How to use JETT if tag to compare strings

Question

I am using JETT's if tag to format an Excel file.

I want to use the below condition to compare a string.

<jt:if test="${thisVar == "this is an apple" }">I have an apple.</jt:if>

However, my Excel sheet keeps running into a TagParseException where "this is an apple" is an unrecognised attribute.

Is it possible to compare strings in a JETT if tag?

Answer 1

You need to either escape the double quotes or use single quotes to define your String constant.

These examples work: single quotes for the String

<jt:if test="${thisVar == 'this is an apple'}">I have an apple.</jt:if>

Or escape the double quotes:

<jt:if test="${thisVar == \"this is an apple\"}">I have an apple.</jt:if>

Reference:

• http://jett.sourceforge.net/tags/basics.html

JETT supports escaping literal double-quote characters with a backslash, and escaping backslash characters as well:

\" => "
\\ => \

And for full reference the stacktrace you get on this error:

Exception in thread "main" net.sf.jett.exception.TagParseException: Unrecognized attribute "x" for tag "if" at Sheet!Cell.
    at net.sf.jett.tag.BaseTag.checkAttributes(BaseTag.java:214)
    at net.sf.jett.tag.BaseTag.processTag(BaseTag.java:239)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.CellTransformer.transformCellTag(CellTransformer.java:302)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.CellTransformer.transform(CellTransformer.java:123)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.BlockTransformer.transform(BlockTransformer.java:73)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.BlockTransformer.transform(BlockTransformer.java:36)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.SheetTransformer.transform(SheetTransformer.java:150)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.SheetTransformer.transform(SheetTransformer.java:76)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.ExcelTransformer.transform(ExcelTransformer.java:405)
    at net.sf.jett.transform.ExcelTransformer.transform(ExcelTransformer.java:379)