.1 IntroductiontoWebApplications 1
1.1.1 TheHTTPModel 2
1.1.2 ABriefIntroductiontoServlets 4
1.1.3 Packaging 6
1.1.4 TheDeploymentDescriptor 6
1.2 GettingStartedwithJavaServerPages 7
1.2.1 BuildingaSimpleJSPPage 8
1.2.2 ThePJBankWebApplication 11
Exercises 12
2 The Fundamentals of JavaServer Pages 13
2.1 Directives 13
2.1.1 ThePageDirective 14
2.1.2 TheIncludeDirective 17
2.1.3 TheTaglibDirective 17
2.2 JSPDeclarations 18
2.3 Expressions 19
2.4 Scriptlets 20
2.5 Comments 22
2.6 Scope 24
2.7 ImplicitObjects 24
2.7.1 TheRequestObject 25
2.7.2 TheResponseObject 27
2.7.3 TheSessionObject 29
2.7.4 TheExceptionObject 31
2.7.5 TheOtherImplicitObjects 33
2.8 StandardActions 34
2.8.1 JavaBeanStandardActions 34
2.8.2 ResourceActions 37
2.8.3 AdvancedActions 39
Exercises 41
3 JavaBeans and Forms 43
3.1 HTMLForms 43
3.1.1 AnOverviewofHTMLForms 44
3.1.2 JSPFormProcessing 50
3.1.3 AnEmailForm 53
3.2 JavaBeans 55
3.2.1 BeanBasics 56
3.2.2 JavaBeansandForms 58
3.3 SimpleWebApplication 61
3.3.1 TheWelcomePage 61
3.3.2 TheLoginPage 67
Exercises 70
4 Expression Language 71
4.1 ELOverview 72
4.1.1 AccessingData 73
4.1.2 ImplicitObjects 74
4.1.3 LiteralValues 74
4.1.4 Operators 75
4.2 ELandJavaBeans 78
4.3 ELandCollections 81
4.4 Functions 87
Exercises 91
5 The Standard Tag Library 93
5.1 CoreTags 94
5.1.1 GeneralActions 94
5.1.2 ConditionalActions 97
5.1.3 IteratorActions 99
5.1.4 URLActions 101
5.2 FormattingTags 103
5.3 XMLTags 107
5.4 SQLTags 110
Exercises 116
6 Custom Actions 117
6.1 TagOverview 117
6.1.1 TagHandlers 118
6.1.2 TagLibraryDescriptors 120
6.2 TagFiles 121
6.2.1 ProcessingAttributesinaTagFile 123
6.2.2 ProcessingaTagBody 125
6.2.3 ProcessingVariablesinaTagFile 128
6.3 SimpleTagHandlers 131
6.3.1 SimpleTagInterface 132
6.3.2 ImplementingaSimpleTagHandler 132
6.4 ClassicTagHandlers 136
6.4.1 TagInterface 136
6.4.2 IterationTagInterface 137
6.4.3 BodyTagInterface 137
6.4.4 ImplementingaClassicTagHandler 137
Exercises 141
7 Building a Web Application 143
7.1 JavaServletTechnology 143
7.1.1 ServletOverview 144
7.1.2 TheServletController 145
7.1.3 TheServletFilter 149
7.2 AncillaryWeb-ApplicationTechnologies 152
7.2.1 CascadingStyleSheets 152
7.2.2 JavaScriptandFormValidation 155
7.2.3 Web-ApplicationFrameworks 157
7.3 Security 158
7.3.1 ProgrammaticSecurity 159
7.3.2 DeclarativeSecurity 159
7.3.3 SecureSocketsLayer 161
Exercises 163
A Tool Installation 165
A.1 InstallingTomcat 165
A.2 InstallingtheExampleCode 166
A.3 InstallingtheJSPStandardTagLibrary 166
A.4 InstallingMySQL 167
A.4.1 Installation 167
A.4.2 CreatingtheDatabase 167
B Further Resources 171
B.1 TheWorldWideWeb 171
B.2 Java 171
B.3 JavaServlets 172
B.4 JavaServerPages 172
B.5 TheJSPStandardTagLibrary 173
B.6 DatabasesandJDBC 173
B.7 InternationalizationandLocalization 174
B.8 Security 174
B.9 WebApplications 174
Index 175
1
c h a p t e r
Introduction to JavaServer Pages
J
avaServerPages(JSP)isaJavatechnologythatallowsadevelopertorapidlycreate
dynamic Web applications. While other technologies exist, only JSP provides a powerful,
portable,andeasilyextensibleframeworkthatsupportsthedevelopmentofdynamicWeb
applications. The JSP specification, or standard, continues to evolve. The latest version,
coveredinthisbook,istheJSP2.0specification,whichintroducesnewfunctionalitythat
simplifies the task of JSP page authors—making JSP technology an even better choice for
buildingyournextWebapplication.
