Tags not evaluating expression

Question

When the jsp executes with a single expression in the defaultValues attribute, it evaluates fine.
eg>
<ft:phone namePrefix="representative" defaultValues="<%=appeal.getRepresentative_area_code()%>"/>
// area code is set to 111
produces
<input size="3" type="text" maxlength="3" name="representative_area_code" value="111">
<input size="3" type="text" maxlength="3" name="representative_phone_prefix" value="">
<input size="4" type="text" maxlength="4" name="representative_phone_suffix" value="">
which is the expected response, Yet when I do
<ft:phone namePrefix="representative" defaultValues="<%=appeal.getRepresentative_area_code()%>;555"/>
I get
<input size="3" type="text" maxlength="3" name="representative_area_code" value="<%=appeal.getRepresentative_area_code()%>">
<input size="3" type="text" maxlength="3" name="representative_phone_prefix" value="555">
<input size="4" type="text" maxlength="4" name="representative_phone_suffix" value="">
like it doesn't evaluate the embedded expression.
Also is there a better way to pass in the default values then using a semi colon delimited list. Perhaps pass in a hashmap with attributes set?
Here is the tld file:
// tld begin
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE taglib PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JSP Tag Library 1.1//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-jsptaglibrary_1_1.dtd">
<taglib>
<tlibversion>1.0</tlibversion>
<jspversion>1.1</jspversion>
<shortname>formtags</shortname>
<info>WCB Tags for Forms</info>
<tag>
<name>phone</name>
<tagclass>wcb.common.jsptags.PhoneTag</tagclass>
<bodycontent>empty</bodycontent>
<info>This tag puts 3 input boxes for phone numbers.</info>
<attribute>
<name>namePrefix</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>false</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
<attribute>
<name>defaultValues</name>
<required>false</required>
<rtexprvalue>true</rtexprvalue>
</attribute>
</tag>
</taglib>
//end tld
//tag definition PhoneTag.java
package wcb.common.jsptags;
* This tag will output three input text fields that are used to input phone numbers.
* Creation date: (08/20/2002 2:05:00 PM)
* @author: Travis Leippi, WCB
* Changes:
* Author                    Date               Change
* Travis Leippi          2002-08-20          Initial revision
import java.util.StringTokenizer;
import javax.servlet.jsp.JspTagException;
import javax.servlet.jsp.JspWriter;
import javax.servlet.jsp.tagext.TagSupport;
public class PhoneTag extends TagSupport {
     private class PhoneField {
          String strField = null;
          int intSize;
          String strValue = null;
          public PhoneField(String argField, int argFieldSize) {
               strField = argField;
               intSize = argFieldSize;
               strValue = new String();
          public PhoneField(String argField, int argFieldSize, String argValue) {
               strField = argField;
               intSize = argFieldSize;
               strValue = argValue;
     private String strNamePrefix = null;
     private String strDefaultValues = null;
     private PhoneField[] objFields =
          { new PhoneField("area_code", 3), new PhoneField("phone_prefix", 3), new PhoneField("phone_suffix", 4)};
     * doStartTag is called by the JSP container when the tag is encountered
     public int doStartTag() {
          try {
               JspWriter out = pageContext.getOut();
               // Iterate through the elements of strFields
               // printing out a textbox for each
               if (strDefaultValues != null) {
                    setupFieldValues();
               for (int i = 0; i < objFields.length; i++) {
                    out.print("<input size=\"");
                    out.print(objFields.intSize);
                    out.print("\" type=\"text\" maxlength=\"");
                    out.print(objFields[i].intSize);
                    out.print("\" name=\"");
                    if (strNamePrefix != null) {
                         out.print(strNamePrefix);
                    out.print(objFields[i].strField + "\" value=\"");
                    if (objFields[i].strValue != null) {
                         out.print(objFields[i].strValue);
                    out.print("\">");
                    out.println();
          } catch (Exception ex) {
               throw new Error("All is not well in the world.");
          // Must return SKIP_BODY because we are not supporting a body for this
          // tag.
          return SKIP_BODY;
     * doEndTag is called by the JSP container when the tag is closed
     public int doEndTag() throws JspTagException {
          return SKIP_BODY;
     * Gets the strNamePrefix
     * @return Returns a String
     public String getNamePrefix() {
          return strNamePrefix;
     * Sets the strNamePrefix
     * @param strNamePrefix The strNamePrefix to set
     public void setNamePrefix(String strNamePrefix) {
          this.strNamePrefix = strNamePrefix + "_";
     * Gets the strValues
     * @return Returns a String
     public String getDefaultValues() {
          return strDefaultValues;
     * Sets the strValues
     * @param strValues The strValues to set
     public void setDefaultValues(String strDefaultValues) {
          this.strDefaultValues = strDefaultValues;
     private void setupFieldValues() {
          StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(strDefaultValues, ";");
          for (int i = 0; i < objFields.length && st.hasMoreTokens(); i++) {
               objFields[i].strValue = st.nextToken();
// end java

Answer 1

The expression needs to be a legal java expression that evaluates to a string. Try:
<ft:phone namePrefix="representative" defaultValues='<%=appeal.getRepresentative_area_code() + ";555"'%>/>If that doesn't work, go with
<%String st = appeal.getRepresentative_area_code() + ";555";%>
<ft:phone namePrefix="representative" defaultValues="<%=st%>/>