Frequently Asked Questions
Our FAQs are divided into the following sections:
  • General
    • What are the licensing arrangements for PAJES?
    • What are the minimum requirements for using PAJES?
    • Can I use PAJES in Java 1.1.x environments?
  • Support
    • What are the support arrangements for PAJES?
  • Presentation Framework
    • What is a PAJE?
    • Do I have to recompile or restart my web application to detect changes to my HTML source files?
    • Can I use the PAJES HTML objects directly, without using HTML template files?
    • Sometimes I need to be able to hide an HTML element. How can I do that?
    • How do I internationalise my application?
    • Can I turn off automatic internationalisation checking?
    • How do I validate user input on my HTML Form?
    • What built-in client validation is available in PAJES?
    • How do I send compressed content back to the browser?
    • I just need to parse and manipulate some HTML, but not in a servlet. Can I do that?
  • Servlet Framework
    • How do I access a file uploaded using a multi-part HTTP request in my servlet?
    • Why do I get "HTTP ERROR: 413 Request Entity Too Large" when uploading a file?
    • Can I encrypt query strings so that users cannot see what parameters are being passed?
  • Jenerator
    • Why does the Jenerator generate so many classes?
  General Top
Q. What are the licensing arrangements for PAJES?
The license basically says that PAJES can be used in both free and commercial projects with full source code and at no charge, as long as the simple copyright requirements are met.
Q. What are the minimum requirements for using PAJES?
The Presentation Framework requires:
  • Java 2 (API 1.2+)
  • Servlet API 2.2+
The Servlet Framework requires:
  • Java 2 (API 1.2+)
  • Servlet API 2.3+
  • JDOM for accessing, manipulating, and outputting XML data
Q. Can I use PAJES in Java 1.1.x environments?
Sorry, but no, it won't work. It uses collections and other Java 2 features.
  Support Top
Q. What are the support arrangements for PAJES?
Informal support, bug reports and features requests should all be submitted to the Support Mailing List.
Viridian, the original developers of PAJES, also offers commercial support agreements.
  Presentation Framework Top
Q. What is a PAJE?
A Paje is a Java class that represents an HTML page.
The org.pajes.html package contains over 90 classes for acccessing and manipulating all elements of an HTML page.
Q. Do I have to recompile or restart my web application to detect changes to my HTML source files?
No. PAJES will detect file modifications automatically, although you can turn this off if you want to (which means that you then would have to restart to detect changes).
Q. Can I use the PAJES HTML objects directly, without using HTML template files?
Sure you can. Look at this example code snippet: 
   Paje doc = new Paje();
   Paragraph para = new Paragraph("Hello World");

