Java HTML Builder (anti-template) library?

Question

I'm always looking for a modern Java library that makes creating valid (X)HTML snippets easy.

Yes you could use a templating language but there are times when you do not want to do this because Java has some advantages over insert your favorite templating language.

I have seen lots of in-house HTML builders in many projects but there is no Commons-HTML Builder that I can find.

Does anyone know of one?

It would be ideal if it took advantage of the Java 5/6/7 type system (generics) and support Fluent Style. Or something like fluent style ie JQuery style chaining, or a state machine used in mocking libraries like JMock (pedantically speaking a Monad).

A rough builder example might be:

new Html().title("stuff").body().in().div().in().h1("Hello World").hr();

Another example: http://codemonkeyism.com/the-best-markup-builder-i-could-build-in-java/

I ended up writing my own: Java Anti-template Language (JATL)

Answer 1

Have you tried the Jakarta Element Construction Set (ECS) project?

It is not really a fluent API - reminds me more of StringBuilder than Mockito... But functionally I think it is what you're after.

Answer 2

Your best bet is probably to use an XML library and render the output as HTML.

I.E. Dom4J defines a HtmlWriter class for HTML-specific XML output.

But you'd still have to create your own api on top of it to actually create the document.

Answer 3

I ended up writing my own library called Java Anti-template Language (JATL)