Thischapterlaysthefoundationfortherestofthebook,byintroducingWebappli-
cationsandtherelatedconceptsofHypertextTransportProtocol(HTTP)andJavaServlets.
ThischapterendswithabriefdiscussionoftheWebapplicationusedtodemonstrateJSP
developmentthroughoutthisbook.
1.1 Introduction to Web Applications
WhileJSPtechnologycanbeusedtobuildsimpleWebsites,itsrealpowerliesinitsability
toprovidethefoundationforbuildingWebapplications.JavaServerPagescanbeusedto
buildonlinebankingWebsites,e-commercesites,publicforums,orjustaboutanyother
typeofinteractiveWebsiteinwhichyoumightbeinterested.
While other technologies can also play a role in building these types of Web sites
andwillbediscussedinmoredetailinChapter7,JSPhasquicklyevolvedintoapowerful
technology that can support the construction of dynamic Web applications, even when
usershavelittlepreviousexperience. RecentadvancesliketheExpressionLanguage(EL),
whichisdiscussedinChapter4,andtheJSPStandardTagLibrary,introducedinChapter5,
1
2 Chapter1:IntroductiontoJavaServerPages ■
allowsmallJSPdocumentsthatprovidepowerfulcapabilitiestobecreated.TheJSPspec-
ificationalsoallowsadevelopertoconstructcustomactions, whichallowasinglelinein
a JSP page to provide considerable behind-the-scenes functionality. Custom actions are
detailedinChapter6,whereJSPtagfilesareextensivelycovered.
At the heart of a JSP Web application, however, are several simple concepts that
mustbeaddressedbeforeplungingdirectlyintoJavaServerPages.First,JSPWebapplica-
tionsrelyonHTTPtoprovideclient-servercommunicationovertheInternet.Second,the
JavaServerPagespecificationisdependentontheJavaServletspecification.Asaresult,a
basic understanding of Java Servlets, including the Servlet lifecycle, is necessary before
jumping into building JSP pages. Third, JSP applications follow a simple directory lay-
out that groups both configuration information and resources for easier identification
and processing. Finally, a Web application requires a deployment descriptor that pro-
videsconfigurationinformationtotheWebapplicationserverregardingaparticularWeb
application.
1.1.1 The HTTP Model
AJSP-basedWebapplicationusesaclient-servermodel, asdemonstratedinFigure1.1. A
clientmakesarequesttotheserver,whichrespondsaccordingly.ThelanguagethatWeb
servers and Web browsers use to communicate is called HTTP. Currently, HTTP version
1.1 is the standard in use, which defines the commands HEAD, GET, PUT, POST, DELETE,
TRACE, OPTIONS, and CONNECT.1 For a Web-application developer, only GET and POST
aregenerallyofinterest,astheyarethecommandsusedbyaclienttomakearequestof
aserver.
A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) identifies a resource and is the target of a client
request. An HTTP message consists of a header that contains information that describes
the client to the server, including browser type, possible authentication credentials, the
actualHTTPcommand, andabodythatcontainstheentirecontentofthemessagebeing
transmitted.
Request
Client Server
Response
Figure1.1: TheHTTPmodel.
1TheHTTP/1.1specificationisavailableathttp://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616.html.
■ 1.1 IntroductiontoWebApplications 3
HTTP is a stateless protocol in which a client makes a request for a resource, and a
serverrespondsbyprovidingtheresourceoranerrorcondition.Theservertreatssubse-
quentclientrequestsascompletelyindependentrequests.Thus,noinformation,orstate,
is carried over between subsequent requests from the same client. To support stateful
communication, which is mandatory for e-commerce to work, extra information must be
transmitted between the client and server to coordinate different HTTP requests into a
coherentclientrequestandtoallowtheservertokeeptrackofaclient’sactions(suchas
fillingashoppingcartortransferringfunds).Theprocessofassociatingmultiplerequests
togetherresultsinaclientsession.
