Validate or unit test for TLD files?

[Daniel Pitts]

We have a tag lib descriptor file, and when we tried to integrate it we
found a problem. Is there an easy way to validate and/or unit test a
TLD file?

Thanks,
Daniel.

 

[Roedy Green]

We have a tag lib descriptor file, and when we tried to integrate it we
found a problem. Is there an easy way to validate and/or unit test a
TLD file?

I presume you mean a file like this?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE taglib PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JSP Tag
Library 1.1//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-jsptaglibrary_1_1.dtd">
<taglib>
<tlibversion>1.0</tlibversion>
<jspversion>1.1</jspversion>
<shortname>j2eeforum</shortname>
<info>Sample Tag library Created for j2eeforum </info>
<!-Tag Starts -->
<tag>
<name>ipaddress</name>
<tagclass>j2eeforum.IpAddress </tagclass>
<bodycontent>empty</bodycontent>
<info>
This is a example tag for displaying ipaddress.
</info>
<attribute>
<name>target</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
</tag>
</taglib>

You could feed an example into Stylus Studio and it will generate you
an XSD for it. Polish the XSD manually, and you have a syntax checker.

See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/xsd.html
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com
When you were a child, if you did your own experiment
to see if it was better to put to cocoa into your cup first
or the hot milk first, then you likely have the programmer gene..

 

[markspace]

We have a tag lib descriptor file, and when we tried to integrate it we
found a problem. Is there an easy way to validate and/or unit test a TLD
file?

One Google web search later....

<https://blogs.oracle.com/jluehe/entry/validate_your_tag_library_descriptor>

 

[Daniel Pitts]

I presume you mean a file like this?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE taglib PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JSP Tag
Library 1.1//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-jsptaglibrary_1_1.dtd">
<taglib>
<tlibversion>1.0</tlibversion>
<jspversion>1.1</jspversion>
<shortname>j2eeforum</shortname>
<info>Sample Tag library Created for j2eeforum</info>
<!-Tag Starts -->
<tag>
<name>ipaddress</name>
<tagclass>j2eeforum.IpAddress</tagclass>
<bodycontent>empty</bodycontent>
<info>
This is a example tag for displaying ipaddress.
</info>
<attribute>
<name>target</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
</tag>
</taglib>

You could feed an example into Stylus Studio and it will generate you
an XSD for it. Polish the XSD manually, and you have a syntax checker.

See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/xsd.html

Syntax is one thing, but not the only thing that contributes to
validity. Classes need to be spelled correctly, functions need to have
the correct signatures, etc...

 

[Daniel Pitts]

One Google web search later....

<https://blogs.oracle.com/jluehe/entry/validate_your_tag_library_descriptor>

And... that doesn't provide any build-time validation. Thanks, but I
use google myself. The answer wasn't forthcoming so that's why I asked here.

If possible, I'd like to validate these outside of having a J2EE
container running.

 

[Roedy Green]

If possible, I'd like to validate these outside of having a J2EE
container running.

What kind of errors won't show up by just using the TLD?
Surely you are not the first person to encounter this problem.
--
Roedy Green Canadian Mind Products
http://mindprod.com
When you were a child, if you did your own experiment
to see if it was better to put to cocoa into your cup first
or the hot milk first, then you likely have the programmer gene..

 

[Daniel Pitts]

What kind of errors won't show up by just using the TLD?
Surely you are not the first person to encounter this problem.

That's the problem, I want to find the errors before use. This is in a
library package separated from its uses.

 

[Arved Sandstrom]

What kind of errors won't show up by just using the TLD?
Surely you are not the first person to encounter this problem.

I think (repeated) app deployments in a container _will_ winkle out all
the problems. That's been my experience. But it is quite time-consuming,
which is what I think Daniel is getting at.

What I do for Facelets taglib descriptor files *and* the XHTML pages
that use them - which are the only variant I am interested in - is run a
few scripts I've written myself. It's not particularly complicated bash
or Windows Powershell logic.

On a related note I've found myself doing similar things for validating
persistence.xml config files.

AHS

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

We have a tag lib descriptor file, and when we tried to integrate it we
found a problem. Is there an easy way to validate and/or unit test a TLD
file?

I can not see any other way than writing a unit test JSP
page, deploy it and TLD+JAR and then unit test the output
from the JSP page.

It is very debatable whether that is really *unit* testing,
but ...

Arne