Creating a web page

When you create a web page in an EGL web project, EGL creates a JSF Handler part to go along with the page.

Prerequisites

Additionally, it is best if you choose a target server for your project before creating web pages. If your project does not have a target server, support for Faces components will not work at run time, and you might see a warning reminding you to choose a target server. See Specifying target servers for J2EE projects.

Creating a page along with a JSF Handler part

When you create a web page to be used with EGL, be sure to select the correct type of web page:
  1. Click File > New > Other. The New window opens.
  2. Expand Web and click Web page (not JSP).
  3. Click Next.
  4. In the File Name field, type the name for the new web page. The accompanying JSF Handler will have the same name with an .egl extension.
  5. In the Folder field, select the location for the new web page. The location must be in the WebContent folder of an EGL web project. The accompanying JSF Handler will be put into the project's jsfhandlers package unless you specified a different package in the workbench preferences.
  6. Optionally, select a template that is compatible with JSP files in the Template box. If you don't select a template, the new web page will be an empty JSP file with no template.
    • For a blank web page, click Basic Templates > JSP.
    • For a web page with placeholders for graphics and navigation elements that are linked to a page template, expand Sample Templates and select a template.
    • To use a template that is already in your project, click My Templates and choose the template from the Preview box.

    If you select a template other than the basic JSP template, the template files are added to your project, and you can create more pages from the same template. Then, when you change an area in the template, the matching area in each web page changes as well. See Page templates for more information on templates.

    If you have selected a template that is not compatible with JSP files, a warning will appear at the top of the page. Some templates default to file types other than JSP, so by typing the .jsp extension into the File Name field, you constrain yourself to templates compatible with JSP files.

  7. Click Finish.

The new web page and its JSF Handler part are created in your web project. Additionally, EGL creates a navigation rule in the JSF configuration file that enables you to forward users to this page.

Creating a page from an existing JSF Handler part

An alternate way to create an EGL-controlled web page is to create a JSF Handler part separately, and then let EGL create a default JSP file for you based on the information in the JSF Handler.

  1. Click File > New > Other.
  2. Expand EGL and click JSF Handler.
  3. Click Next.
  4. Set the location and file name of the new Handler part.
  5. Click Finish.
  6. In the new JSF Handler, create variables to represent the data that you want to use on the page.
  7. On each variable that you want to display on the page, set the displayUse property to input for an input field and output for a read-only output field. For example, an integer field that you want to be displayed as an editable input field on the page might look like this:
    myInputVar string {displayUse = input};
    For other options for the displayUse property, see displayUse.
  8. Set the view property of the JSF Handler to the name of the page you want to create, including the .jsp extension. For example, if your JSF Handler is named myPage, you might set the Handler's properties as follows:
    Handler myPage type JSFHandler
       {view = "myPage.jsp"}
    ...
    end
  9. Save and generate the JSF Handler. EGL generates a default JSP that is based on the Handler.

You can regenerate the JSP file at any time by deleting the JSP file and generating the JSF Handler.


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