How to stop further request execution from inside a taglib?

Question

Basically, we want to create a taglib that can possibly forward request execution to another page, similar to <jsp:forward />. How can we prevent the rest of the JSP page from executing from within the taglib?

Answer 1

If you don't want to continue processing the original page after passing control to another you are better off using a redirect rather than a forward.

response.sendRedirect("foo.jsp");

This will redirect to the new page and stop processing the old one.

However - redirects are only usable if you have not written anything to the response body yet (i.e. not sent any data back to the client).

Answer 2

You shouldn't be doing this in a taglib. Rather do it in a Servlet or Filter, before any bit is been sent to the response. Otherwise you will possible get into IllegalStateException: resposne already committed troubles.