Initialization of parameter values in JSP Custom Tag Handlers

Question

Hi - I have a tag handler for a custom tag that has no body, but accepts
          some parameters.
          If the parameters are optional and are passed with the tag in the source jsp
          page, then all is fine.
          However, for subsequent uses of the same tag in the same page if the
          optional parameters are omitted, the previous values remain in the instance
          of the tag handler class, as the attributes for the tag handler are declared
          as instance variables (with corresponding getters and setters) as per the
          tag handler specs.
          eg:
          <abc:sometag attrib1="a" attrib2="b"/>
          if attrib1 and attrib2 are optional, then a subsequent use of this tag, eg:
          <abc:sometag/>
          attrib1 and attrib2 still have their previously assigned values of "a" and
          "b".
          Is there a method I can call to get the actual values of the attributes that
          were passed on a particular call to the tag handler, or is there a way to
          initialize the attributes before the tag handler processing method, eg
          doBeforeBody(), doAfterBody(), is called?
          Thanks,
          Kevin Hooke
          

Answer 1

Yeah, just call the JSPWriter's print method instead of using the StringBuffer, or write your own subclass of StringBuffer (or StringBuilder if Java 5+) which will do this for you automatically when the size is at a certain point, and clear it out)