JSP Directives

What are JSP Directives?

JSP directives provide global information about an entire JSP page to the JSP container. They affect the overall structure of the generated Servlet. Directives use the syntax: <%@ directive attribute="value" %>

There are three types of JSP directives:

page — Defines page-level attributes
include — Includes another file at translation time
taglib — Declares a tag library for use in the page

Page Directive

The page directive defines attributes that apply to the entire JSP page. Common attributes:

Attribute	Default	Description
language	java	Scripting language (always "java")
contentType	text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1	MIME type and character encoding
pageEncoding	ISO-8859-1	Character encoding of the JSP page
import	—	Java classes/packages to import
session	true	Whether the page participates in HTTP sessions
errorPage	—	URL of error page to forward to on exception
isErrorPage	false	Whether this page is an error page (enables exception object)
buffer	8kb	Output buffer size (none or Nkb)
isThreadSafe	true	Whether the JSP is thread-safe

Page Directive Examples

<%-- Page directive with multiple attributes --%>
<%@ page language="java"
         contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"
         pageEncoding="UTF-8"
         import="java.util.*, java.text.SimpleDateFormat"
         session="true"
         errorPage="error.jsp"
         buffer="16kb"
%>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
    <%
        // Using imported classes
        Date now = new Date();
        SimpleDateFormat sdf = new SimpleDateFormat("dd-MM-yyyy HH:mm:ss");
        String formattedDate = sdf.format(now);
    %>
    <p>Formatted Date: <%= formattedDate %></p>
    <p>Session ID: <%= session.getId() %></p>
</body>
</html>

<%-- Error page (error.jsp) --%>
<%@ page isErrorPage="true" %>
<html><body>
    <h2>Error Occurred!</h2>
    <p>Message: <%= exception.getMessage() %></p>
</body></html>

Include and Taglib Directives

The include directive (<%@ include file="..." %>) includes the content of another file at translation time. The included file's content is merged into the current JSP before compilation. This is a static include — changes to the included file require recompilation.

The taglib directive (<%@ taglib uri="..." prefix="..." %>) declares a tag library (like JSTL) for use in the page.

Include and Taglib Directives

<%@ page language="java" contentType="text/html; charset=UTF-8"%>
<%-- Include directive: static include at translation time --%>
<%@ include file="header.jsp" %>
<%-- Taglib directive: declare JSTL core library --%>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/fmt" prefix="fmt" %>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
    <h2>Main Content</h2>

    <%-- Using JSTL c:if tag --%>
    <c:if test="${not empty param.name}">
        <p>Hello, ${param.name}!</p>
    </c:if>

    <%-- Using JSTL fmt tag --%>
    <fmt:formatDate value="${now}" pattern="dd/MM/yyyy"/>

    <%@ include file="footer.jsp" %>
</body>
</html>

<%-- header.jsp - included statically --%>
<header style="background:#333;color:#fff;padding:10px;">
    <h1>My JSP Website</h1>
    <nav>
        <a href="index.jsp" style="color:#fff;margin-right:10px;">Home</a>
        <a href="about.jsp" style="color:#fff;margin-right:10px;">About</a>
        <a href="contact.jsp" style="color:#fff;">Contact</a>
    </nav>
</header>

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JSP Directives

What are JSP Directives?

Page Directive

Include and Taglib Directives

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