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270

Chapter 12 Including Files and Applets in JSP Documents

Figure 12 1 Result of SomeRandomPage.jsp.

12.2 Including Files at Request 

Time

The 

include

 directive (Section 12.1) lets you include documents that con 

tain JSP code into multiple different pages. Including JSP content is a useful

capability, but the 

include

 directive requires you to update the modification

date of the page whenever the included file changes, which is a significant

inconvenience. The 

jsp:include

 action includes files at the time of the cli 

ent request and thus does not require you to update the main file when an

included file changes. On the other hand, the page has already been trans 

lated into a servlet by request time, so the included files cannot contain JSP. 

Core Approach

Use the 

include

 directive if included files will use JSP constructs. 

Otherwise, use 

jsp:include

.

Second edition of this book: www.coreservlets.com; Sequel: www.moreservlets.com.

Servlet and JSP training courses by book's author: courses.coreservlets.com.