problem Nesting <fmt: in <c:set

[Pat Farrell]

I am getting a runtime error processing the following EL snippet. I can't tell what to change, I think I've changed every possible combination already. I'm pulling what little hair I have left out in chunks.

<c:set var="bdateVar" value="<fmt:formatDate value="${person.birthDate}" pattern="MMM dd" />" />

The reported error is:
"org.apache.jasper.JasperException: /WEB-INF/pages/closed/usercontrolpanel.jsp(44,12) /WEB-INF/jspf/editcontacttable.jspf(22,52) PWC6031: Unterminated <c:set tag"

What I want to do is put the result of formatting the date object into the ""bdateVar" variable, as a string.

Anybody see what mistake I'm making?

Thanks
pat

[Bear Bibeault]

You cannot use a tag as the attribute value of another tag.

But you don;t need to in this case. The formatDate tag has var and scope attributes that will create the scoped variable without the need for <c:set>.

[Tiago Hillebrandt]

Well, i'm not sure, but you can try make this:

<c:set var="bdateVar"><fmt:formatDate value="${person.birthDate}" pattern="MMM dd" /></c:set>

[Bear Bibeault]

Tiago Hillebrandt wrote:Well, i'm not sure, but quote don't need from escape char in this case?

No. Even with the escaping, a JSP tag can't be used there. And as pointed out, the <c:set> isn't needed in any case.

[Tiago Hillebrandt]

Bear Bibeault, ok, sorry!

[Bear Bibeault]

No apologies are necessary!

[Pat Farrell]

Bear Bibeault wrote:But you don;t need to in this case. The formatDate tag has var and scope attributes that will create the scoped variable without the need for <c:set>.

Thanks, yes, this works:

<fmt:formatDate var="bdateVar" pattern="MMM dd yyyy" value="${presperson.birthDateAsDate}" />

I had no idea. How does one find the details of EL/JSP? All the links that I can find using google are either simple example pages, or detailed BNF of the spec.

I know that EL/JSP is the way stuff is built these days, but I find the documentation to be opaque or non-existant.

[Bear Bibeault]

The JSTL Specification (links in FAQs) is a pretty easy read.

The EL Specification is not quite so straight-forward (in my opinion) because it's littered with JSF-specific stuff and what's JSP and what's JSF is poorly delineated.

The EL portion of the older JSP 2.0 Specification is a pretty good resource. (They separated the EL spec from the JSP spec with JSP 2.1.)

[Bear Bibeault]

There's also online Javadoc for the JSTL at: http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/jstl/1.1/docs/tlddocs/index.html

It's for 1.1, but it's up-to-date enough to be useful.

[Pat Farrell]

Bear Bibeault wrote:The JSTL Specification (links in FAQs) is a pretty easy read.

I may be blind, but I can't find any docs or references to JSTL specs in the JavaRanch (or CodeRanch) Faqs.
Got a link?

I agree that the Javadoc for the JST 1.1 is not too bad. Its better than many of the other doc's that I've stumbled into.