Use single quote or double quote for strings in EL

Question

<ui:repeat value="#{coreGridBean.heroBeanList}" var="hero"
    offset="0" step="1" size="#{hero.size}" varStatus="status">
    <tr class="#{status.even ? 'evenColumn' : 'oddColumn'}">
        <td>#{status.index}</td>
        <td>#{hero.id}</td>
        <td>#{hero.race}</td>
        <td>#{hero.name}</td>
    </tr>
</ui:repeat>

I wonder whether the usage of class="#{status.even ? 'evenColumn' : 'oddColumn'}" is correct.

I feel a bit guilty of using single quotes instead of double quotes. But in this case, double quote fails, single quote wins.

Hirz

You could also use outer single quotes and then use double quotes for the Strings. class='#{status.even ? "evenColumn" : "oddColumn"}' – Safford

Answer 1

It's perfectly fine. It's also the convention I use: single quotes for strings in EL. It's not only better readable, but it's also friendly for syntax highlighting.

Using double quotes is valid, but harder to interpret when nested in a HTML attribute which is by itself also double quoted.

Glycogenesis