Head First Servlets and JSP, 2nd Edition

Tag Files: like include, only better

With Tag Files, you can invoke reusable content using a custom tag instead of the generic <jsp:include> or <c:import>. You can think of Tag Files as a kind of “tag handler lite”, because they let page developers create custom tags, without having to write a complicated Java tag handler class, but Tag Files are really just glorified includes.

Simplest way to make and use a Tag File

1. Take an included file (like “Header.jsp”) and rename it with a .tag extension.

   
   

2. Put the tag file (“Header.tag”) in a directory named “tags” inside the “WEB-INF” directory.

   

3. Put a taglib directive (with a tagdir attribute) in the JSP, and invoke the tag.