The server generally manages sessions either by returning data to the client, which
will be attached to future requests, or else by adding an additional attribute to an HTTP
header.Theextradatacommunicatedviathefirsttechniqueiscommonlycalledacookie.
The client can use the cookie as a session identification, or ID, in subsequent requests
to identify itself to the server, as shown in Figure 1.2. The second technique is more
commonly known as URL rewriting, as the session identification is actually appended to
the resource URL. This approach proves useful when a cookie cannot be used, which can
happeniftheclient’sbrowserhasdisabledcookies.
Request
Client Server
ID
Response
Request
ID
ID
Response
Request
ID
ID
Response
Figure1.2: UsingacookienamedIDtoimplementasession.
4 Chapter1:IntroductiontoJavaServerPages ■
1.1.2 A Brief Introduction to Servlets
The original method for building Web applications using Java was provided by Java
Servlets. A Servlet is a Java class that extended the functionality of a server, such as
the Apache Web server, to dynamically process incoming requests and generate appro-
priateresponses.Servletsprovidedagreatdealoffunctionality,allowingearlyWebsites
toleveragethefullpoweroftheJavaprogramminglanguage.
Thispower,however,requiredanyonewhowantedtouseServletstohaveadetailed
understandingoftheJavaprogramminglanguage—somethingmanyearlyWebdevelopers
lacked.Inresponsetothisdifficulty,JSPtechnologywasdeveloped.JSPstillprovidesthe
fullpoweroftheJavaprogramminglanguage,butinamucheasierpackage.JSPtechnology
islayeredovertheServlettechnologybecauseaJSPpagemustbetranslatedintoaServlet
beforetheWebservercanprocessit.Thus,aprimeronServletsisusefulinunderstanding
howtodevelopJSPWebapplications.
The component of a Web-application server that provides access to JSP resources
is called a container. This container first translates the JSP page into a Java source code
file that by default implements the javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet class (experts can
changetheimplementationclass,butforthemajorityofcases,thedefaultworksjustfine).
Next,thisServletclassiscompiledintoaJavaclassfile,whichcanbeusedtoprocessthe
originalclientrequest. BecauseJSPpagesarehandledasServlets, theyfollowtheServlet
lifecycle. Inaddition, theycanusefunctionalityprovidedbythecontainerinaccordance
withtheServletspecification,suchasFiltersandServletListeners.TheServletapplication
programminginterface(API)alsoincludesclassesthatencapsulateHTTPconcepts,suchas
arequestandaresponse,aswellassessioninformation,cookies,andHTTPheadersand
attributes. Objects that implement these classes are made available to the JSP developer,
whichsimplifiestheprocessofwritingWebapplicationsconsiderably.
TheServletlifecycleisstraightforward(seeFigure1.3)andismanagedbytheServlet
container. When a request for a Servlet-backed resource is made, the Servlet container
locates the implementation class and loads it into a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). For a
JSP, the extra steps of translating and compiling the JSP implementation page occur at
this stage. After the Servlet class is loaded into the JVM, an object of the Servlet class is
instantiated.
ThenewlyinstantiatedobjectisreadyforthefirststageofaServlet’slifecycle,which
iscalledinitialization.Anyprocessingthatshouldoccurduringthisstageisplacedinside
theServlet’sinitmethod.Thisstageisoftenusedtoobtaincurrentruntimeparameters,
read ancillary files, or establish a database connection. Once the initialization stage is
complete, the Servlet enters the second stage, called the service stage. Processing that
occurs during this stage is placed in the service method for a GenericServlet or in the
appropriate HTTP service method, such as doGet or doPost, for an HttpServlet. Once
the Servlet is no longer needed, which can occur when the server is being shutdown or
resourcesarebeingreclaimed, thedestructionphaseisentered. Allprocessingthatmust
occurtocleanupaServletatthisstageisplacedinthedestroymethod.Thismethodcan
beusedtocloseexternalresourcessuchasdatabaseconnectionsorfiles.
