RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
-Original Message- From: Niall Pemberton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 6:19 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used I dont really get what your saying. In your template (i.e. t.jsp) you define the formatting for the common look and feel of all your pages, for example page titles, a side bar and footers. If on some pages you don't need all of them you just leave them out - for example if you didn't need a footer then don't do a template:get for it on your jsp page - it still works fine. Let me clarify a bit. I expect to have two, maybe three, templates, for two or three different types of pages. For example, help pages will look different than regular pages, administrator pages will look different than regular-user pages, etc. Within these page groups, I expect to have maybe 5-10 pages. I wanted to avoid writing stuff like template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageTitle direct=true bean:message key=login.title/ /template:put template:put name=pageThis direct=true bean:message key=login.this/ /template:put template:put name=pageThat direct=true bean:message key=login.that/ /template:put template:put name=pageTheOther direct=true bean:message key=login.theOther/ /template:put ... /template:insert for every single page when I could just define one thing for each page: template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=page content=login direct=true/ /template:insert and have the template page t.jsp construct all the other items dynamically. HOWEVER, after thinking about it a bit, I've decided that maybe this approach is too clever, because the stuff you end up doing, like h1Title is bean:message bean:key template:get name=page/.title /bean:key /bean:message /h1 isn't so easy to read, is it? Perhaps the wasted effort of all those template:put's isn't so bad if you get a cleaner t.jsp file with statements like h1title is bean:message key=pageTitle//h1 instead. So, you're original suggestion of using template:put name=pageTitle direct=true bean:message key=login.title/ /template:put actually solved the insurmountable problems I had, for which I thank you. I think I'll shelve my proposed enhancement for now, unless others are really interested in it. dean (deleted) ...
RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
On Fri, 15 Jun 2001, Dean Wampler wrote: From: Craig R. McClanahan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] You might want to have a look at the JSP Specification as well. Some of the things you discuss are just plain not legal in JSP. I'll review the JSP spec. I admit that I'm approaching this with a more XML frame of reference. Thanks, dean Dean, I also want to apologize to you (and the list) for the tone of this message. It came across *much* harsher than I really intended, and can only claim still-catching-up-on-sleep-after-JavaOne as an excuse :-(. Thanks, dean Craig
RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
How about a custom tag, which combines bean:message and template:get functionality? For example h1Title is myTaglib:message template=page suffix=.title//h1 I've attached a tag like this. Niall -Original Message- From: Dean Wampler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 June 2001 17:28 To: 'Niall Pemberton'; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Dean Wampler (E-mail) Subject: RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used I wanted to avoid writing stuff like template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageTitle direct=true bean:message key=login.title/ /template:put template:put name=pageThis direct=true bean:message key=login.this/ /template:put template:put name=pageThat direct=true bean:message key=login.that/ /template:put template:put name=pageTheOther direct=true bean:message key=login.theOther/ /template:put ... /template:insert for every single page when I could just define one thing for each page: template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=page content=login direct=true/ /template:insert and have the template page t.jsp construct all the other items dynamically. amarda.tld MessageTag.java
RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
For the example you give, the following works just as well in existing Struts: In your JSP page: template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageTitle direct=true bean:message key=login.title/ /template:put /template:insert Now, in t.jsp %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld prefix=bean % ... h1Title is template:get name=pageTitle//h1 Niall -Original Message- From: Dean Wampler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 June 2001 01:28 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Dean Wampler (E-mail) Subject: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used I'm new to struts, so bear with me. I have been working with the bean and template tags. I have found that a straightforward (if a bit tedious to do...) enhancement would make it much easier to construct JSP pages in ways useful for me. Basically, I would like to use nested tags to specify some information to outer tag, information that currently is specified only through attributes. Here's an example. Suppose I have a JSP page that uses the template:insert construct: ... %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-template.tld prefix=template % ... template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageName content=login direct=true/ /template:insert Now, in t.jsp, I would like to use the message tag with the parameter pageName as a prefix. Something that might look like: %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld prefix=bean % ... h1Title is bean:message key='template:get name=pageName/%=.title%'//h1 or perhaps h1Title is bean:message key='%=template:get name=pageName/+.title%'//h1 There are two problems: (i) this is ugly and not easy to use by most HTML designers, (ii) it doesn't work anyway. By the time the code gets compiled to a servlet, it appears that the key='...' expression ends up key=''. That is, 'template:get name=pageName/' is effectively empty. However, the following message tag structure would solve both problems and support the capability I'm after (indentation is for clarity...): h1Title is bean:message bean:key template:get name=pageName/.title /bean:key /bean:message /h1 In other words, support nested tags to specify the key and perhaps other attributes, so that specifying the values of the attributes is more flexible. Many of the ant tasks support capabilities like this and it greatly enhances the power and flexibility of build files. I have looked at the code for MessageTag (and others). This extension is straightforward to implement and it can be done in a backwards compatible way (that is, the old attribute syntax will still work fine). I'm willing to implement the changes, but before I do so, I wanted to check with the rest of you to see if there are any good reasons not to proceed. Thanks, dean Dean Wampler, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.powerhousetechnology.com/ I want my tombstone to say: Unknown Application Error in Dean Wampler.exe. Application Terminated. [OK] [Cancel]
RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
I dont really get what your saying. In your template (i.e. t.jsp) you define the formatting for the common look and feel of all your pages, for example page titles, a side bar and footers. If on some pages you don't need all of them you just leave them out - for example if you didn't need a footer then don't do a template:get for it on your jsp page - it still works fine. If you have specific messages unique to a page them just put them straight on the page - if you want to prefix them with the page name then it seems easier to me to just specify it straight in bean:message key=pagename.something format. Personally we don't tie our messages to pages, more to the business area, that way they're often re-used among pages. I don't know if this is useful to you because I didn't really get what your trying to resolve. Niall -Original Message- From: Dean Wampler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 June 2001 01:57 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used Interesting! I didn't know that. Certainly that would help. It's actually another example of the kind of flexibility I'm thinking about. One disadvantage, though. It requires that the outer page know all the messages the inner page wants to use. I would rather keep this coupling to a minimum (e.g., just pass the prefix, like I've shown), especially if I have lots of similar outer pages (and I will...). This way, if I add and use a new message or resource in the inner page I don't have to add corresponding tags to the outer pages, too. Thanks, dean -Original Message- From: Niall Pemberton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 5:43 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used For the example you give, the following works just as well in existing Struts: In your JSP page: template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageTitle direct=true bean:message key=login.title/ /template:put /template:insert Now, in t.jsp %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld prefix=bean % ... h1Title is template:get name=pageTitle//h1 Niall -Original Message- From: Dean Wampler [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 June 2001 01:28 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Dean Wampler (E-mail) Subject: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used I'm new to struts, so bear with me. I have been working with the bean and template tags. I have found that a straightforward (if a bit tedious to do...) enhancement would make it much easier to construct JSP pages in ways useful for me. Basically, I would like to use nested tags to specify some information to outer tag, information that currently is specified only through attributes. Here's an example. Suppose I have a JSP page that uses the template:insert construct: ... %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-template.tld prefix=template % ... template:insert template=t.jsp template:put name=pageName content=login direct=true/ /template:insert Now, in t.jsp, I would like to use the message tag with the parameter pageName as a prefix. Something that might look like: %@ taglib uri=/WEB-INF/struts-bean.tld prefix=bean % ... h1Title is bean:message key='template:get name=pageName/%=.title%'//h1 or perhaps h1Title is bean:message key='%=template:get name=pageName/+.title%'//h1 There are two problems: (i) this is ugly and not easy to use by most HTML designers, (ii) it doesn't work anyway. By the time the code gets compiled to a servlet, it appears that the key='...' expression ends up key=''. That is, 'template:get name=pageName/' is effectively empty. However, the following message tag structure would solve both problems and support the capability I'm after (indentation is for clarity...): h1Title is bean:message bean:key template:get name=pageName/.title /bean:key /bean:message /h1 In other words, support nested tags to specify the key and perhaps other attributes, so that specifying the values of the attributes is more flexible. Many of the ant tasks support capabilities like this and it greatly enhances the power and flexibility of build files. I have looked at the code for MessageTag (and others). This extension is straightforward to implement and it can be done in a backwards compatible way (that is, the old attribute syntax will still work fine). I'm willing to implement the changes, but before I do so, I wanted to check with the rest of you to see if there are any good reasons not to proceed. Thanks, dean Dean Wampler, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http
Re: Proposal: Support nested tags where only attributes can be used
On Thu, 14 Jun 2001, Dean Wampler wrote: h1Title is bean:message bean:key template:get name=pageName/.title /bean:key /bean:message /h1 There's a pretty significant problem with this -- the JSP page compiler will consider .title to be template text, and will just copy it to the output page. That's not to say we couldn't make the bean:message tag smarter about where it gets its key from, but we have to obey the rules of the language we're writing for. The typical way to deal with dynamic stuff at runtime is to use a runtime expression. In other words, support nested tags to specify the key and perhaps other attributes, so that specifying the values of the attributes is more flexible. Many of the ant tasks support capabilities like this and it greatly enhances the power and flexibility of build files. I have looked at the code for MessageTag (and others). This extension is straightforward to implement and it can be done in a backwards compatible way (that is, the old attribute syntax will still work fine). I'm willing to implement the changes, but before I do so, I wanted to check with the rest of you to see if there are any good reasons not to proceed. You might want to have a look at the JSP Specification as well. Some of the things you discuss are just plain not legal in JSP. Thanks, dean Dean Wampler, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.powerhousetechnology.com/ I want my tombstone to say: Unknown Application Error in Dean Wampler.exe. Application Terminated. [OK] [Cancel] Craig
