Question

I need a <div> in my web, but I use JSF. Then I need the <h:panelGroup> tag and layout="block" attibute.

My code is:

<h:panelGroup styleClass="content" layout="block">

But, the Tomcat server, that I was used, return error and say:

The layout attribute is invalid according to the specified TLD.

I need help, because I don’t understand this error.

Answer 1

The layout attribute of <h:panelGroup> was introduced in JSF 1.2. This error suggests that you’re using the ancient JSF 1.1 or perhaps even the dead JSF 1.0.

You have basically 2 options:

1. Upgrade to JSF 1.2 or preferably to JSF 2.x which is been out for over 2 years already and almost at version 2.2. You can download the JSF implementations here. Note that JSF 1.2 on JSP requires at least a Servlet 2.5 compatible container. So you need to have at least Tomcat version 6.0 or preferably Tomcat 7.0 which is been out for over 2 years already as well. Make sure that your web.xml is declared conform the highest servlet version supported by the container.

2. If you can’t upgrade to JSF 1.2 or newer, because you’re stuck to Tomcat 5.5 or older for some unclear reason, then you should forget using <h:panelGroup layout> and use a normal <div> element instead. You only need to wrap it in <f:verbatim> because JSF 1.1 and older cannot treat plain HTML normally.

   <f:verbatim><div></f:verbatim>
       ...
   <f:verbatim></div></f:verbatim>
   

See also:

• JSF vs HTML(JSP) for enterprise portals UI layer. Which one to Choose? and WHY?
• What are the main disadvantages of Java Server Faces 2.0?