Servlets

1
1 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com
Web
core
programming
Servlets
Servlets2 www.corewebprogramming.com
Agenda
• Overview of servlet technology
• First servlets
• Handling the client request
– Form data
– HTTP request headers
• Generating the server response
– HTTP status codes
– HTTP response headers
• Handling cookies
• Session tracking

2
Web
core
programming
Overview
A Servlet’s Job
• Read explicit data sent by client (form data)
• Read implicit data sent by client (request
headers)
• Generate the results
• Send the explicit data back to client (HTML)
• Send the implicit data to client
(status codes and response headers)

3
The Advantages of Servlets
Over “Traditional” CGI
• Efficient
– Threads instead of OS processes, one servlet copy,
persistence
• Convenient
– Lots of high-level utilities
• Powerful
– Sharing data, pooling, persistence
• Portable
– Run on virtually all operating systems and servers
• Secure
– No shell escapes, no buffer overflows
• Inexpensive
Why Build Pages Dynamically?
• The Web page is based on data submitted
by the user
– E.g., results page from search engines and order-
confirmation pages at on-line stores
• The Web page is derived from data that
changes frequently
– E.g., a weather report or news headlines page
• The Web page uses information from
databases or other server-side sources
– E.g., an e-commerce site could use a servlet to build a
Web page that lists the current price and availability of
each item that is for sale

4
Extending the Power of
Servlets: JSP™
• Idea:
– Use regular HTML for most of page
– Mark dynamic content with special tags
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC
"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD><TITLE>Welcome to Our Store</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1>Welcome to Our Store</H1>
<SMALL>Welcome,

<%= Utils.getUserNameFromCookie(request) %>
To access your account settings, click
<A HREF="Account-Settings.html">here.</A></SMALL><P>
Regular HTML for rest of on-line store’s Web page
</BODY></HTML>
Free Servlet and JSP Engines
• Apache Tomcat
– http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/
– See http://archive.coreservlets.com/Using-Tomcat.html
• Allaire/Macromedia JRun
– http://www.allaire.com/products/jrun/
• New Atlanta ServletExec
– http://www.servletexec.com/
• Gefion Software LiteWebServer
– http://www.gefionsoftware.com/LiteWebServer/
• Caucho's Resin
– http://www.caucho.com/

5
Server-Side Java
is Driving the Web
Get on board or get out of the way
Compiling and Invoking
Servlets
• Set your CLASSPATH
– Servlet JAR file (e.g., install_dir/lib/servlet.jar).
– Top of your package hierarchy
• Put your servlet classes in proper location
– Locations vary from server to server. E.g.,
• tomcat_install_dir/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes
See http://archive.coreservlets.com/Using-Tomcat.html
• jrun_install_dir/servers/default/default-app/
WEB-INF/classes
• Invoke your servlets
– http://host/servlet/ServletName
– Custom URL-to-servlet mapping (via web.xml)

6
A Simple Servlet That
Generates Plain Text
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
public class HelloWorld extends HttpServlet {
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException {
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
out.println("Hello World");
}
}
Generating HTML
• Set the Content-Type header
– Use response.setContentType
• Output HTML
– Be sure to include the DOCTYPE
• Use an HTML validation service
– http://validator.w3.org/
– http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/

7
A Servlet That Generates HTML
public class HelloWWW extends HttpServlet {
response.setContentType("text/html");
String docType =
"<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 " +
"Transitional//EN">n";
out.println(docType +
"<HTML>n" +
"<HEAD><TITLE>Hello WWW</TITLE></HEAD>n"+
"<BODY>n" +
"<H1>Hello WWW</H1>n" +
"</BODY></HTML>");
}
}
Some Simple HTML-Building
Utilities
public class ServletUtilities {
public static final String DOCTYPE =
"<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 " +
"Transitional//EN">";
public static String headWithTitle(String title) {
return(DOCTYPE + "n" +
"<HTML>n" +
"<HEAD><TITLE>" + title + "</TITLE></HEAD>n");
}
...
}
• Don’t go overboard
– Complete HTML generation packages
usually not worth the bother (IMHO)
– The JSP framework is a better solution

