Question

I have developed a java server page which has java server faces tags. It is fetching a bean data like this:

<h:inputText value="#{UserBean.userName}" />

But when I run it, it is showing the value as it is and not evaluating the value.

How is this caused and how can I solve it?

Answer 1

So, the EL expressions are not evaluated and you see #{UserBean.userName} in the webpage instead of the evaluated value?

Ensure that your web.xml is declared conform the maximum supported Servlet version as supported by the webcontainer. JSF 1.2 and 2.0 requires a minimum of Servlet 2.5. JSF 2.1 requires a minimum of Servlet 3.0. The Servlet version is coupled to the EL version used. JSF 1.2/2.0 rely on the new “Unified EL” (EL 2.1) which is part of Servlet 2.5.

I’ll assume Servlet 2.5, here’s how the root declaration of the web.xml should then look like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app 
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" 
    xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" 
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
    version="2.5">

    <!-- Your config here -->

</web-app>

A bit decent IDE can autogenerate it for you if you have properly configured the project as Servlet 2.5 project and chosen a Servlet 2.5 compatible container such as at least Tomcat 6.0.