JSP - Overview

What is JavaServer Pages?

JavaServer Pages (JSP) is a technology for developing Webpages that supports dynamic content. This helps developers insert java code in 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 apppcation. 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 Webpage forms, present records from a database or another source, and create Webpages 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 unpke 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 pke 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 apppcations. This means that JSP can play a part in the simplest apppcations to the most complex and demanding.

Advantages of JSP

Following table psts 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 println 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 pke.

vs. JavaScript

JavaScript can generate HTML dynamically on the cpent but can hardly interact with the web server to perform complex tasks pke 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.