How to assemble column content in jstl without all these when-tests?

[Thomas Kennedy]

I have two HTML columns A and R where I need to display some combination of units (U), dollars (D) and occurrences (O). Column R must mimic the combination selected by A, but using its own data.

The rules are basically that I will display whatever is non-zero, or if everything is zero, I will display units (U) and dollars (D).

So, here is what I have for deciding what to put in column A:

<c:set var="mode" value="0"/> <c:set var="u_mode" value="false"/> <c:set var="d_mode" value="false"/> <c:set var="o_mode" value="false"/> <c:if test="${row.unitsAuthorized > 0}"> <c:set var="mode" value="${mode + 1}"/> </c:if> <c:if test="${row.dollarsAuthorized > 0}"> <c:set var="mode" value="${mode + 3}"/> </c:if> <c:if test="${row.occurrencesAuthorized > 0}"> <c:set var="mode" value="${mode + 5}"/> </c:if>
so that the possible values for mode are:
0 -> units and dollars
1 -> units
3 -> dollars
4 -> units and dollars
5 -> occurrences
6 -> units and occurrences
8 -> dollars and occurrences
9 -> units, dollars, occurrences

Is there a better way to pick from these outcomes than doing something like this:

<c:choose> <c:when test="${mode eq 0}"> <c:set var="u_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="d_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 1}"> <c:set var="u_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 3}"> <c:set var="d_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 4}"> <c:set var="u_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="d_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 5}"> <c:set var="o_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 6}"> <c:set var="u_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="o_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 8}"> <c:set var="d_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="o_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:when test="${mode eq 9}"> <c:set var="u_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="d_mode" value="true"/> <c:set var="o_mode" value="true"/> </c:when> </c:choose> <td id="A"> <c:if test="${u_mode}"><C:out value="${u1}"/></c:if> <c:if test="${d_mode}"><C:out value="${d1}"/></c:if> <c:if test="${o_mode}"><C:out value="${o1}"/></c:if> </td> <td id="R"> <c:if test="${u_mode}"><C:out value="${u2}"/></c:if> <c:if test="${d_mode}"><C:out value="${d2}"/></c:if> <c:if test="${o_mode}"><C:out value="${o2}"/></c:if> </td>What is a better alternative? This also doesn't handle delimiting ${u1} from ${d1} and so on, so in reality it would be even more complex than shown here.

[Bear Bibeault]

Seems like something that would be better handled in the controller.