Frequently Asked Questions
Be sure to read through the list below before working with Taconite. Doing so will head off some problems before they arise.
Why aren't the rows of a table appearing in IE?
Be sure to enclose the table rows in a <tbody> tag. For some reason, when creating table rows dynamically, IE wants the table rows to reside inside of a <tbody> tag.
Why am I getting XML parsing errors?
The content that appears within the special Taconite XML tags, whether using either the JSP library or writing the tags by hand, must be valid XHTML. So, instead of just using <br>, be sure to use <br/>.
Why are JavaScript errors appearing?
If the JavaScript generated by the Taconite parser (either JSP or JavaScript-based) is throwing errors, it's likely that special characters like double quotes or ampersands are to blame. Ampersands are special characters in XML and must be escaped. Double quotes are string delimiters in JavaScript. Escape double quotes in normal text by placing a backslash in front of the double quote.
I'm using Taconite in a Java EE environment. Should I use the JSP-based parser or the JavaScript parser?
Each has its own trade-offs. Those who are still a bit nervous about JavaScript's robustness may prefer to use the JSP parser. The JSP parser may be easier to debug if problems arise, since you can more tightly control the runtime environment. The JSP parser creates the JavaScript on the server which is then sent to the browser. The resulting JavaScript is significantly more verbose than the XHTML that originated it, which will require more bandwidth and may slow down the response.
When using the JavaScript based parser, only XHTML is sent back as part of the response, so the response is significanly smaller than if the JSP parser were used. The JavaScript parser also relies on the client browser and CPU to perform the parsing, which may be good and bad. Many of today's computers have faster processors than the servers, so performance may be better when using the JavaScript parser, if your clients have newer computers. On the other hand, some browsers suffer from memory leaks and a degradation in performance as lots of JavaScript executed.
Either way, for those in a Java EE environment, performance can be enhanced by enabling gzip compression, using either the native Taconite gzip compression servlet filter, or any other means of gzip compression.