8
Packaging Servlets
• Move the files to a subdirectory that
matches the intended package name
– We’ll use the cwp package. So, the class files need to go
in a subdirectory called cwp.
• Insert a package statement in the class file
– E.g., top of SimplerHelloWWW.java:
package cwp;
• Set CLASSPATH to include top-level
development directory
– Same as with any Java programming, but everyone
forgets this step!
• Include package name in URL
– http://localhost/servlet/cwp.SimplerHelloWWW
HelloWWW with ServletUtilities
and Packages
package cwp;
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
public class SimplerHelloWWW extends HttpServlet {
out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle("Hello WWW")+
"<BODY>n" +
"<H1>Hello WWW</H1>n" +
"</BODY></HTML>");
}
}

9
SimplerHelloWWW Result
The Servlet Life Cycle
• init
– Executed once when the servlet is first loaded.
Not called for each request
• service
– Called in a new thread by server for each request.
Dispatches to doGet, doPost, etc.
Don’t override this method!
• doGet, doPost, doXxx
– Handles GET, POST, etc. requests
– Override these methods to provide desired behavior
• destroy
– Called when server deletes servlet instance.
Not called after each request

10
Why You Should
Not Override service
• You can add support for other types of
requests by adding doPut, doTrace, etc.
• You can add support for modification dates
– Add a getLastModified method
• The service method gives you automatic
support for:
– HEAD, OPTIONS, and TRACE requests
• Alternative: have doPost call doGet
public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response) … {
doGet(request, response);
}
Initializing Servlets
• Common in real-life servlets
– E.g., initializing database connection pools.
• Use ServletConfig.getInitParameter to read
initialization parameters
– Call getServletConfig to obtain the ServletConfig object
• Set init parameters in web.xml (ver 2.2/2.3)
– …/WEB-INF/web.xml
– Many servers have custom interfaces to create web.xml
• It is common to use init even when
you don’t read init parameters
– E.g., to set up data structures that don’t change during the
life of the servlet, to load information from disk, etc.

11
A Servlet That Uses
Initialization Parameters
public class ShowMessage extends HttpServlet {
private String message;
private String defaultMessage = "No message.";
private int repeats = 1;
public void init() throws ServletException {
ServletConfig config = getServletConfig();
message = config.getInitParameter("message");
if (message == null) {
message = defaultMessage;
}
try {
String repeatString =
config.getInitParameter("repeats");
repeats = Integer.parseInt(repeatString);
} catch(NumberFormatException nfe) {}
}
ShowMessage Servlet
(Continued)
String title = "The ShowMessage Servlet";
out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title)+
"<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" +
"<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>");
for(int i=0; i<repeats; i++) {
out.println(message + "<BR>");
}
out.println("</BODY></HTML>");
}
}

12
Setting Init Parameters
(Ver. 2.2 and Later)
• ...WEB-INFweb.xml
– tomcat_install_dirwebappsROOTWEB-INFweb.xml
– jrun_install_dirserversdefaultdefault-appWEB-INFweb.xml
<web-app>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>ShowMsg</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>cwp.ShowMessage</servlet-class>
<init-param><param-name>message</param-name>
<param-value>Shibboleth</param-value>
</init-param>
<init-param><param-name>repeats</param-name>
<param-value>5</param-value>
</init-param>
</servlet>
</web-app>
– For lots of detail on web.xml, see
More Servlets and JavaServer Pages
ShowMessage Result
• Note use of registered name
– http://host/servlet/RegisteredName, not
http://host/servlet/packageName.RealName

13
Debugging Servlets
• Use print statements; run server on desktop
• Integrated debugger in IDE
• Look at the HTML source
• Return error pages to the client
– Plan ahead for missing/malformed data
• Use the log file
– log("message") or log("message", Throwable)
• Look at the request data separately
– See EchoServer at archive.corewebprogramming.com
• Look at the response data separately
– See WebClient at archive.corewebprogramming.com
• Stop and restart the server
Web
core
programming
Handling the Client Request:
Form Data

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Form Data
• Example URL at online travel agent
– http://host/path?user=Marty+Hall&origin=iad&dest=nrt
– Names (user) come from HTML author;
values (Marty+Hall) usually come from end user
• Parsing form (query) data in traditional CGI
– Read the data one way for GET requests, another way for
POST requests
– Chop pairs at &, then separate parameter names (left of
the "=") from parameter values (right of the "=")
– URL decode values (e.g., "%7E" becomes "~")
– Need special cases for omitted values
(param1=val1&param2=&param3=val3) and repeated
params (param1=val1&param2=val2&param1=val3)
Reading Form Data
(Query Data)
• getParameter("name")
– Returns value as user entered it. I.e., URL-decoded value
of first occurrence of name in query string.
– Works identically for GET and POST requests
– Returns null if no such parameter is in query
• getParameterValues("name")
– Returns an array of the URL-decoded values of all
occurrences of name in query string
– Returns a one-element array if param not repeated
– Returns null if no such parameter is in query
• getParameterNames()
– Returns Enumeration of request params

