This probably isn't the solution you're looking for...but
I tried to set the value of a html:text tag,
but the value was not rendered, or, most likely, it was, but when
struts populated the form, it overwrote the value with the one from the bean (an empty
String in my case).
A possible solution: format your date on the
servlet side rather than the display side, such that it's ready to be displayed when it gets there.
Maybe not as cool as a custom tag, but it'll work.
[ January 12, 2004: Message edited by: Ray Stojonic ]