JSP directive & action - include

Include directive.
The include directive is used to insert text and code at JSP translation time. The content of the file given in the include directive is ‘pasted’ as it is, in the place where the JSP include directive is used. Then the source JSP page is converted into a java servlet class. The included file can be a static resource or a JSP page. Generally JSP include directive is used to include header banners and footers.

The JSP compilation procedure is that, the source JSP page gets compiled only if that page has changed. If there is a change in the included JSP file, the source JSP file will not be compiled and therefore the modification will not get reflected in the output.

include action
The <jsp:include> action element is like a function call. At runtime, the included file will be ‘executed’ and the result content will be included with the soure JSP page. When the included JSP page is called, both the request and response objects are passed as parameters.

If there is a need to pass additional parameters, then <jsp:param> element can be used. If the resource is static, its content is inserted into the calling JSP file, since there is no processing needed.