15
An HTML Form With Three
Parameters
<FORM ACTION="/servlet/cwp.ThreeParams">
First Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param1"><BR>
Second Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param2"><BR>
Third Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param3"><BR>
<CENTER><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT"></CENTER>
</FORM>
Reading the Three Parameters
public class ThreeParams extends HttpServlet {
String title = "Reading Three Request Parameters";
out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title) +
"<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n" +
"<UL>n" +
" <LI><B>param1</B>: "
+ request.getParameter("param1") + "n" +
"</UL>n" +
"</BODY></HTML>"); }}

16
Reading Three Parameters:
Result
Filtering Strings for
HTML-Specific Characters
• You cannot safely insert arbitrary strings
into servlet output
– < and > can cause problems anywhere
– & and " cause problems inside of HTML attributes
• You sometimes cannot manually translate
– String is derived from a program excerpt or another
source where it is already in standard format
– String is derived from HTML form data
• Failing to filter special characters makes
you vulnerable to cross-site scripting attack
– http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-02.html
– http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/crssite.asp
• See filter method of ServletUtilities at
http://www.corewebprogramming.com

17
Web
core
programming
HTTP Request Headers
HTTP Request Headers
• Example HTTP 1.1 Request
– GET /search?keywords=servlets+jsp HTTP/1.1
– Accept: image/gif, image/jpg, */*
– Accept-Encoding: gzip
– Connection: Keep-Alive
– Cookie: userID=id456578
– Host: www.somebookstore.com
– Referer: http://www.somebookstore.com/findbooks.html
– User-Agent: Mozilla/4.7 [en] (Win98; U)
• It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize
you need to understand HTTP to be
effective with servlets or JSP

18
Reading Request Headers
• General
– getHeader
– getHeaders
– getHeaderNames
• Specialized
– getCookies
– getAuthType and getRemoteUser
– getContentLength
– getContentType
– getDateHeader
– getIntHeader
• Related info
– getMethod, getRequestURI, getProtocol
Printing All Headers
public class ShowRequestHeaders extends HttpServlet {
String title = "Servlet Example: Showing Request Headers";
"<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n" +
"<B>Request Method: </B>" +
request.getMethod() + "<BR>n" +
"<B>Request URI: </B>" +
request.getRequestURI() + "<BR>n" +
"<B>Request Protocol: </B>" +
request.getProtocol() + "<BR><BR>n" +

19
Printing All Headers
(Continued)
"<TABLE BORDER=1 ALIGN=CENTER>n" +
"<TR BGCOLOR="#FFAD00">n" +
"<TH>Header Name<TH>Header Value");
Enumeration headerNames = request.getHeaderNames();
while(headerNames.hasMoreElements()) {
String headerName = (String)headerNames.nextElement();
out.println("<TR><TD>" + headerName);
out.println(" <TD>" + request.getHeader(headerName));
}
out.println("</TABLE>n</BODY></HTML>");
}
public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request,
doGet(request, response);
}
}
Printing All Headers:
Netscape Result

20
Printing All Headers:
Internet Explorer Result
Common HTTP 1.1 Request
Headers
• Accept
– Indicates MIME types browser can handle
– Can send different content to different clients
• Accept-Encoding
– Indicates encodings (e.g., gzip) browser can handle
– See following example
• Authorization
– User identification for password-protected pages.
– Instead of HTTP authorization, use HTML forms to send
username/password. Store in session object.
• For details on programming security manually and
using web.xml to tell the server to enforce security
automatically, see More Servlets and JavaServer
Pages.

