JSP Static Include in JDeveloper

Question

We've got some older-style code that statically includes a page (<%@ include file="xyz.jsp" %>) that assumes the existence of, and references, a variable (declared via <% %>) in the including page. This runs fine when deployed to an OC4J server, but of course when I try to run the including page in JDeveloper, it attempts to pre-compile all of my JSPs and then chokes on the inlcuded page, as it is attempting to reference an undeclared variable.
Is there a work-around in order to get this to run in JDeveloper? (putting JSTL aside for the moment...)
Thanks,
Jim

Answer 1

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the reply.
Both IncludingJSP.jsp and IncludedJSP.jsp are in my project. Here is a simple test case to try if you have the time/interest:
<<IncludingJSP.jsp>>
<%
String s = "test";
%>
This is IncludingJSP.jsp
<br>
<%@ include file="IncludedJSP.jsp"%>
<<IncludedJSP.jsp>>
This is IncludedJSP.jsp
<br>
<%=s%>
When I try to compile either page, or try to run IncludingJSP.jsp, I get the following result in JDev:
C:\OraHome1\JDev9031\jdev\mywork\TestWS1\Project3\public_html\IncludedJSP.jsp
Error(3,17): variable s not found in class _IncludedJSP
I've done this type of thing in the past myself, but it was a project involving components that wouldn't compile or run locally (accessed Portal APIs/components that only existed on the server in the Portal environment), so we always ran/debugged on the server, where this arrangement will (and does) work fine. Its just in the JDev environment that it gets stopped up. (Similarly, in JDev, if you comment out the variable reference in the Included JSP, you can compile and run fine. If you then uncomment the variable reference and just refresh the browser - w/o recompiling and rerunning in JDev - all works fine - this is synonymous with how deployment to the server would behave.)
A first-level (flawed) workaround is to deselect the "Make Project Before Running" option in the Project Settings:Runner:Options page. In doing so, a Make/Rebuild of the project will cause the above error, but simply running the IncludingJSP.jsp will allow things to work correctly - looks great. The problem here is that if I then introduce a Bean, say Bean1, that I reference in IncludingJSP.jsp (via jsp:useBean and jsp:getProperty, for example), then when I try to compile the Bean after making a change (something significant like changing the return type of a get method - simply changing something internal to the Bean seems to work fine, as the prior compilation of the referencing page still works), the dependency analysis gets hosed up and depending on what I do (Make/Rebuild of Bean/Project), I either get compile-time error messages or things appear fine at compile-time and then when I run, the Bean or referencing JSP are not properly compiled.
I've tried getting tricky and having a second Project, containing my IncludedJSP.jsp file, setting its HTML Root to be the same as the other Project (thus having the IncludedJSP.jsp file available for the compilation of IncludingJSP.jsp, but not having it included in the project's dependency analysis and subsequent compile), but that hoses something up and I then can't run any JSPs in the first Project. (This is regardless of whether a file is included or not - simply having a common HTML root between two projects seems to screw things up to the point that you can't run any JSPs in either project...)
Its kinda frustrating. I think I see/understand basically why its doing what its doing, but it'd be nice to find a way to keep it from happening! I don't know if maybe using Ant would solve this type of problem?
Anyway, appreciate your interest - if you have other ideas, I'm open to them!!
Jim