Taglib Descriptor Wizard

Library Details

This wizard scans your current project and extracts details about classes that implement the Tag or SimpleTag interfaces for custom JSP tag libraries. From these it generates a tag library descriptor file (TLD) with a default name of the current project and a .tld extension in the WEB-INF/tld directory (overwriting any existing file of the same name). This file provides the mapping from the tag names in the JSPs to the class names that implement them.

If no such classes are found, a message to this effect is displayed and no further action is taken. Note that this message may also appear if the supporting classes and interfaces (servlet.jar or jsp-api.jar) cannot be found.

If tags are found, a dialog appears to let you customise the details before generating the tag library descriptor itself.

You invoke the wizard from the Object Gallery (File | New... on the menu) on the Web tab. It is attached to the J2EE | Web personality in JBuilder 10 and up.

TLD Tags
  • Update the filename for the generated TLD if necessary.
  • Select the version of the JSP specification to conform to - 1.1, 1.2, or 2.0. This setting enables or disables the appropriate features below.
jspversion/
jsp-version
  • Enter a short name for the tag library (mandatory). This could be used as the suggested prefix when referring to the tags from this library within a JSP.
shortname/
short-name
  • Enter a longer name for the library as its display name (not available in JSP 1.1).
display-name
  • Enter a unique identifying URI for the tag library. This optional value serves as the version number for the library.
uri
  • Enter the relative path to a small icon (16x16 pixels) that can be used to represent this library (not available in JSP 1.1). The image must be in either GIF or JPEG format.
small-icon
  • Enter the relative path to a large icon (32x32 pixels) that can be used to represent this library (not available in JSP 1.1). The image must be in either GIF or JPEG format.
large-icon
  • Enter any further description about the library. This is purely for documentation purposes.
info/
description

Proceed to the second page, which shows details about a tag library validator (not available in JSP 1.1), with the Next button. If you selected JSP 1.1 as the version on this page, then Next takes you straight to the last page. Alternately, you can accept all the defaults and generate the final file with the Finish button.

A complementary wizard generates the individual classes that implement the Tag or SimpleTag interfaces for you, providing the framework for your JSP tags.


Version 3.0
Written by Keith Wood (kbwood@iprimus.com.au).