JBossDeveloper

the example code I would post is not different from what you have. But again, it is not for a reason that jsp's with code in them became almost obsolete. They are very hard to debug.

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.apache.jsp.index_jsp

means (I found that out using google) that the jsp cannot be compiled. For what reason? Nobody knows but your server and the logging in it. If you say it is almost the same, the interesting info is probably in the part the is *not* the same.....

good luck, I'll stick with jsf/facelets