Q:	Q: Does the Tag File have access to the request and response implicit objects?
A:	A: Yes! Remember, even though it’s a .tag file, it’s gonna end up as part of a JSP. You can use the implicit request and response objects (if you do scripting... the normal EL implicit objects are always there as well), and you have access to a JspContext as well. You don’t have a ServletContext, though—a Tag File uses a JspContext instead of a ServletContext.
Q:	Q: I thought on the opposite page you just said we could not do scripting in a Tag File!
A:	A: No, that’s not exactly what we said. You can do scripting in a Tag File, but you can’t do scripting inside the body of the tag used to invoke the Tag File.
Q:	Q: Can you combine Tag Files and TLDs for custom tags in the same directory?
A:	A: Yes. In fact, if you make a TLD that references your Tag Files, the Container will consider both Tag Files and custom tags mentioned in the same TLD as belonging to the same library.
Q:	Q: Hold on—I thought you said Tag Files didn’t have a TLD? Isn’t that why you have to use an attribute directive? Since you can’t declare the attribute in a TLD?
A:	A: Trick question. If you deploy your Tag Files in a JAR, they MUST have a TLD that describes their location. But it doesn’t describe attribute, body-content, etc. The TLD entries for a Tag File describe only the location of the actual Tag File. The TLD for a Tag File looks like this: <taglib ....> <tlib-version>1.0</tlib-version> <uri>myTagLibrary</uri> <tag-file> <name>Header</name> <path>/META-INF/tags/Header.tag</path> </tag-file> </taglib> Notice that declaring a <tag-file> is quite different from declaring an actual <tag>.
Q:	Q: Why did they do it this way? Wouldn’t it be so much simpler to just have custom tags and Tag Files declared the same way in a TLD? But NO... instead they had to come up with this whole other thing where you have to use new directives for defining the attributes and body-content. So, why are tags and Tag Files done differently?
A:	A: On one hand, yes, it would have been simpler if custom tags and Tag Files were declared in the same way, using a TLD. The question is, simpler for whom? For a custom tag developer, sure. But Tag Files were added to the spec with someone else in mind—page designers. Tag Files give non-Java developers a way to build custom tags without writing a Java class to handle the tag’s functionality. And not having to build a TLD for the Tag File just makes life easier for the Tag File developer. (Remember, Tag Files do need a TLD if the Tag File is deployed in the JAR, but a non-Java programmer might not be using JARs anyway.) The bottom line: custom tags must have a TLD, but Tag Files can declare attributes and body-content directly inside the Tag File, and need TLDs only if the Tag File is in a JAR.