JSTL - c:out escapeXml

[Nina Anderson]

How can I get a string to print without html characters?

Here's my code:

  
 
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jstl/core" prefix="c" %>
 
...
 
<c:set var="myValue" value="<b>Video upload complete</b><br>" />
<c:out value="${myValue}" escapeXml="false" /> 
 

it displays a "<b>Video upload complete</b><br>" on the screen.

could you tell me the reason.
i am using tomcat;

[Bear Bibeault]

Not for me. You're setup is likely incorrect.

What does viewing the HTML reveal?

[Bear Bibeault]

Originally posted by Nina Anderson:
i am using tomcat;

Tomcat 4, I take it?

[Nina Anderson]

I don't have my laptop with me to look up the tomcat level, but I installed the tomcat back in Dec. 2007, so I'm guessing it's probably Tomcat 6.

Do it make a difference?

[Bear Bibeault]

The JSTL URI you are using is for JSTL 1.0. You should be using JSTL 1.1.

See the JSP FAQ for correct setup. Pay special attention to declaring the web.xml and the JSTL URIs.

This may not be your problem, but until your configuration is compatible, it makes no sense to diagnose further.

[Ben Souther]

Originally posted by Nina Anderson:
...
Do it make a difference?

Yes.
JSTL and EL are much newer than servlets, JSPs, and thus containers like Tomcat. In addition there are a couple versions of JSTL and they need to be matched up with containers that support the versions of the servlet and JSP specs that coincide with them.

[Nina Anderson]

I've verified that I'm using Tomcat 6.

So, I did the following:

1) changed my web.xml to version 2.5:

    
 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
version="2.5">
 

2) Replaced jstl-1.0.jar and standard.jar with jstl-2.0.jar


3) Used the new jstl source in my jsp

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

After making all these changes, nothing gets printed to the screen anymore.

[Ben Souther]

Originally posted by Nina Anderson:
...
After making all these changes, nothing gets printed to the screen anymore.

The first thing I do when faced with a blank screen is use the browser's "view source" feature to see if the problem is on the server side or if it's a problem with the resulting HTML source.

[Nina Anderson]

When I do view source, I see:

 
   
<c:set var="myValue" value="<b>Video upload complete</b><br>" />
<c:out value="${myValue}" escapeXml="false" /> 
 

It does NOT look like the browser recognizes the jstl tags. This is too bizarre!!!

[Bear Bibeault]

Originally posted by Nina Anderson:
It does NOT look like the browser recognizes the jstl tags. This is too bizarre!!!

Browsers know nothing about JSTL or other JSP tags. They are interpreted on the server. All that is ever sent to the browser is plain old HTML.

This means that your setup is somehow incorrect and the JSTL tags are not being processing on the server as they should be. Check all your setup steps again.