How can I retain HTML form field values in JSP after submitting form to Servlet?
After submitting data in the HTML from, a servlet adds these data to my DB and forwards a result message to a JSP page. I want to retain the initially submitted values in the form after the forward.
Is it sensible to make an object in a servlet and add all the parameters I receive and send it with a request to JSP? Is there another better way?
You could access single-value request parameters by ${param}
.
<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsp/jstl/functions" prefix="fn" %>
...
<input name="foo" value="${fn:escapeXml(param.foo)}">
<textarea name="bar">${fn:escapeXml(param.bar)}</textarea>
...
<input type="radio" name="faz" value="a" ${param.faz == 'a' ? 'checked' : ''} />
<input type="radio" name="faz" value="b" ${param.faz == 'b' ? 'checked' : ''} />
<input type="radio" name="faz" value="c" ${param.faz == 'c' ? 'checked' : ''} />
...
<select name="baz">
<option value="a" ${param.baz == 'a' ? 'selected' : ''}>label a</option>
<option value="b" ${param.baz == 'b' ? 'selected' : ''}>label b</option>
<option value="c" ${param.baz == 'c' ? 'selected' : ''}>label c</option>
</select>
Do note that JSTL's fn:escapeXml()
is necessary in order to prevent XSS attacks. See also XSS prevention in JSP/Servlet web application.
You could access multi-value request parameters by ${paramValues}
and EL 3.0 streams.
<input type="checkbox" name="far" value="a" ${paramValues.far.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'a').get() ? 'checked' : ''} />
<input type="checkbox" name="far" value="b" ${paramValues.far.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'b').get() ? 'checked' : ''} />
<input type="checkbox" name="far" value="c" ${paramValues.far.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'c').get() ? 'checked' : ''} />
...
<select name="boo" multiple>
<option value="a" ${paramValues.boo.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'a').get() ? 'selected' : ''}>label a</option>
<option value="b" ${paramValues.boo.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'b').get() ? 'selected' : ''}>label b</option>
<option value="c" ${paramValues.boo.stream().anyMatch(v->v == 'c').get() ? 'selected' : ''}>label c</option>
</select>
For the select statement maybe you can just use javascript.
document.getElementById('baz').value = '${param.baz}';