Use jsp tag output as another tag's attribute value

Question

I don't know anyone has ever tried this, one tag's attribute value needs to be dynamically set using another tag's output. Something like
<layout:grid cols="<layout:write name="element" property="value"/>'' space='false'>
</layout:grid>
I want the cols attribute of grid tag to be the output of <layout:write name="element" property="value"/>
The way I wrote is of course not working.
But I know PHP can do things similar to this, JSP should be able to achieve something like this too.
If anyone knows how to do this or using any alternative way to do this, please let me know.
Shane

Answer 1

something like this...
          OuterTag qParent = null;
          try {
                    Tag myParent = getParent();
                    while (myParent != null ) {
                      // loop up through tags until you find the one you want
                         if (myParent instanceof OuterTag) {
                              qParent = (OuterTag) myParent;
                              data = qParent.getSomeData();
                         } else {
                              myParent = myParent.getParent();
               }