JSTL populate several dropdowns using the same SQL query

Question

I am creating a webapp using JSTL - desperately trying not to use Java code and scriptlets.

My site is a football site where I enter a fixture and the players names who took part (11-13 names)

I have a players table containing all of the players names.

I need to populate a dropdown menu with all of their names and repeat this code 13 times (13 drop down menus with the same list)

I obviously don't want to write 13 bits of code for this.

Very basic Pseudo code elsewhere might look like...

String playerDropDown = getPlayersFromDB();

print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
print playerDropDown;
...
...

Any advice/guidance is appreciated.

Can you please remove sql tag.

PM 77-1
– PM 77-1

2014-01-06 01:49:22 +00:00
Commented Jan 6, 2014 at 1:49 — PM 77-1
– PM 77-1, Commented Jan 6, 2014 at 1:49

Riaan Schutte · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-06 01:23:27Z

1

I do this all the time. Create a new JSP page and just write your select and a for loop with all your player names added as options. Then in your main JSP page include this page.

Might look something like this:

players_select.jsp

<%@taglib prefix="c" uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/core" %
<% 
    List players = Players.getAll();
%>
<select>
<c:forEach var="player" items="<%=players %>">
    <option>${player}</option>
</c:forEach>
</select>

main.jsp:

...
<jsp:include page="../includes/players_select.jsp"/>
...
<jsp:include page="../includes/players_select.jsp"/>
...
<jsp:include page="../includes/players_select.jsp"/>
...

This way if you make the change in players_select.jsp it affects all usages.

answered Jan 6, 2014 at 1:23

Riaan Schutte

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6 Comments

thonnor Over a year ago

Interesting, so Players.getAll() is a simple Java method that returns a List ??

Riaan Schutte Over a year ago

Yes, a public static method that either returns a List of Strings, which will work in the example provided or if you prefer working with objects and methods returns a List of Player objects. If the latter then <option>${player}</option> becomes <option>${player.name}</option>.

thonnor Over a year ago

Brilliant, thank you so much. I've already begun making the 'List' changes to my code. I'll post another comment once I've cracked it :)

PM 77-1 Over a year ago

I think you still need to import java.util.List.

thonnor Over a year ago

Thanks to you both for contributing.

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