FAQ: Can the Uri Attribute for a JSP's Taglib Point to a Remote Tag Library Description (T

Answer

In brief, the answer is 'no'. The uri attribute can:

1) point to a location on disk (relative to the web application root directory) or
2) map to a location on disk via the web application's web.xml file.

In the web.xml file, the taglib element contains two subelements: taglib-uri and taglib-location. These define a unique string used by the JSP's taglib uri parameter (taglib-uri) and the path to the TLD on disk, relative to the web application (taglib-location). Here is a portion of the J2EE JSP deployment descriptor defining these elements:

Code:
<xsd:complexType name="taglibType">
- <xsd:annotation>
  <xsd:documentation>The taglibType defines the syntax for declaring in the deployment descriptor
  that a tag library is available to the application. This can be done to override implicit map
  entries from TLD files and from the container.</xsd:documentation> 
  </xsd:annotation>
- <xsd:sequence>
- <xsd:element name="taglib-uri" type="j2ee:string">
- <xsd:annotation>
  <xsd:documentation>A taglib-uri element describes a URI identifying a tag library used in the web
  application. The body of the taglib-uri element may be either an absolute URI specification, or a
  relative URI. There should be no entries in web.xml with the same taglib-uri
  value.</xsd:documentation> 
  </xsd:annotation>
  </xsd:element>
- <xsd:element name="taglib-location" type="j2ee:pathType">
- <xsd:annotation>
  <xsd:documentation>the taglib-location element contains the location (as a resource relative to
  the root of the web application) where to find the Tag Library Description file for the tag
  library.</xsd:documentation> 
  </xsd:annotation>
  </xsd:element>
  </xsd:sequence>
  <xsd:attribute name="id" type="xsd:ID" /> 
</xsd:complexType>

All xsds for J2EE defined deployment descriptors can be found at the following url:
J2EE Specifications

Here is an example:

In a JSP file, the following taglib is specified:

Code:
<%@ taglib uri="http://www.esri.com/argcis/webcontrols" prefix="ags" %>

The uri appears to reference a remote resource, however the web application's web.xml file shows how the uri is mapped to a local file:

Code:
<taglib>
  <taglib-uri>http://www.esri.com/argcis/webcontrols</taglib-uri>
  <taglib-location>/WEB-INF/arcgis_webcontrols.tld</taglib-location>
</taglib>

In this case, the uri is mapped to the arcgis_webcontrols.tld in the web application's WEB-INF directory.

It is also possible reference a TLD without configuring the deployment descriptor (web.xml). The web container (for example, Tomcat) will read TLD files present in a JAR file's META-INF directory (in the web applications WEB-INF\lib directory). The TLD will contain a reference to the uri used to map the taglib to the TLD:

Code:
<taglib>
  <tlib-version>1.0</tlib-version>
  <jsp-version>1.2</jsp-version>
  <short-name>a</short-name>
  <uri>http://www.esri.com/arcgis/webcontrols</uri>
...
</taglib>

Article ID:000007719

Software:

ArcGIS Server

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Can the uri attribute for a JSP's taglib point to a remote Tag Library Description (TLD) file?

Answer

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