EL - How do you call a method that requires a parameter

Question

How do you call a method that requires a parameter
In scriplet code here is what I am trying to do
<%= car.getDefaultColor(car.getCarType()) %>
How do I do this in EL
Here is my guess (it generates the Exception described below)
${car.defaultColor(car.carType)}
Here is the Exception I am getting:
javax.servlet.ServletException: <h3>Validation error messages from tag library c</h3>tag = 'out' / attribute = 'value': An error occurred while parsing custom action attribute "value" with value "${car.defaultColor(car.carType)}": Encountered "(", expected one of ["}", ".", ">", "gt", "<", "lt", "==", "eq", "<=", "le", ">=", "ge", "!=", "ne", "[", "+", "-", "*", "/", "div", "%", "mod", "and", "&&", "or", "||"]
Any Ideas?
P.S. If it matters to you, I am using JSTL 1.0 and the code snippets above are actually within the value attribute of a <c:out value="" /> statement.

Answer 1

How do you call a method that requires a parameter
In scriplet code here is what I am trying to do
<%= car.getDefaultColor(car.getCarType()) %>
How do I do this in ELYou don't. EL is very strict in method signatures. All get methods must be public Type getProperty(void); And all set methods must be public void setProperty(Type t);
So you will have to re-work your Bean so it does not need an argument to the get method (getDefaultColor()). Since you are calling another method out of car, you might re-write the getDefaultColor method as such:
  public Object getDefaultColor() {
    CarType ct = this.getCarType();
    //then do other stuff
  }If that isn't suitable, then provide a helper method that is used to set the current car type and then call the getDefaultColor:
  private CarType curCarType;
  public void setCurrentCarType(CarType ct) { curCarType = ct; }
  public Object getDefaultColor() {
    if (curCarType == null) throw new IllegalStateException("CarType must be set before getting color");
    //normal work using curCarType
<c:set target="${car}" property="currentCarType" value="${car.carType}"/>
<c:out value="${car.defaultColor}"/>It is better to do as little of the data manipulation (setting up the car type) in the JSP as possible, so the first option is better than the second. Also better then the second would be to set the current car type in a servlet or data access object (or wherever) from which your retreive the car to begin with. Manipulatig it in the JSP itself should be your last resort (to keep as much business logic out of the JSP as possible).
Here is my guess (it generates the Exception
described below)
${car.defaultColor(car.carType)}
Here is the Exception I am getting:
javax.servlet.ServletException: <h3>Validation error
messages from tag library c</h3>tag = 'out' /
attribute = 'value': An error occurred while parsing
custom action attribute "value" with value
"${car.defaultColor(car.carType)}": Encountered "(",
expected one of ["}", ".", ">", "gt", "<", "lt",
"==", "eq", "<=", "le", ">=", "ge", "!=", "ne", "[",
"+", "-", "*", "/", "div", "%", "mod", "and", "&&",
"or", "||"]
Any Ideas?
P.S. If it matters to you, I am using JSTL 1.0 and
the code snippets above are actually within the value
attribute of a <c:out value="" /> statement.