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EL [ ] operator...

 
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I'm a bit hazy about when the contents of the EL [ ] operator are evaluated and when it is treated as an int (say, an index into an array).

HFS says that "If there are no quotes inside the bracket, the Container evaluates whats inside the brackets by searching for an attribute bound under that name...."

However, the following seems to be OK too....

${stuff[0]}

${stuff[1]}

etc.

what are the rules for when the contents are evaluated and when they are simply used as an index ?

Thanks in advance,

Neil.
 
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1.${stuff[1]} -> stuff might be an array or List that you can access by an int index

2.${stuff["red"]} -> a map or a bean with a property/key red

3.${stuff['red']} -> a map or a bean with a property/key red

4.${stuff[red]} -> a map or a bean with a property/key with the value that
was found using the pageContext.findAttribute("red"), in
this case if stuff is an array, red migth can be corced
to an int value, otherwise you will get:

javax.servlet.jsp.el.ELException: The "[]" operator was supplied with an index value of type "java.lang.String" to be applied to a List or array, but that value cannot be converted to an integer.
 
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Neil,

In order to be evaluated the thing inside needs to be a valid java identifier (starts with a letter, _ or $ and thereafter can contain numbers).
In your example, 1 is not a valid identifier and so is just treated as a number. Based on the fact you say stuff[0] and stuff[1] work, stuff must be an array of some sort.

If you were to use "1", as in:
stuff["1"]
then the container, being smart, would coerce it to a numeric 1 knowing that stuff is an array and it needs a numeric value to lookup things in arrays. (If stuff were a map, it would simply look up "1" in the map.)

Taking things one stage further - if you were to name it a1, as in:
stuff[a1]
then the container would attempt to find an attribute called "a1" as per Leandro's reply. If "a1" had a value of "0", then this would be substituted and coerced to numeric 0, so the container would look up stuff[0].

Clear as mud?
 
Neil Mc
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I understand what you're saying. But if we have, say...

${a["b"]}

...and a is a List. As 'b' is in quotes the container would attempt to coerce it to an int and raise an exception if it couldn't. If 'b' was not in quotes the container would attempt to evaluate it.

...Basically, I'm not sure how in HFS coffee cram for chapter 8, question 6 lists F as a correct answer.

Just concentrating on the 'inner' expression for the timebeing...



where list is an ArrayList and listIdx is an attribute which evaluates to "1".

My point is this... why is 'listIdx' evaluated when it is in quotes ? Why does the container not just see that it is in quotes and try to coerce it to an int (and fail) ?

Any help, much appreciated.

Neil.
[ October 08, 2004: Message edited by: Neil Mc ]
 
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