Creating a JSP in 7 simple steps
Step 1: Switch to the
"Offline"
project
In OpenCms, you can only edit or create files in the "Offline" project.
So you must switch from the "Online" to the "Offline" project to create a new
JSP. This is done with the "Project" selector on the upper left of the
OpenCms Workplace screen:
Step 2: Start the
"New" wizard
Once in the "Offline" project, navigate to the desired subfolder where you want to create your JSP and click on the "New" button (the "magic
wand") to start the page creation wizard:
Step 3: Select the
"JSP" type
Now you are asked what kind of resource you want to create. To create a JSP
you have to select "JSP", obviously.
Please note: Not
all options are available to all users. The resource types "JSP" and "XML
Template" are only available if you are logged in as a member of the
OpenCms "Administrators" group. Users that are not members of this group are not able
to create (or later edit) a JSP. This is intentional, as access to JSP programming should
be restricted to developers, which usually need Administrator permissions anyway, at least during
the development process.
Step 4: Finish
the wizard
On the next page of the wizard you can enter the filename ("Name") of your
JSP and other optional properties.
- Name
- The filename of the JSP. Note that in OpenCms, a JSP
is not required to end with the ".jsp" extension. You can also create a JSP
that has other extensions like ".html", ".cgi", ".asp", ".php" or no
extension at all. No extension is added automatically by OpenCms.
Continue with the next page of the wizard where you can enter additional
properties of the new JSP.
- Title (optional)
- The "title" property of the JSP will be set to the
value entered here. The "title" property is also displayed in the OpenCms
workplace explorer and you can later use it for the <title> tag of your
JSP. It's not required, but it's a good habit to give each resource in
OpenCms a title.
- cache (optional)
- The OpenCms caching directives for this JSP. If you
do not enter anything here, the JSP will not be cached, you should keep this
setting for this first example.
- content-encoding
(optional)
- The content-encoding for the
JSP. Unless you do not need a different encoding, you should keep the "UTF-8" value.
- export (optional)
- The export property describes the behaviour of this JSP during
static export. Since most JSPs contain dynamic content, you should set the export property to
"false".
After you
have filled out the "Create new file" dialog the wizard ends and the JSP is
created.
Step 5: Open the JSP in
the
editor
You will now see your newly created JSP in the explorer,
and it will be blue, indicating that the file is "new" (i.e. not yet published).
To edit the JSP, you must left-click on the red JSP icon next to it. This will bring up the context
menu of the file. Select "Edit sourcecode" to open the JSP in the OpenCms code
editor.
Step 6: Edit the JSP
Once in the editor you can edit the JSP as you like. The source code editor
options are pretty straightforward, and we will not explain the use of the
editor in detail here. You can just start to write your JSP code now. As an
example, let's create a simple "Hello, world" JSP in OpenCms like this:
<%
String hello = "Hello, world";
%>
<h1><%= hello %> from OpenCms </h1>
The time is <%= new java.util.Date() %>
Now save your JSP and exit the editor. Click on the edited
JSP in the OpenCms explorer, it will open the page which should look like this.
Note that your JSP still is not published. To
check this out, switch back to the "Online" project like explained in Step 1. Your
JSP will not be listed in the folder now - provided that you actually have created
a new one. As you can see, OpenCms separates Online and Offline
versions of JSPs the same way as it does with all other content.
Step 7: Publish the JSP
The last step to be completed is to publish your new (or
edited) JSP. To do so, switch back to the "Offline" project. Then press
the "Publish project" button next to the project selector, like this:
In case you have not unlocked your JSP, you will be notified and asked if all
files in the project should be unlocked. Confirm this. OpenCms will start to
publish your changes and show a dialog that informs you about the publishing
progess. Once finished, confirm with "OK" to get back to the explorer view. The
JSP is now published, it will not longer be shown in blue, but in black,
indicating that this resource is published and currently unchanged in the
offline project. You can now switch again to the "Online" project and the JSP
will be shown there as well.
Exercise: Before you continue, make sure you have at least
created and published a new JSP completely on your own. On your JSP, try to
develop a simple web form or any other more advanced functionality. In case you
have experience with JSP developing, you should find all common JSP features
available.
Congratulations, you have created your first JSP in OpenCms.
This is all you need know how to create a "standard"
JSP in OpenCms. Read on to learn how to access OpenCms features
in your JSP pages.
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