jsp - How to use scriptlet inside javascript

Question

Can someone test this example and share the results? http://timothypowell.net/blog/?p=23
When I do:

var myVar = '<% request.getContextPath(); %>';
alert(myVar);

I get : '<% request.getContextPath(); %>'.

Removing the enclosing single quotes from '<% request.getContextPath(); %>'; gives syntax error. How can I use the scrptlet or expresion inside a js function?

EDIT: this link has an explanation that helped me:
http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=172082

Answer 1

That line of code has to be placed in a HTML <script> tag in a .jsp file. This way the JspServlet will process the scriptlets (and other JSP/EL specific expressions).

<script>var myVar = '<%= request.getContextPath() %>';</script>

Note that <%= %> is the right syntax to print a variable, the <% %> doesn't do that.

Or if it is intended to be served in a standalone .js file, then you need to rename it to .jsp and add the following to top of the file (and change the <script src> URL accordingly):

<%@page contentType="text/javascript" %>
...
var myVar = '<%= request.getContextPath() %>';

This way the JspServlet will process it and the browser will be instructed to interpret the JSP response body as JavaScript instead of HTML.

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Unrelated to the concrete problem, note that scriptlets are considered poor practice. Use EL.

var myVar = '${pageContext.request.contextPath}';