21
Headers (Continued)
• Connection
– In HTTP 1.0, keep-alive means browser can handle
persistent connection. In HTTP 1.1, persistent connection
is default. Persistent connections mean that the server can
reuse the same socket over again for requests very close
together from the same client
– Servlets can't do this unilaterally; the best they can do is
to give the server enough info to permit persistent
connections. So, they should set Content-Length with
setContentLength (using ByteArrayOutputStream to
determine length of output). See example in Core Servlets
and JavaServer Pages.
• Cookie
– Gives cookies previously sent to client. Use getCookies,
not getHeader. (See later slides)
Headers (Continued)
• Host
– Indicates host given in original URL
– This is a required header in HTTP 1.1. This fact is
important to know if you write a custom HTTP client
(e.g., WebClient used in book) or telnet to a server and
use the HTTP/1.1 version
• If-Modified-Since
– Indicates client wants page only if it has been changed
after specified date
– Don’t handle this situation directly; implement
getLastModified instead. See example in Core Servlets
and JavaServer Pages Chapter 2

22
Headers (Continued)
• Referer
– URL of referring Web page
– Useful for tracking traffic;
logged by many servers
– Can be easily spoofed
• User-Agent
– String identifying the browser making the request
– Use sparingly
– Again, can be easily spoofed
Sending Compressed
Web Pages
Dilbert used with permission of United Syndicates Inc.

23
Sending Compressed Pages:
EncodedPage.java
String encodings = request.getHeader("Accept-Encoding");
String encodeFlag = request.getParameter("encoding");
PrintWriter out;
String title;
if ((encodings != null) &&
(encodings.indexOf("gzip") != -1) &&
!"none".equals(encodeFlag)) {
title = "Page Encoded with GZip";
OutputStream out1 = response.getOutputStream();
out = new PrintWriter(new GZIPOutputStream(out1), false);
response.setHeader("Content-Encoding", "gzip");
} else {
title = "Unencoded Page";
out = response.getWriter();
}
EncodedPage.java (Continued)
"<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n");
String line = "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. " +
"Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda.";
for(int i=0; i<10000; i++) {
out.println(line);
}
out.println("</BODY></HTML>");
out.close();
}

24
Sending Compressed Pages:
Results
• Uncompressed (28.8K modem),
Netscape 4.7 and Internet Explorer 5.0:
> 50 seconds
• Compressed (28.8K modem),
Netscape 4.7 and Internet Explorer 5.0:
< 5 seconds
• Caution:
be careful
about
generalizing
benchmarks
Web
core
programming
Generating the HTTP
Response

25
Generating the Server
Response: HTTP Status Codes
• Example HTTP 1.1 Response
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
<!DOCTYPE ...>
<HTML>
...
</HTML>
• Changing the status code lets you perform a
number of tasks not otherwise possible
– Forward client to another page
– Indicate a missing resource
– Instruct browser to use cached copy
• Set status before sending document
Setting Status Codes
• public void setStatus(int statusCode)
– Use a constant for the code, not an explicit int.
Constants are in HttpServletResponse
– Names derived from standard message.
E.g., SC_OK, SC_NOT_FOUND, etc.
• public void sendError(int code,
String message)
– Wraps message inside small HTML document
• public void sendRedirect(String url)
– Relative URLs permitted in 2.2/2.3
– Also sets Location header

26
Common HTTP 1.1 Status
Codes
• 200 (OK)
– Everything is fine; document follows
– Default for servlets
• 204 (No Content)
– Browser should keep displaying previous document
• 301 (Moved Permanently)
– Requested document permanently moved elsewhere
(indicated in Location header)
– Browsers go to new location automatically
Common HTTP 1.1 Status
Codes (Continued)
• 302 (Found)
– Requested document temporarily moved elsewhere
(indicated in Location header)
– Browsers go to new location automatically
– Servlets should use sendRedirect, not setStatus, when
setting this header. See example
• 401 (Unauthorized)
– Browser tried to access protected page without proper
Authorization header. See example in book
• 404 (Not Found)
– No such page. Servlets should use
sendError to set this header
– Problem: Internet Explorer 5.0

27
A Front End to Various Search
Engines: Code
String searchString =
request.getParameter("searchString");
if ((searchString == null) ||
(searchString.length() == 0)) {
reportProblem(response, "Missing search string.");
return;
}
searchString = URLEncoder.encode(searchString);
String numResults =
request.getParameter("numResults");
...
String searchEngine =
request.getParameter("searchEngine");
Engines: Code (Continued)
SearchSpec[] commonSpecs =
SearchSpec.getCommonSpecs();
for(int i=0; i<commonSpecs.length; i++) {
SearchSpec searchSpec = commonSpecs[i];
if (searchSpec.getName().equals(searchEngine)) {
String url =
searchSpec.makeURL(searchString, numResults);
response.sendRedirect(url);
return;
}
}
reportProblem(response,
"Unrecognized search engine.");

