Unexpected <jsp:setProperty> Behavior
The
<jsp:setProperty>
action can automatically set all
properties in a bean with names matching the names of the parameters
received with the request. This is a great feature
that’s used in many of the examples in this book,
but unless you know how it works behind the scenes, you can be in for
a surprise.
When the <jsp:setProperty> code is invoked,
it gets a list of all request parameter names and uses bean
introspection to find the corresponding property setter methods. It
then calls all setter methods to set the properties to the values of
the parameters. This means that if you have a property in your bean
that doesn’t match a parameter, the setter method
for this property is not called. In most cases, this is not
surprising. If the parameter is present in some requests but not in
others, however, things may get a bit confusing. This is the case
with parameters corresponding to checkbox, radio button, and
selection list elements in an HTML form. If this type of element is
selected, the browser sends a parameter with the
element’s name and the value of the selected item.
If the element is not selected, it doesn’t send a
parameter at all.
For example, let’s say you have a bean with an
indexed property, such as the projects property in
the com.ora.jsp.beans.emp.EmployeeBean used in
Chapter 13. This bean is kept in the session scope. The user can change the value of the property through a group of checkboxes in a form. To unregister all projects, ...
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