The Example JSP Pages

This chapter illustrates JSTL using excerpts from the JSP version of the Duke’s Bookstore application discussed in Chapter 5, JavaServer Pages Technology. Here, they are rewritten to replace the JavaBeans component database access object with direct calls to the database using the JSTL SQL tags. For most applications, it is better to encapsulate calls to a database in a bean. JSTL includes SQL tags for situations where a new application is being prototyped and the overhead of creating a bean may not be warranted.

The source for the Duke’s Bookstore application is located in the tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/bookstore4/ directory created when you unzip the tutorial bundle (see Chapter 2, Using the Tutorial Examples).

To deploy and run the application using NetBeans IDE, follow these steps:

1. Perform all the operations described in Accessing Databases from Web Applications.

2. In NetBeans IDE, select File->Open Project.

3. In the Open Project dialog, navigate to:

   tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/

4. Select the bookstore4 folder.

5. Select the Open as Main Project check box and the Open Required Projects check box.

6. Click Open Project.

7. In the Projects tab, right-click the bookstore4 project, and select Undeploy and Deploy.

8. To run the application, open the bookstore URL http://localhost:8080/bookstore4/books/bookstore.

To deploy and run the application using Ant, follow these steps:

1. In a terminal window, go to tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/bookstore4/.

2. Type ant. This command will spawn any necessary compilations, copy files to the tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/bookstore4/build/ directory, and create a WAR file and copy it to the tut-install/javaeetutorial5/examples/web/bookstore4/dist/ directory.

3. Start the Application Server.

4. Perform all the operations described in Creating a Data Source in the Application Server.

5. To deploy the example, type ant deploy. The deploy target outputs a URL for running the application. Ignore this URL, and instead use the one shown in the next step.

6. To run the application, open the bookstore URL http://localhost:8080/bookstore4/books/bookstore.

To learn how to configure the example, refer to the web.xml file, which includes the following configurations:

• A display-name element that specifies the name that tools use to identify the application.

• A context-param element that specifies the JSTL resource bundle base name.

• A set of servlet elements that identify the application’s JSP files.

• A set of servlet-mapping elements that define the aliases to the JSP files.

• Nested inside a jsp-config element are two jsp-property-group elements, which define the preludes and coda to be included in each page. See Setting JavaBeans Component Properties for more information.

See Troubleshooting Duke's Bookstore Database Problems for help with diagnosing common problems.