28
Engines: Code (Continued)
private void reportProblem(HttpServletResponse response,
String message)
throws IOException {
response.sendError(response.SC_NOT_FOUND,
"<H2>" + message + "</H2>");
}
Front End to Search Engines:
Result of Legal Request

29
Front End to Search Engines:
Result of Illegal Request
– Fix:
• Tools, Internet Options, Advanced
• Deselect "Show 'friendly' HTTP error messages"
• Not a real fix -- doesn't help unsuspecting users of your
pages
Generating the Server Response:
HTTP Response Headers
• Purposes
– Give forwarding location
– Specify cookies
– Supply the page modification date
– Instruct the browser to reload the page after a designated
interval
– Give the document size so that persistent HTTP
connections can be used
– Designate the type of document being generated
– Etc.

30
Setting Arbitrary Response
Headers
• public void setHeader(String headerName,
String headerValue)
– Sets an arbitrary header
• public void setDateHeader(String name,
long millisecs)
– Converts millis since 1970 to date in GMT format
• public void setIntHeader(String name,
int headerValue)
– Prevents need to convert int to String
• addHeader, addDateHeader, addIntHeader
– Adds header instead of replacing
Setting Common Response
Headers
• setContentType
– Sets the Content-Type header.
Servlets almost always use this header.
See Table 19.1 (Common MIME Types).
• setContentLength
– Sets the Content-Length header.
Used for persistent HTTP connections.
See Connection request header.
• addCookie
– Adds a value to the Set-Cookie header.
See separate section on cookies.
• sendRedirect
– Sets Location header (plus changes status code)

31
Common HTTP 1.1 Response
Headers
• Cache-Control (1.1) and Pragma (1.0)
– A no-cache value prevents browsers from caching page.
Send both headers or check HTTP version
• Content-Encoding
– The way document is encoded. Browser reverses this
encoding before handling document. See compression
example earlier.
• Content-Length
– The number of bytes in the response
– See setContentLength on previous slide
– Use ByteArrayOutputStream to buffer document so you
can determine size.
• See detailed example in Core Servlets and
JavaServer Pages
Headers (Continued)
• Content-Type
– The MIME type of the document being returned.
– Use setContentType to set this header
• Expires
– The time at which document should be considered out-of-
date and thus should no longer be cached
– Use setDateHeader to set this header
• Last-Modified
– The time document was last changed.
– Don’t set this header explicitly; provide a
getLastModified method instead.
• See example in Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages
Chapter 2

32
Headers (Continued)
• Location
– The URL to which browser should reconnect.
– Use sendRedirect instead of setting this directly.
• Refresh
– The number of seconds until browser should reload page.
Can also include URL to connect to. See following
example.
• Set-Cookie
– The cookies that browser should remember. Don’t set this
header directly; use addCookie instead.
• WWW-Authenticate
– The authorization type and realm needed in Authorization
header. See details in More Servlets & JavaServer Pages.
Persistent Servlet State and
Auto-Reloading Pages
• Idea: generate list of large (e.g., 150-digit)
prime numbers
– Show partial results until completed
– Let new clients make use of results from others
• Demonstrates use of the Refresh header
• Shows how easy it is for servlets to
maintain state between requests
– Very difficult in traditional CGI
• Also illustrates that servlets can handle
multiple simultaneous connections
– Each request is in a separate thread
– Synchronization required for shared data

33
Generating Prime Numbers:
Source Code
int numPrimes =
ServletUtilities.getIntParameter(request,
"numPrimes", 50);
int numDigits =
ServletUtilities.getIntParameter(request,
"numDigits", 120);
// findPrimeList is synchronized
PrimeList primeList =
findPrimeList(primeListVector, numPrimes, numDigits);
if (primeList == null) {
primeList = new PrimeList(numPrimes, numDigits, true);
Generating Prime Numbers:
Source Code (Continued)
synchronized(primeListVector) {
if (primeListVector.size() >= maxPrimeLists)
primeListVector.removeElementAt(0);
primeListVector.addElement(primeList);
}
}
Vector currentPrimes = primeList.getPrimes();
int numCurrentPrimes = currentPrimes.size();
int numPrimesRemaining = (numPrimes - numCurrentPrimes);
boolean isLastResult = (numPrimesRemaining == 0);
if (!isLastResult) {
response.setHeader("Refresh", "5");
}
// Show List of Primes found ...

