Questions tagged [ognl]

OGNL stands for Object-Graph Navigation Language (pronounced oganal); it is an expression language for getting and setting properties of Java objects, plus other extras such as list projection and selection and lambda expressions. You use the same expression for both getting and setting the value of a property.

The official site, gives the following uses to which OGNL has been applied:

1. A binding language between GUI elements (textfield, combobox, etc.) to model objects. Transformations are made easier by OGNL's TypeConverter mechanism to convert values from one type to another (String to numeric types, for example)
2. A data source language to map between table columns and a Swing TableModel;
3. A binding language between web components and the underlying model objects;
4. A more expressive replacement for the property-getting language used by the Apache Commons BeanUtils package or JSTL's EL (which only allow simple property navigation and rudimentary indexed properties).

It is used as an expression language in various projects:

1. Apache Click
2. Spring Web Flow
3. Tapestry
4. Struts 2.

Useful resources:

1. Official Site
2. Developer Guide
3. Language Guide