Include directive in JSP is used to import a static file or dynamic file e.g. JSP inside another JSP. Most common example of include directive is including header and footer in JSP. Include directive is also called file include because resource to be included is specified using file attribute as shown in below example of include directive:
Include directive is used to copy the content of one JSP page to another. It’s like including the code of one file into another.
Syntax of Include Directive:
<%@include file ="value"%>
here value is the JSP file name which needs to be included. If the file is in
the same directory then just specify the file name otherwise complete URL(or
path) needs to be mentioned in the value field.
Note: It can be used anywhere in the page:
<%@ include file="rock.jsp"
%>
The code written in rock.jsp will be included as it is in the jsp file which
included it during JSP translation time and than merged code is get compiled to
generate Servlet which is later used to server request. Include directive is
also refereed as static import and it acts like #include from C or C++. file
attribute is used specify resource to be included and can be specified in either
relative url or absolute url. Since resource included using include directive is
included during translation time and jsp doesn't compile if there is any change
in included file. So include directive is not suitable to include dynamic
resources because if included file changes between multiple request only old
value is used always.
Read More →