34
Prime Number Servlet:
Front End
Initial Result

35
Final Result
Web
core
programming
Handling Cookies

36
The Potential of Cookies
• Idea
– Servlet sends a simple name and value to client
– Client returns same name and value when it connects to
same site (or same domain, depending on cookie settings)
• Typical Uses of Cookies
– Identifying a user during an e-commerce session
• Servlets have a higher-level API for this task
– Avoiding username and password
– Customizing a site
– Focusing advertising
Cookies and Focused
Advertising

37
Cookies and Privacy
– FoxTrot © 1998 Bill Amend. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press
Syndicate. All rights reserved.
Some Problems with Cookies
• The problem is privacy, not security
– Servers can remember your previous actions
– If you give out personal information, servers can link that
information to your previous actions
– Servers can share cookie information through use of a
cooperating third party like doubleclick.net
– Poorly designed sites store sensitive information like
credit card numbers directly in cookie
• Morals for servlet authors
– If cookies are not critical to your task, avoid servlets that
totally fail when cookies are disabled
– Don't put sensitive info in cookies

38
Sending Cookies to Browser
• Standard approach:
Cookie c = new Cookie("name", "value");
c.setMaxAge(...); // Means cookie persists on disk
// Set other attributes.
response.addCookie(c);
• Simplified approach:
– Use LongLivedCookie class:
public class LongLivedCookie extends Cookie {
public static final int SECONDS_PER_YEAR =
60*60*24*365;
public LongLivedCookie(String name, String value) {
super(name, value);
setMaxAge(SECONDS_PER_YEAR);
}
}
Reading Cookies from Browser
• Standard approach:
Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies();
if (cookies != null) {
for(int i=0; i<cookies.length; i++) {
Cookie c = cookies[i];
if (c.getName().equals("someName")) {
doSomethingWith(c);
break;
}
}
}
• Simplified approach:
– Extract cookie or cookie value from cookie array
by using ServletUtilities.getCookieValue or
ServletUtilities.getCookie

39
ServletUtilities.getCookieValue
public static String getCookieValue(Cookie[] cookies,
String cookieName,
String defaultVal) {
Cookie cookie = cookies[i];
if (cookieName.equals(cookie.getName()))
return(cookie.getValue());
}
}
return(defaultVal);
}
• The getCookie method is similar
– Returns the Cookie object instead of
the value
Simple Cookie-Setting Servlet
public class SetCookies extends HttpServlet {
for(int i=0; i<3; i++) {
Cookie cookie = new Cookie("Session-Cookie-" + i,
"Cookie-Value-S" + i);
response.addCookie(cookie);
cookie = new Cookie("Persistent-Cookie-" + i,
"Cookie-Value-P" + i);
cookie.setMaxAge(3600);
response.addCookie(cookie);
}
out.println(...);

40
Result of Cookie-Setting Servlet
Simple Cookie-Viewing Servlet
public class ShowCookies extends HttpServlet {
String title = "Active Cookies";
"<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">" + title +
"</H1>n" +
"<TABLE BORDER=1 ALIGN="CENTER">n" +
"<TR BGCOLOR="#FFAD00">n" +
" <TH>Cookie Namen" +
" <TH>Cookie Value");

41
Simple Cookie-Viewing Servlet
(Continued)
Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies();
Cookie cookie;
cookie = cookies[i];
out.println("<TR>n" +
" <TD>" + cookie.getName() + "n" +
" <TD>" + cookie.getValue());
}
}
out.println("</TABLE></BODY></HTML>");
}
}
Result of Cookie-Viewer (Before
& After Restarting Browser)

42
Methods in the Cookie API
• getDomain/setDomain
– Lets you specify domain to which cookie applies. Current
host must be part of domain specified
• getMaxAge/setMaxAge
– Gets/sets the cookie expiration time (in seconds). If you
fail to set this, cookie applies to current browsing session
only. See LongLivedCookie helper class given earlier
• getName/setName
– Gets/sets the cookie name. For new cookies, you supply
name to constructor, not to setName. For incoming
cookie array, you use getName to find the cookie of
interest
Methods in the Cookie API
(Continued)
• getPath/setPath
– Gets/sets the path to which cookie applies. If unspecified,
cookie applies to URLs that are within or below directory
containing current page
• getSecure/setSecure
– Gets/sets flag indicating whether cookie should apply
only to SSL connections or to all connections
• getValue/setValue
– Gets/sets value associated with cookie. For new cookies,
you supply value to constructor, not to setValue. For
incoming cookie array, you use getName to find the
cookie of interest, then call getValue on the result

43
Web
core
programming
Session Tracking
Session Tracking and
E-Commerce
Dilbert used with permission of United Syndicates Inc.

