javax.el Class ValueExpression

javax.el 
Class ValueExpression

java.lang.Object
  javax.el.Expression
      javax.el.ValueExpression

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable

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public abstract class ValueExpression
   
   
    
    extends 
    
    Expression
   
   

An Expression that can get or set a value.

In previous incarnations of this API, expressions could only be read. ValueExpression objects can now be used both to retrieve a value and to set a value. Expressions that can have a value set on them are referred to as l-value expressions. Those that cannot are referred to as r-value expressions. Not all r-value expressions can be used as l-value expressions (e.g. "${1+1}" or "${firstName} ${lastName}"). See the EL Specification for details. Expressions that cannot be used as l-values must always return true from isReadOnly().

The ExpressionFactory.createValueExpression(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.String, java.lang.Class) method can be used to parse an expression string and return a concrete instance of ValueExpression that encapsulates the parsed expression. The FunctionMapper is used at parse time, not evaluation time, so one is not needed to evaluate an expression using this class. However, the ELContext is needed at evaluation time.

The getValue(javax.el.ELContext), setValue(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object), isReadOnly(javax.el.ELContext) and getType(javax.el.ELContext) methods will evaluate the expression each time they are called. The ELResolver in the ELContext is used to resolve the top-level variables and to determine the behavior of the . and [] operators. For any of the four methods, the ELResolver.getValue(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object) method is used to resolve all properties up to but excluding the last one. This provides the base object. At the last resolution, the ValueExpression will call the corresponding ELResolver.getValue(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), ELResolver.setValue(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object), ELResolver.isReadOnly(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object) orELResolver.getType(javax.el.ELContext, java.lang.Object, java.lang.Object) method, depending on which was called on the ValueExpression.

See the notes about comparison, serialization and immutability in the Expression javadocs.