JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition

Using Only JSP

As you saw in Part II, there are all sorts of applications that can be developed using just JSP pages with JSTL, a few JavaBeans components and custom actions. If you’re primarily a page author working alone, with limited or no Java knowledge, you can still develop fairly sophisticated applications using JSTL and the custom actions in this book. And if that’s not enough, many generic tag libraries are available from both commercial companies and open source projects, making it possible to do even more with just the JSP part of the J2EE platform.

A pure JSP approach can be a good approach even for a team if most of the team members are skilled in page design and layout, and only a few are Java programmers. The programmers can then develop application-specific beans and custom actions to complement the generic components and minimize the amount of SQL and Java code in the JSP pages.

A pure JSP approach is also a suitable model for testing new ideas and prototyping. Using generic components and a few application-specific beans and actions is often the fastest way to reach a visible result. Once the ideas have been proven, and the team has a better understanding of the problems, a decision can be made about the ultimate application architecture for the real thing. The danger here is that the last step—evaluating the prototype and deciding how it should be redesigned—never happens; I have seen prototypes being relabeled as production systems overnight too many times and ...