How to implement dynamic GUI in JSP

Question

i have a requirement where i need to display some fields on the JSP. These fields are dynamic in nature, meaning, for ex:, if i changed some value in the dropdown, some fields will be hidden and some other fields might come. I dont want to write Javascripts for show/hide of divs, rather want logic to be coded somewhere at server side.

I have an idea of implementing a custom tag library, but i wnat if i could get an out of the box solution.

any new suggestions or solutions are welcomed.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 06 '11 at 10:39

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You had better do it in JavaScript. Having said that, you can send AJAX request to get the new form fields based on the input provided. For example, have a <div> to set the HTML coming from the server.

answered Sep 06 '11 at 10:39

Adeel Ansari

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I suggest to use any of available JS libraries to make it extra easy like http://jquery.com/ – Ahmed Aswani Jan 12 '12 at 14:20

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 06 '11 at 08:51

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Use struts framework , there are some tags which can hide and show fields based on values

Logic/logicout tags example

answered Sep 06 '11 at 08:51

developer

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I'd not recommend using Struts 1 anymore. For new projects you should definitely switch to Struts 2. – Thomas Sep 06 '11 at 09:21
@Thomas : based on requirment we can shift to struts1 or 2 , still some projects are building on struts 1 – developer Sep 06 '11 at 09:25
If existing projects use struts 1, then you don't have to switch, but please don't suggest to use struts 1 for new projects (the OP didn't mention it but I assume he's not using struts right now). – Thomas Sep 06 '11 at 09:30
@Thomas : He didnot mention it, may be he want to use some mvc framework – developer Sep 06 '11 at 09:32
As I said, if he wants to use a __new__ (meaning new for him, not currently using) framework, then please suggest a current one (like struts 2 and not struts 1). – Thomas Sep 06 '11 at 09:34
I am not using any framework as of now. I was thhinking of Struts 2 only. – Ashish Sep 06 '11 at 09:48

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

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If you want to use a web framework, try Struts 2. It provides tags like <s:if test="some ognl expression" ...> to selectively render html content.

Otherwise you could just go with the JSTL core tags, which provide a <c:if text="some Java EL expression" ...> and a <c:choose ...> tag ( Example ).

Remember to reload the page after changing select box values in order to update the UI. For this some JavaScript might be needed.

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Sep 06 '11 at 09:16

Thomas

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I am not favouring tags as they will clutter the JSP. I want the tag should be intelligent enough to render or not to render the body. – Ashish Sep 06 '11 at 09:50
@Ashish Well, the tags would still have to have a body in the jsp in order to render it. Alternatively you could have tags that render their body themselves (i.e. a combobox that checks itself whether it is visible or not), however, that would require special JSP components. In that case you might want to have a look at JSF(-like) frameworks (JSF 2.0 doesn't support JSP anymore), which provide tags with a `rendered` attribute taking an expression. – Thomas Sep 06 '11 at 10:52
@Ashish - Please also update your question and mention you want those "self-checking"/intelligent tags, so that others are aware of this. – Thomas Sep 06 '11 at 10:53

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 05 '11 at 09:46

DOM (Document Object Model) in Javascript is very powerful and cross browser.

to remove a node on UI

1.removeChild(nodename)

to add a node on UI

2.elementNode.insertBefore(new_node,existing_node)

I used it. it works well. more information on DOM.

http://www.w3schools.com/dom/default.asp

How to implement dynamic GUI in JSP

4 Answers4