Chapter 1. Introduction

OGNL stands for Object Graph Navigation Language. It is an expression and binding language for getting and setting properties of Java objects. Normally the same expression is used for both getting and setting the value of a property.

We pronounce OGNL as a word, like the last syllables of a drunken pronunciation of "orthogonal."

Many people have asked exactly what OGNL is good for. Several of the uses to which OGNL has been applied are:

Most of what you can do in Java is possible in OGNL, plus other extras such as list projection and selection and lambda expressions.