JSP Custom Tag for Pagination, Sorting and Filtering – A Case Study

Abstract

Tag libraries have the power of reducing complex functionalities to one liners by separating out implementation part from tag declarations. Tags do hide the implementation specific tasks from the end user by making the code more readable. The frequently and widely used functionality in any application is database operations which involve lot of code repetition. Such a repeated code can be hidden behind a couple of custom tags where the end user can be concerned only with the tag usage which renders the application bug free and also aids in rapid application development. Majority of automation softwares at the minimal incorporate functionalities for interaction with repository of data . The need for quick searching of required data and retrieving subsets of data demand sorting, pagination, and filtering capabilities to be an integral part of any application. With the exponential growth in data these functionalities become mandatory to be incorporated in any application irrespective of its type and size. Further, Rich Internet Application (RIA) demands an attractive graphical user interface providing visual clues on the type of data to be entered or to be displayed. In order to cater a solution to this issue, in the current paper, the authors have designed and implemented a JSP custom tag for displaying a database table data in columns of different types such as check boxes, images, hyperlinks etc. Boolean attributes are added to the tag for enabling one or more of the features corresponding to pagination, sorting and filtering.