   doc.getHead().setPageTitle("Hello World Page");
   doc.getBody().add(para);
   doc.write(this.getServletContext(), request, response);
Drop this code in the doGet method of your servlet, and you are done.
Q. Sometimes I need to be able to hide an HTML element. How can I do that?
Almost every class in the org.pajes.html package inherits from Tag, which has a method called setWritable(boolean). Just simply call this method with a value of false, and the element will not be returned to the browser.
Alternatively, every class in the org.pajes.html package implements setWritePermission(org.pajes.security.WritePermission, String, String). This is the PAJES security mechanism, and can be applied to any HTML or text element on the Paje. To use it, you define an implementation of org.pajes.security.WritePermission, and then apply it to the relevant objects. If the implementation (which is usually a Singleton, for performance reasons) determines that the current user can see the element, it will be written back to the browser (if it is writable, of course). If they shouldn't see it, then they won't. It is that simple....
Q. How do I internationalise my application?
Pajes automatically detects the browser's preferred language settings, and attempts to locate an alternate HTML page, using standard Java conventions.
For example, if you have a base document called menu.html, and a user from Mexico logs into your site, the PajeFactory will attempt to locate a source HTML file called menu_es_MX.html. If it doesn't exist, it will then try menu_es.html, and if that doesn't exist, it will send the base page. If an internationalised page is found, it will be cached to ensure optimal performance.
Q. Can I turn off automatic internationalisation checking?
Yes, although we usually don't as the overhead is negligible.
You can turn off internationalisation checking for a particular PajeFactory by calling setInternationalisationChecking(false).
Alternatively, you can change the default for all PajeFactory objects by placing the following in your web application deployment descriptor (web.xml): 
   <context-param>
       <param-name>org.pajes.html.PajeFactory.i18nChecking</param-name>
       <param-value>false</param-value>
   </context-param>
Q. How do I validate user input on my HTML Form?
Pajes contains a set of sophisticated JavaScript based client validation functions. The Java representations of these are found in the org.pajes.html.validation package.
All classes in the org.pajes.html package that represent HTML input, elements, have a method called addClientValidation(ValidationFunction). Multiple validation functions may be added to a single input element. Once the validation has been added to the input element, no further action is required by the developer.
There is also a convenience method on classes that represent input fields called setMandatory(boolean) that will automatically add IsMandatory validation.
Q. What built-in client validation is available in PAJES?
Function Description
IsBetween Checks that the user has entered a value within a specified range.
IsCreditCard Checks that the user has entered a valid credit card number.
IsDecimal Checks that a value that the user has entered is a valid number, with the specified number of decimal places.
IsEmailAddress Checks that the user has entered a valid email address.
IsEqual Checks that the user has entered the same value twice correctly.
IsFormat Checks that the user has entered a value in a format specified by a mask. Used for date validation checking, and any other formatted values.
IsInteger Checks that the value entered by the user is a valid integer
IsLength Checks that the value entered by the user has a specified number of characters, or is within a specified range.
IsSelected Checks that the user has selected a valid value from a list.
IsValid Checks that the value entered by the user is one of a specified set of values.
Q. How do I send compressed content back to the browser?
You can turn on compression for a particular Paje by calling useCompression(true).
Alternatively, you can change the default for all Pajes by placing the following in your web application deployment descriptor (web.xml): 
   <context-param>
       <param-name>org.pajes.servlet.Browser.useCompression</param-name>
       <param-value>true</param-value>
   </context-param>
Q. I just need to parse and manipulate some HTML, but not in a servlet. Can I do that?
You can use the PajeParser directly, and then use it's toPaje() method to create a Paje. Then you you just do whatever manipulation you need, using standard PAJES methods and objects. When you have finished, you can get the HTML document as a String using the toString() on the Paje object.
For example: 
    File file = new File("test.html");
    PajeParser parser = new PajeParser(file);
    Paje doc = parser.toPaje();
    Tag[] anchors = doc.getTagByClass(Anchor.class);
    
    for (int i = 0; i < anchors.length; i++) {
      Anchor anchor = (Anchor)anchors[i];
      anchor.setURL("asdf");
    }
    
    System.out.print(doc.toString());
Be careful, though: it is more efficient to create a PajeFactory if you want to get and manipulate mulitple copies of the same HTML source file, rather than re-parsing the file each time you want to do something.
  Servlet Framework Top
Q. How do I access a file uploaded using a multi-part HTTP request in my servlet?
Your servlet must extend PajeServlet or one of its sub-classes, and you just use the following methods:
  • getUploadedFileNames(HttpServletRequest request)
  • getUploadedFile(HttpServletRequest request, String sourceFileName)
Q. Why do I get "HTTP ERROR: 413 Request Entity Too Large" when uploading a file?
This is a security measure designed to help prevent Denial of Service attacks by uploading extremely large files. The default maximum size is 1,048,510 bytes.
You can change the default for a particular PajeServlet by calling the setMaxFileUploadSize(int) method in your servlet initialisation.
Alternatively, you can change the default for all servlets by placing the folliwng in your web application deployment descriptor (web.xml): 
   <context-param>
       <param-name>org.pajes.servlet.Browser.maxFileUploadSize</param-name>
       <param-value>1048510</param-value>
   </context-param>
Q. Can I encrypt query strings so that users cannot see what parameters are being passed?
You can turn on query string parameter encryption by placing the following in your web application deployment descriptor (web.xml): 
   <context-param>
       <param-name>org.pajes.servlet.Browser.useEncryptedQueryParameters</param-name>
       <param-value>true</param-value>
   </context-param>
  Jenerator Top
Q. Why does the Jenerator generate so many classes?
The Jenerator creates both an abstract and a concrete class for almost everything it does. This enables you to separate the Jenerated code from the program code you have to write.
You should never change the Jenerated abstract classes. Only ever write code in the concrete classes, and re-Jenerate the abstract classes as needed.
For example, if you write some code that manipulates the HTML Jenerated from your source document, and then your source document changes so significantly that it has to be re-Jenerated, you only need to recreate the abstract PajeTemplate and Paje sub-classes, and your hand developed code in your concrete class will not be lost.