JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition

Using the JSTL <c:set> Action

An alternative to the <jsp:setProperty> standard action is the JSTL <c:set> action:

    ...
    <c:set target="${msg}" property="category" value="thoughts" />
    ...
    <c:set target="${msg}" property="category" value="quotes" />
    ...

The target attribute contains an EL expression that evaluates to the bean, the property attribute specifies the property name (as a static string or as an EL expression), and the value attribute contains the value (as a static string or as an EL expression).

As with the choice between <jsp:getProperty> and an EL expression for reading a property value, using <jsp:setProperty> or <c:set> is largely a matter of preference. The <c:set> action is more flexible as you’ll see later, so as long as you don’t need to be JSP 1.1 compatible, it should be your first choice.