The JSP Standard Tag Library is a collection of commonly used functions and tools invaluable to JSP developers to avoid re-creating the same functions on site after site. Sun has indicated that JSP development should be based around using tag libraries going forward, and will relase JSP STL, as their official library. This book starts with an in-depth deiscussion of the JSP STL, then goes beyond the standard library to teach developers to create their own tags to further encapsulate the most common features of their specific applications. Along the way, readers will also learn to use tags to access data, process XML, handle expressions, and further customize pages for international visitors. Later chapters explain how readers can expand the Standard Tab Library by creating their own tags.

Contents

• 1. Understanding JSP Custom Tags
• 2. Programming the JSP Standard Tag Library
• 3. Understanding Basic Tag Logic
• 4. Using the Expression Language
• 5. Collections, Loops, and Iterators
• 6. Formatting Data with Tags
• 7. Accessing Data with SQL Tags
• 8. Accessing Data with XML Tags
• 9. Accessing Internet Resources with JSTL
• 10. Understanding JSTL Internationalization
• 11. Creating Your Own Tag Libraries
• 12. Debugging and Deploying Tag Libraries
• Appendix A. JSTL Reference
• Appendix B. Installing JSTL and Tomcat
• Appendix C. Installing MySQL
• Appendix D. Unix Installation Notes