accessing size of an arraylist using tag

[Muhammad Imad Qureshi]

I have an arraylist called "searchResults" in my jsp. I can write

<% if(searchResults.size() > 0) { %>
...do my html work
<% } %>

what would be an equivalent scriptless code. I can use either struts or jsp tags.
Thanks
Imad

[Muhammad Imad Qureshi]

i found it. its this

<c:if test="${listSize > 0}">

and include

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>

[Bear Bibeault]

That assumes that listSize has been set up a scoped variable prior to the JSP gaining control and is not a general solution.

[Stefan Evans]

The general solution that works in JSTL1.0 and JSTL1.1 would be using the keyword "empty"

<c:if test="${not empty searchResults}">
 
</c:if>

JSTL1.1 introduced User functions, which fixed one of the major issues with JSTL - getting the length of a list.
If you have JSP2.0 / JSTL1.1, the length of a list can be found with the length function.
eg: ${fn:length(searchResults)}"

[Muhammad Imad Qureshi]

Thanks for your replies. For some reason EL doesn't seem to be working. when I write <c:if test="${not empty searchResults}">....my code</c:if> ...code never goes inside. and when I added the following code outside <c:if.../> it printed in the screen as it is. that is

${searchResults.size} and also ${fn:length(searchResults} ..to use fn i did inculde the following line in my jsp

<%@ taglib prefix="fn" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions" %>

I am using jstl 1.1 and tomcat 5.5
Thanks

[Bear Bibeault]

Is your web.xml set up properly as outlined in the JSP FAQ?

[Muhammad Imad Qureshi]

No. Thats probably the reason why its not working. but when i tried declaring it the way in FAQ it gave me a red mark in web.xml and a very long message which wont go away even if i change it back to how it is right now. is it a known problem?

[Bear Bibeault]

No, there should be no problem if you specify the web.xml correctly.

What do you mnean by a "red mark"? In an IDE? If so, who cares... does it work when you deploy the application?

[Muhammad Imad Qureshi]

Thanks a lot Bear. You are right if there is a red mark in IDE who cares and yes the red mark was in the ide. I was just afraid if it will going to show on everyone elses machine when i check back in the web.xml but I hope it dont. anyways its working fine.

Thanks a lot.