JSP Tutorial
Java Server Pages (JSP) is a server-side programming technology that enables the creation of dynamic, platform-independent method for building Web-based applications. JSP have access to the entire family of Java APIs, including the JDBC API to access enterprise databases. This tutorial will teach you how to use Java Server Pages to develop your web applications in simple and easy steps.Audience
This tutorial has been prepared for the beginners to help them understand the basic functionality of Java Server Pages (JSP) to develop your web applications. After completing this tutorial you will find yourself at a moderate level of expertise in using JSP from where you can take yourself to next levels.
Prerequisites
We assume you have little knowledge of how web applications work over HTTP, what is a web server and what is web browsers. It will be great if you have some knowledge of web application development using any programming language.JSP - Overview
What is JavaServer Pages?
JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a technology for developing Web pages that support dynamic content. This helps developers insert Java code into HTML pages by making use of special JSP tags, most of which start with <% and end with %>.
A JavaServer Pages component is a type of Java servlet that is designed to fulfill the role of a user interface for a Java web application. Web developers write JSPs as text files that combine HTML or XHTML code, XML elements, and embedded JSP actions and commands.
Using JSP, you can collect input from users through Web page forms, present records from a database or another source, and create Web pages dynamically.
JSP tags can be used for a variety of purposes, such as retrieving information from a database or registering user preferences, accessing JavaBeans components, passing control between pages, and sharing information between requests, pages etc.
Why Use JSP?
JavaServer Pages often serve the same purpose as programs implemented using the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). But JSP offers several advantages in comparison with the CGI.
- Performance is significantly better because JSP allows embedding Dynamic Elements in HTML Pages itself instead of having separate CGI files.
- JSP are always compiled before they are processed by the server, unlike CGI/Perl which requires the server to load an interpreter and the target script each time the page is requested.
- JavaServer Pages are built on top of the Java Servlets API, so like Servlets, JSP also has access to all the powerful Enterprise Java APIs, including JDBC, JNDI, EJB, JAXP, etc.
- JSP pages can be used in combination with servlets that handle the business logic, the model supported by Java servlet template engines.
Finally, JSP is an integral part of Java EE, a complete platform for enterprise class applications. This means that JSP can play a part in the simplest applications to the most complex and demanding.
Advantages of JSP
Following table lists out the other advantages of using JSP over other technologies −
vs. Active Server Pages (ASP)
The advantages of JSP are twofold. First, the dynamic part is written in Java, not Visual Basic or other MS specific language, so it is more powerful and easier to use. Second, it is portable to other operating systems and non-Microsoft Web servers.
vs. Pure Servlets
It is more convenient to write (and to modify!) regular HTML than to have plenty of printing statements that generate the HTML.
vs. Server-Side Includes (SSI)
SSI is really only intended for simple inclusions, not for "real" programs that use form data, make database connections, and the like.
vs. JavaScript
JavaScript can generate HTML dynamically on the client but can hardly interact with the web server to perform complex tasks like database access and image processing etc.
vs. Static HTML
Regular HTML, of course, cannot contain dynamic information.
What is Next?
I would take you step by step to set up your environment to start with JSP. I'm assuming you have good hands-on with Java Programming to proceed with learning JSP.
If you are not aware of Java Programming Language, then we would recommend you go through our Java Tutorial to understand Java Programming.
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