JavaServer Pages, 3rd Edition

Readers of the Second Edition

If you’ve read the second edition of JavaServer Pages, you’ll notice that, in this edition, even more of the custom components used in the previous edition have been replaced in favor of the equivalent standard components from JSTL—a specification I’ve been lucky enough to contribute to and help shape the standard based on many of the ideas explored in the first and second editions. You’ll also notice that all the chapters have been modified (some more than others) to cover the new features in the latest versions of the JSP and JSTL specifications. A brand new chapter has been added to describe how to develop custom tag libraries using the new tag file format, and the chapter about custom library development using Java has been substantially expanded to cover the new, simplified tag handler API as well as the new mechanism for including Expression Language functions in a tag library.

All chapters have also been updated to cover the features and clarifications added in the Servlet 2.4 specification on which JSP 2.0 is based. Here’s a brief summary of the primary changes in all the specifications covered in this book:

• Incorporation of the Expression Language (EL), first introduced by the JSTL specification in the JSP specification (making it available to all standard and custom components as well as in template text)

• The EL extended with a function call mechanism and a set of common functions added to JST

• Addition of the ability to develop custom tag libraries ...