Robert S. Sfeir wrote:
>
> I'm trying to use proper XML syntax to build my JSP pages and am
> following the specs form the Sun site. I keep getting an error and am
> not sure if it's due to the JBoss/Jetty implementation I'm using (JBoss
> 3.0.1 / Jetty 4.01) or if I'm doing something wrong which I can't figure
> out.
>
> The error I get is pretty lame and doesn't say much:
>
> HTTP ERROR: 500 /index.jsp(42,-1) Use "<" for "<" in attribute values.
>
> and the line it's croking on is: <a
> href="<jsp:expression>response.encodeURL("logout-
> action.do")</jsp:expression>">Logout</a>
>
> The full scriptlet block looks like this:
>
> <jsp:scriptlet>
> if(session.getAttribute("person") == null)
> {
> </jsp:scriptlet>
> <a HREF="login.jsp">Login</a>
> <jsp:scriptlet>
> }
> else
> {
> </jsp:scriptlet>
> <a href="<jsp:expression>response.encodeURL("logout-
> action.do")</jsp:expression>">Logout</a>
> <jsp:scriptlet>
> }
> </jsp:scriptlet>
>
>
> what gives?
The XML syntax is primarily intended for tools that generate or parse
JSP documents, because writing it by hand is messy. The reason is that
an XML document must be well-formed; no elements in attributes, all
start tags followed by end tags, nested correctly, etc. When you mix
HTML template data and XML JSP elements, it's not always obvious how
to apply the well-formedness rules. In your example, the main problem
is that you try to use an element (<jsp:expression>) as the attribute
value of another (<a>); it doesn't matter that one is HTML and one is
JSP. An additional complication is that you want to insert a dynamic
value between quotes, ending up with the start quote in one place and
the end quote in another. This also confuses the XML parser unless you
tell it explicitly that you know what you're doing.
To fix both these problems, you need to write the snippet like this:
<jsp:text><![CDATA[<a href="]]></jsp:text>
<jsp:expression>response.encodeURL("logout-action.do")</jsp:expression>
<jsp:text><![CDATA[">Logout</a>]]></jsp:text>
The <jsp:text> element separates the HTML template text from the JSP
element, the CDATA sections takes care of the quote problem.
I strongly recommend that you stick to the classic syntax since the
XML syntax really just complicates life when you write the pages
manually.
Hans
--
Hans Bergsten [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Gefion Software http://www.gefionsoftware.com
JavaServer Pages http://TheJSPBook.com
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