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Speeding JSP Development Using HomeSite

HomeSite is one of the most popular Web site development tools available today; however, it does not provide integrated support for Java Server Pages (JSP)1. This article describes the steps for combining the features of HomeSite and JRun and to create a JSP Integrated Development Environment (IDE).

Using JRun to View JSP within HomeSite
One of the most helpful features of HomeSite is the ability to quickly preview an HTML page as it would be displayed by a user's browser. But HomeSite lacks the ability to dynamically view pages containing JSP directives. If you attempt to browse a page containing JSP, the page is rendered incorrectly. HomeSite can be extended to display JSP by using JRun.

To configure your HomeSite server mappings to use JRun, execute the following steps from within HomeSite:

  • Click the Options/Settings menu or press F8.
  • Click the Browse tab (Figure 1).
  • Ensure that the Enable server mappings checkbox is selected.
  • Click the Add button.
  • In the Map From field, enter the physical path of the directory that will correspond to the URL value of the Map To field.
  • In the Map To field, enter the URL that displays the filename entered in the Map From field.
  • Click the OK button.

    Figure 1: Entering Server Mapping (Browse Tab)

    Added Advantages: Browsing your JSP within the HomeSite IDE will reduce the number of windows opened on your desktop and reduce your likelihood of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome by saving you from the old routine of Alt+Tab, F5.

    Recognizing JSP/Java Filename Extensions
    The next step is to tell HomeSite that filenames ending in .jsp, .jsa, and .java should be considered web documents and treated as such in the file dialogs. By default, HomeSite does not recognize filenames ending in .jsp, .jsa, and .java as web files. It therefore shows these filenames only if you select "All files" as the "Filter" option in the Explorer-like section of the Resource window pane (the left-most pane). As shown in Figure 2, the other Filter options are Web Documents (text only), Web Images (images only), and All Web Files (text and images).



  • Figure 2:     Available HomeSite File Filters

    To configure HomeSite to qualify the .jsp, .jsa, and .java extensions as web documents for viewing and editing, proceed with the following:

  • Click the Options/Settings menu or press F8.
  • Click the File Settings tab (Figure 3).
  • In the Web Documents field, cursor to the end of the list and add "jsp;jsa;java;".
  • Click the OK button.

    Figure 3: Adding New File Extensions to Web Documents List

    Viewing JSP Code with a Color Scheme
     Now that you have the .jsp, .jsa, and .java filenames recognized as web documents, it's time to customize the color scheme used while editing these files. By default, the .jsp, .jsa, or .java page will have only HTML tags/attributes and JavaScript colorized, along with everything between the JSP delimiters ( <% %> ) highlighted in yellow (*ack*). With color schemes applied, JSP-formatted pages will have only the delimiters highlighted in yellow (Figure 4); and because of similar objects between JSP and ASP, keywords such as "Response", "Request", "Session" will have a purple color applied to them. Java pages will have keywords such as "import", "public", "extends", "for", "switch", "int" in blue bold and "//" comments in green italics.

    Figure 4: JSP Code in Color

    Whereas HomeSite does not offer actual jsp/jsa/java syntax "color coding" at the time of this writing1, we can assign the closest scheme available as follows:

  • Click the Options/Settings menu or press F8.
  • Click the Color Coding tab (Figure 5).
  • Choose either ASP-JScript or ASP-VBScript.
  • Click the Edit Extensions button.
  • At the end of the list, enter "jsp;jsa;".
  • Click the OK button.
  • Choose JavaScript.
  • Click the Edit Extensions button.
  • At the end of the list, enter "java;".
  • Click the OK button.
  • Click the OK button again.

    Figure 5: Adding New Color Coding Extensions


    Creating JSP Code Snippets
    The last step is to create easy-access JSP Code Snippets. The Code Snippets feature offers a quick way to store and re-use code blocks and content. Comment your snippets as you would any code block.

    To create a code snippet, execute the following steps. (These instructions are excerpts from the HomeSite help file entitled "Saving Code Blocks as Snippets.")

  • In the Resource pane, click the Snippets icon.
  • Right-click in the pane and choose Create Folder from the shortcut menu.
  • Enter a name for the folder.
  • Right-click in the pane and choose Add Snippet to open the Snippet dialog (Figure 6).
  • Enter a name for the snippet in the Description box. Note that snippet names cannot contain characters that are illegal in filenames (slashes, special characters, double quotes, etc.).
  • In the Start Text window, type in or paste an opening code block. To set a default spacing between the blocks, press the Enter key at the end of the start text and at the beginning of the end text.
  • In the End Text window, enter a closing code block.
  • Click the OK button.
  • To edit or delete a snippet, right-click it.

    The default location for Snippets is the \UserData\Snippets folder below your HomeSite root directory.

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    Figure 6: Adding Code Snippets


    1 A Java Server Pages Color Coding Scheme is now available in the HomeSite 4.0.1 update.
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