Taglib Descriptor Wizard

Custom Tag Details

Having entered details about the tag library as a whole on the first page of the wizard, and possibly updated information about JSP 1.2 and JSP 2.0 extensions on subsequent pages, this one shows details about each tag discovered in the project.

TLD Tags
  • Select the tag class to review via the combobox at the top of the dialog. Its details populate the remainder of the page.
tagclass/
tag-class
  • Alter the name of the tag as it appears in the JSPs. The default is the name of the implementing class. The remainder of the page contains several tabs that let you review and update further details about each tag.
name

Standard Tab

These are details about a tag that are standard across all JSP versions.

  • Update the type of content that this tag deals with:
      Empty - the tag cannot contain anything; the default for a tag that only implements the Tag interface
      JSP - the tag can contain further JSP markup or text which should be processed normally; the default for a tag that implements the BodyTag interface or that returns EVAL_BODY_INCLUDE, EVAL_BODY_AGAIN, or EVAL_BODY_BUFFERED from its doStart method
      Tag dependent - the tag can contain text that is not to be processed as JSP markup
      Scriptless - the tag can only contain template text, EL expressions, and JSP action elements (available in JSP 2.0 only)
bodycontent/
body-content
  • Enter any additional description for the tag as a whole. This defaults to any Javadoc comment for the class itself.
info/
description
  • Pick or Browse for the class that provides extra information about this tag, including any variables that it declares, and any translation-time validation. These are classes that extend the TagExtraInfo class. Leave this field blank if there is no extra information.
teiclass/
tei-class

Attributes Tab

Listed here are the attributes found for the current tag. These are extracted from the class through their setter methods, i.e. any method that starts with 'set' that is not one of the standard ones used by the underlying tag mechanisms. Note that this tab is disabled if the tag has no attributes defined within its class.

  • Select an attribute to review via the combobox. Its details are show below.
attribute
name
  • Enter or Browse for the type of the attribute (not available in JSP 1.1).
type
  • An attribute is only included in the resulting descriptor file when this checkbox is checked. Perhaps this attribute is only used internally and should not be available to the JSP. All attributes default to being included.
  • If an attribute is mandatory mark it as required. The default is an optional attribute.
required
  • Let the attribute value contain a JSP expression that is evaluated at runtime by checking the Allow expression box. The default is to allow such expressions.
rtexprvalue
  • If the attribute contains dynamic content that can be re-evaluated many times, mark it as a JSP fragment. Doing so disables the type and allow expression fields, as this setting overrides them. The default is for the attribute not to be a fragment. This option is only available in JSP 2.0.
fragment
  • Enter any further description of the attribute for documentation purposes (not available in JSP 1.1). The default values are taken from the corresponding method comments in the class.
info/
description

Tools Tab

These properties only apply to JSP 1.2 and JSP 2.0. The tab is disabled if you selected JSP 1.1 on the first page.

  • Enter the display name for this tag.
display-name
  • Enter the relative path to a small icon (16x16 pixels) that can be used to represent this tag. The file 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 tag. The file must be in either GIF or JPEG format.
large-icon
  • Enter text to give an example of how this tag would be used.
example

Variables Tab

Define variables associated with this tag on this tab. The tab is disabled if you selected JSP 1.1 on the first page.

  • Select a variable from the drop-down list to work with. Its values populate the field below so that you can update them.
variable
  • Create a new variable by clicking the Add button and entering its name. Select a variable and press Delete to remove it.
  • Check the Name is attribute checkbox if the variable name actually refers to another attribute of the tag whose value is to be used as the name. Clear this checkbox to have the name above be the variable name
name-given/
name-from-attribute
  • Check the Declared checkbox if this variable is to be declared by this tag. Clear it to indicate that the variable is already declared within the page.
declare
  • Enter the name of the class that is the type of this variable. Use the Browse button to select from the available classes.
variable-class
  • Choose the scope of the variable from the provided drop-down list. NESTED makes the variable only available to this tag and its contents, AT_BEGIN make the variable available within this tag and to following tags on the JSP, while AT_END makes the variable available to only the remainder of the JSP.
scope
  • Enter a more detailed description of the variable for documentation purposes.
description

When you have made all the changes you want, press the Finish button to generate the completed tag library descriptor file.


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