This chapter has covered a lot of ground. After reading it, you should have a thorough understanding of the new features available in the JSP 2.0 specification. We covered what you need to know to write your own custom actions, regardless of which imple mentation you choose. Custom actions are useful for creating reusable JSP compo nents. New in the JSP 2.0 specification are the notions of tag files and JSP fragments. These are simple ways to create custom actions without having to know how to write Java. They provide a mechanism for page authors to create their own custom tag libraries without the worry of having to write complicated Java code. Using tag files provides a mechanism for eliminating writing TLD files since the JSP container gener ates implicit TLD files for them. There's also a flexible mechanism in place for packag ing and deploying tag libraries in JSP 2.0. It's also possible to write classic actions using the various interfaces available. These include the following: • Tag • BodyTag • IterationTag Another feature introduced in this chapter was the new JSP 2.0 Simple Tag interface, which has a much simpler life cycle defined than the classic tag interfaces. Simple Tag allows for all of the power of cooperating and iteration tags with less hassle in the coding. Other new features include using dynamic attributes in actions that allow tag handlers to accept attributes that haven't been declared in a TLD.
About the authors
Sue Spielman--Sue Spielman is President and Senior Consulting Engineer for Switchback Software LLC (www.switchbacksoftware.com). Switchback Software provides a full range of software development and consulting services for enterprise business, web, and wireless applications. Sue frequently speaks at industry conferences around the US and is the author of 'The Struts Framework: Practical Guide for Java Programmers', 'JSTL: Practical Guide for JSP Programmers', and 'The Web Conferencing Book'.
Meeraj Kunnumpurath--Meeraj works as a Senior Information Specialist with Electronic Data Systems. He has been using enterprise Java for more than four years. He is the author/co-author of 8 previous books including Professional JMS, Professional JSP Site Design, J2EE Design Patterns Applied, and JBoss Deployment and Administration Handbook. He is a Sun Certified Java Programmer and Web Component Developer. He also writes for popular web sites and journals
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Pro J2EE 1.4: From Professional to Expert
Authors: Sue Spielman, Meeraj Kunnumpurath, Neil Ellis, James L. Weaver
