If I had code similar to the following, could I run it without any issues? I assume the Java will be run before the javascript, so the javascript won't have issues, but I haven't done this before:
<script type="text/javascript">
<% functThatOutputsJavascript() %>
</script>
This is very, very bad programming style, but yes, it is possible.
The code I am working on now has done some very similar stuff. I think you would actually want to do:
<script type="text/javascript">
<%= functThatOutputsJavascript() %>
</script>
And actually, you can do even worse, using Java conditionals to modify the Javascript output:
<script type="text/javascript">
while (i > 0) {
<% if (serverVar)) { %>
console.log("Server says yes!");
<% } else { %>
console.log("Server says no!");
<% } %>
}
</script>
This would then output this code if serverVar is true:
<script type="text/javascript">
while (i > 0) {
console.log("Server says yes!");
}
</script>
or this code if it is false:
<script type="text/javascript">
while (i > 0) {
console.log("Server says no!");
}
</script>
This is horrible coding style, and I hope you won't do it in practice! If you are wondering how to avoid writing code like this, check out this question: How to avoid Java code in JSP files?
A general suggestion would be to use JSP EL (JSP Expression Language) to set server side variables into your Javascript, and then write all of your logic in Javascript.
