I'm working on a componentization system based on JSPs. This means that parts of the JSP can be moved from one JSP to an other one via drag and drop and leads to a need for a local page scope as variable of a component defined in one JSP my collide in an other JSP. I can use Servlet 3.0 / JSP 2.2 / JSTL 1.2.
++ Tag File ++
The straight way of doing that would be to create a tag file for a component or something similar as they have this local page scope. But for every change in the tag file it would need to get redeployed and needing to create a tag file needs some time by itself. But if there is no other solution this direction (custom tags, tag files, JSP includes,...) is probably the way to go.
++ Namespace prefixing/suffixing ++
In Portlets one is supposed to concatenate each variable with a namespace provided from the portlet response object. I could do something similar but this can lead to side effects and unexpected behavior. If someone forgets to prefix/suffix the namespace it might work for some time but stops working at an other time without changing the code when the component moved to an other JSP with a conflicting variable name.
++ Custom Tag wrapping ++
I was hoping that I as a component framework developer can wrap the component code of a component developer with a tag file for a component tag like this
<a:component>
<div data-component-id="9">
<c:set var="componentId" value="9"/>
<c:set var="path" value='${abc:getCurrentPath()}_${componentId}'/>
<c:set var="resource" value='${abc:getResourceFromPath(path)}'/>
<c:set var="val" value="${resource.getValue('paragraphValue')"/>
<p><c:out value="${value}"/></p>
</div>
</a:component>
to have the variable in the local page context of the tag file. But instead they are in the context of the surrounding page. I'm looking for something like this
<% { %>
<div data-component-id="9">
<%
String componentId = 9;
String path = obj.getCurrentPath()+componentId;
Resource resource = otherObj.getResourceFromPath(path);
String value = resource.getValue("paragraphValue");
%>
<p><c:out value="<%=value%>"/></p>
</div>
<% } %>
which would create a code block in which variables have their own namespace. But of course for JSTL and JSTL-EL instead of scriptlet code. I had a look at the JSTL specification but did not find out if there is a way to create such a local page scope. But I didn't check everything as it's huge and I'm not sure if it's possible with custom tags.
It is clear to me that bigger code blocks should not be in the JSP but with the framework I would like to provide simple solutions for smaller components.
++ Changing the JSP code ++
When components are initially placed on a JSP or moved around via drag 'n drop I actually move the JSP code of a component from one JSP to an other or within a JSP. This means I can also programmatically manipulate the JSP code of a component if it doesn't get too complex and it helps solving the problem.