Servlet Introduction

Objectives
◼Servlet hierarchy
◼Servlet Life cycle
◼HttpServlet
◼HttpServletRequest
◼HttpServletResponse
◼Servlet mapping
◼Servlets collaboration

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 What a Servlet is
• Servlets are small Java programs that run on a
Web server and help to build dynamic Web pages.
• Servlets receive and respond to requests from Web
clients, usually across HTTP, the HyperText
Transfer Protocol.

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 What a Servlet is
• Java Servlet technology was created as a portable
way to provide dynamic, user-oriented content.
• Because the servlet is running on the server side, it
does not require any Java-support from Web
browser
• Servlet is multi-thread
• Controller

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 Using Servlet in
◼ Read HTML form data, use cookies and
session
◼ Browser send the request to the server, Java
servlet will execute and
◼ generate HTML content send back to the Web
browser as the response

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 What a Servlet is
• Servlet is multi-thread

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 The servlet Code

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 Adding Servlet to the web.xml file
◼ web.xml defines mappings between URL paths and
the servlets that handle requests with those paths
◼ The web server uses this configuration to identify the
servlet to handle a given request and call the class
method that corresponds to the request method (e.g.
the doGet() method for HTTP GET requests).

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 Adding Servlet to the web.xml file
◼ To map a URL to a servlet, you declare the servlet with the
<servlet> element, then define a mapping from a URL path to
a servlet declaration with the <servlet-mapping> element.
◼ The <servlet> element declares the servlet, including a name
used to refer to the servlet by other elements in the file, the
class to use for the servlet, and initialization parameters.

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 Comparing JSP and Servlet

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 Best Practice

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 Hierarchy of Servlet class
• The javax.servlet
package provides interfaces
and classes for writing servlets

• When a servlet accepts a call from a client, it receives two

objects:
– ServletRequest, which encapsulates the communication from the
client to the server.
– ServletResponse, which encapsulates the communication from the
servlet to the client.

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 The Servlet interface
◼ At the heart of servlet architecture is the
interface javax.servlet.Servlet.
◼ It provides the framework for all servlets.
◼ The Servlet interface defines five methods.
The three most important are as follows:
◼ init() method—Initializes a servlet
◼ service() method—Receives and responds to client
requests
◼ destroy() method—Performs cleanup
◼ All servlets must implement this interface, either
directly or through inheritance.

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 The servlet container

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 The Servlet Life Cycle

init

service

destroy

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 Servlet life cycle
◼ The init() method is where the servlet's
life cycle begins.
◼ It is called by the server immediately after the
servlet is instantiated.
◼ It is called only once.
◼ public void init(ServletConfig config) throws
ServletException;
◼ In the init() method, the servlet creates and
initializes any resources, including data members,
that it will be using while handling requests.

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 Servlet life cycle
◼ The service() method handles all
requests sent by a client.
◼ The entry point for executing application logic
in a servlet
◼ It cannot start servicing requests until the
init() method has been executed.
◼ The service() method implements a
request and response paradigm.
◼ We should never implement this method
directly if extending from HttpServlet

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 Servlet life cycle
◼ The destroy() method signifies the end of a
servlet's life.
◼ When a service is being shut down, it calls the servlet's
destroy() method.
◼ This is where any resources that were created in the init()
method will be cleaned up.
◼ If you have an open database connection, you should close it
here.
◼ This is also a good place to save any persistent information that
will be used the next time the servlet is loaded.
◼ The getServletConfig() method returns
the servlet's ServletConfig object, which
contains the servlet's startup configuration and
initialization parameters.
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 The ServletRequest
◼ ServletRequest encapsulate information about the client's
request includes: parameter name/value pairs, attributes, and an
input stream.
◼ getAttribute(String name) returns value of
the object keyed by the name for the current request.
◼ getParameter(String name) method returns
the value of the requested parameter.
◼ If the parameter has or could have more than one
value, use the getParameterValues() method.
◼ getRemoteAddress() method returns a String
representing the IP address of the client sending the
request.

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 The ServletResponse
◼ ServletResponse sends MIME data back to the client from the
servlet's service method.
◼ getWriter() method returns a print writer used for
writing formatted text to the response object.
◼ getOutputStream() method returns an output
stream used for writing binary data to the response.
◼ setContentType() method sets the content type
of the current response.
◼ This method must be called before calling the getWriter()
or getOutputStream() methods.

