CHAPTER

2

Standard Syntax and Semantics

This chapter describes the core syntax and semantics of the JavaServer Pages (JSP) 1.1 

Specification, including the standard actions.

2.1

General Syntax Rules

The following general syntax rules apply to all elements in JSP pages.

2.1.1

Elements and Template Data

A JSP page has some 

elements

 and some 

template data

. The elements are instances of some 

element types

 that are known to the JSP container; 

template data

 is everything else: i.e. 

anything that the JSP container does not understand.

The type of an element describes its syntax and its semantics. If the element has attributes, 

the type also describes the attribute names, their valid types, and their interpretation. If the 

element defines objects, the semantics includes what objects it defines and their types.

There are three types of elements: 

directive elements, scripting elements

, and 

action 

elements

; the corresponding syntax is described below. Template data is uninterpreted; it is 

usually passed through to the client, or to some processing component.

2.1.2

Element Syntax

Most of the JSP syntax is based on XML. Elements based on the XML syntax have either a 

start tag (including the element name) possibly with attributes, an optional body, and a 

matching end tag, or they have an empty tag possibly with attributes:

 Standard Syntax and Semantics

34