In what methods can we write to the page in case of a BodyTagSupport

[Frits Walraven]

If I extend the BodyTagSupport for defining my own classic custom tag.
Can I then write the body to the page-output in any of the following methods?

doInitBody()

doAfterBody()

doEndTag()

by using

    
BodyContent bc = getBodyContent()
bc.writeOut(bc.getEnclosingWriter());

[Ankit Garg]

Did you try doing this??

[Frits Walraven]

I have just tried it and the outcome is quite interesting:

doInitBody() - not printable

doAfterBody() - body printable

doEndTag() - body printable

It seems that the BodyContent is not available before the first evaluation of the body!

this was my code (default behaviour of the BodyTagSupport is that the doStartTag() returns EVAL_BODY_BUFFERED so that we are sure that all 3 methods are called)

    
package foo;

import java.io.IOException;

import javax.servlet.jsp.JspWriter;
import javax.servlet.jsp.tagext.BodyContent;
import javax.servlet.jsp.tagext.BodyTagSupport;

public class TryBodyTagSupport extends BodyTagSupport {

public void doInitBody(){

BodyContent bc = getBodyContent();
JspWriter out = getPreviousOut();

try {
out.write("doInit()");
bc.writeOut(bc.getEnclosingWriter());
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

public int doAfterBody(){
BodyContent bc = getBodyContent();
JspWriter out = getPreviousOut();
try {
out.write("doAfterBody()");
// bc.writeOut(bc.getEnclosingWriter());
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
return SKIP_BODY;
}

public int doEndTag(){
BodyContent bc = getBodyContent();
JspWriter out = getPreviousOut();
try {
out.write("doEndTag()");
// bc.writeOut(bc.getEnclosingWriter());
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
return EVAL_PAGE;
}

}

The calling JSP:

   <formTags:try>Is this body printable?</formTags:try> 

and the following TLD entry:

  
<tag>   
    <description>test</description>   
    <name>try</name>   
    <tag-class>foo.TryBodyTagSupport</tag-class>   
    <body-content>JSP</body-content>   
</tag>   

and the following output:
doInit()doAfterBody()doEndTag()