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 Servlet Demo 02
◼ Reading Form with ServletReading Form with Servlet

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 Servlet Demo 02

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 Servlet Demo 02

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 Servlet Demo 02

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 Result

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 doPost() method

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 doPost() method

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 Sending data with GET method

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 Sending data with POST method

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 Get vs Post

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 Reading Configuration Parameters

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 Reading Configuration Parameters

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 Reading Configuration Parameters

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 HttpServlet
◼ The HttpServlet class has already implemented the
service() method.
protected void service(HttpServletRequest req,
HttpServletResponse resp)throws ServletException, IOException;
◼ When the HttpServlet.service() method is
invoked, it reads the method type stored in the request
and determines which method to invoke based upon this
value.
◼ If the method type is GET, it will call doGet(). If the method
type is POST, it will call doPost().
◼ These are the methods that you will want to override
◼ Typically, we should not override the service() method, but the
doPost() and/or doGet() method

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 HttpServlet

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 HttpServlet Class
• The protocol defines a set of text-based request messages
called HTTP ‘methods’ implemented in HttpServlet class:
◼ doGet Called by the server (via the service method)to allow a servlet to
handle a GET request
◼ doHead Receives an HTTP HEAD request from the protected
service method and handles the request
◼ doPost called by the server to allow a servlet to handle post
request
◼ doPut Called by the server (via the service method) to allow a
servlet to handle a PUT request
◼ doDelete Called by the server (via the service method) to allow a
servlet to handle a DELETE request
◼ doTrace Called by the server (via the service method) to allow a
servlet to handle a TRACE request
◼ doOptions Called by the server (via the service method) to allow a
servlet to handle a OPTIONS request
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 The HttpServletRequest
◼ HttpServletRequest provides the HttpServlet.service()
to access HTTP header information sent by the client.
◼ getQueryString() method returns the query string from the
request.
◼ getSession(true) method returns the session associated
with the request. If there is no valid session and the boolean
parameter passed in is true, then it will create a new session.
◼ getRemoteUser() method returns the name of the user
making the request. If the name is not available, null is returned.
◼ getMethod() method returns the HTTP method used by the

client request.
◼ setAttribute(name, object) save object into request with name

◼ getAttribute(name) return the object referenced by name

attributes pass informations from one servlet to another

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 The HttpServletResponse
◼ HttpServletResponse
◼ encodeURL() method encodes the passed-in
String and returns it. If no changes are
necessary, then it simply returns the String.
◼ sendError(int er, String msg) method
sends an error to the client in the response
object. The error consists of the int status code
and a String message.
◼ sendRedirect(url) method redirects the
client to the passed-in URL, which must be an
absolute URL.
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 Servlet init parameter
◼ Init parameters of a servlet can help to specify important
aspects that are going to be handled during requests
service.
◼ Semester code for a servlet to retrieve student’s timetable
◼ Declare in web.xml for servlet

◼ String semCode=getInitParameter(“semester”);
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 Servlet mapping-Invoke a Servlet
◼ There are two ways to invoke a servlet.
◼ Servlet mapping in web.xml: calling by url-pattern

◼ Mapping by @webServlet annotation

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 A Simple Servlet
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;

public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {

public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,

HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
out.println(“<h1>First Servlet</h1>");
}
}

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 Servlet Collaboration
◼ A servlet can receive a request from client and
delegates the processing to another servlet.
◼ There are 2 solutions for this collaboration:
◼ Using servlet chaining:
◼ configure the servlet container to chain the servlet;
◼ not supported by servlet API specification
◼ Using Request Dispatching
◼ Allow a servlet to dispatch a request to another
servlet/jsp for generating the response
◼ The RequestDispatcher used for this purpose

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 RequestDispatcher
◼ A servlet obtains a RequestDispatcher object
for a resource by calling:
◼ ServletContext.getRequestDispatcher(String URLpath)
◼ ServletRequest. getRequestDispatcher(String URLpath)
◼ ServletContext.getNameDispatcher(String name)
◼ void forward(request,response)
✓ Forwards a request from a servlet to another resource
✓ The request and response parameters must be the same
objects as were passed to the calling servlet
◼ void include(request,response)
✓ Includes the content of a resource (servlet, JSP page, HTML
file) in the response

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 Summary
◼ Servlets concept
◼ Servlets hierarchy structure
◼ Servlet life cycle
◼ HttpServlet
◼ HttpServletRequest
◼ HttpServletResponse
◼ Servlet Init parameter
◼ Servlet mapping
◼ Servlet Collaboration
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 Constructive question
◼ How many servlet instance are instantiated to
serve many request from multi client?
◼ When the servlet's init() method is invoked?
◼ A web application allows users to log in with
different roles. Try to come up the solution to
meet this requirement that is most convenient
for users
◼ Write a single servlet that responds to user
login requests with no support components

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