Iterate ArrayList in JSP

Question

I have two arraylists in my class and I want to send it to my JSP and then iterate the elements in arraylist in a select tag.

Here is my class:

packa         


        

Answer 1

It would be better to use a java.util.Map to store the key and values instead of two ArrayList, like:

Map foods = new HashMap();

// here key stores the food codes
// and values are that which will be visible to the user in the drop-down
foods.put("man", "mango");
foods.put("app", "apple");
foods.put("gra", "grapes");

// if this is your servlet or action class having access to HttpRequest object then
httpRequest.setAttribute("foods", foods); // so that you can retrieve in JSP

Now to iterate the map in the JSP use:

    
        
            ${food.value}
        
    

Or without JSTL:

<%
Map foods = (Map) request.getAttribute("foods");

for(Entry food : foods.entrySet()) {
%>

    
        <%=food.getValue() %>
    

<%
}
%>

To know more about iterating with JSTL here is a good SO answer and here is a good tutorial about how to use JSTL in general.