I have added an abbreviate() method to our base action class. /** * Abbreviate a string using ellipses (...).<br> * If text is longer then len it is truncated to len characters then the * last 3 characters are replaced with ellipses (...). * * @param text the string to abbreviate * @param len the maximum length of the returned string (must be greater * then 3) * @return the string abbreviated with ellipses to a maximum length of * <code>len</code> */ public String abbreviate(String text, int len) { return org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils.abbreviate(text, len); }
Then in the JSP I can use it like this <s:property value="abbreviate(name,25)" />