44
Session Tracking
• Why?
– When clients at an on-line store add an item to their
shopping cart, how does the server know what’s already
in the cart?
– When clients decide to proceed to checkout, how can the
server determine which previously created shopping cart
is theirs?
• How?
– Cookies
– URL-rewriting
– Hidden form fields
• Higher-level API needed
The Session Tracking API
• Session objects live on the server
• Automatically associated with client via
cookies or URL-rewriting
– Use request.getSession(true) to get either existing or new
session
• Behind the scenes, the system looks at cookie or
URL extra info and sees if it matches the key to some
previously stored session object. If so, it returns that
object. If not, it creates a new one, assigns a cookie
or URL info as its key, and returns that new session
object.
• Hashtable-like mechanism lets you store
arbitrary objects inside session
– setAttribute stores values
– getAttribute retrieves values

45
Using Sessions
HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
ShoppingCart cart =
(ShoppingCart)session.getAttribute("shoppingCart");
if (cart == null) { // No cart already in session
cart = new ShoppingCart();
session.setAttribute("shoppingCart", cart);
}
doSomethingWith(cart);
HttpSession Methods
• getAttribute, getValue [2.1]
– Extracts a previously stored value from a session object.
Returns null if no value is associated with given name
• setAttribute, putValue [2.1]
– Associates a value with a name. Monitor changes: values
implement HttpSessionBindingListener.
• removeAttribute, removeValue [2.1]
– Removes values associated with name
• getAttributeNames, getValueNames [2.1]
– Returns names of all attributes in the session
• getId
– Returns the unique identifier

46
HttpSession Methods
(Continued)
• isNew
– Determines if session is new to client (not to page)
• getCreationTime
– Returns time at which session was first created
• getLastAccessedTime
– Returns time session was last sent from client
• getMaxInactiveInterval,
setMaxInactiveInterval
– Gets or sets the amount of time session should go without
access before being invalidated
• invalidate
– Invalidates the session and unbinds all
objects associated with it
A Servlet Showing Per-Client
Access Counts
String title = "Session Tracking Example";
HttpSession session = request.getSession(true);
String heading;
Integer accessCount =
(Integer)session.getAttribute("accessCount");
if (accessCount == null) {
accessCount = new Integer(0);
heading = "Welcome, Newcomer";
} else {
heading = "Welcome Back";
accessCount = new Integer(accessCount.intValue() + 1);
}
session.setAttribute("accessCount", accessCount);

47
First Visit to ShowSession
Servlet
Eleventh Visit to ShowSession
Servlet

48
Web
core
programming
Review: Servlets
Review: Getting Started
• Servlets are efficient, portable, powerful,
and widely accepted in industry
• Regardless of deployment server, run a free
server on your desktop for development
• Getting started:
– Set your CLASSPATH
• Servlet and JSP JAR files
• Top of your package hierarchy
– Put class files in proper location
• .../WEB-INF/classes with servlets 2.2
– Use proper URL; default is
http://host/servlet/ServletName
• Download existing servlet first time
– Start with HelloWWW from
www.corewebprogramming.com

49
Review: Getting Started
(Continued)
• Main servlet code goes in doGet or doPost:
– The HttpServletRequest contains the incoming
information
– The HttpServletResponse lets you set outgoing
information
• Call setContentType to specify MIME type
• Call getWriter to obtain a Writer pointing to client
• One-time setup code goes in init
– Servlet gets initialized and loaded once
– Servlet gets invoked multiple times
Review: Handling Form Data
(Query Data)
• Query data comes from HTML forms as
URL-encoded name/value pairs
• Servlets read data by calling
request.getParameter("name")
– Results in value as entered into form, not as sent over
network. I.e. not URL-encoded.
• Always check for missing or
malformed data
– Special case: query data that contains special HTML
characters
• Need to be filtered if query data will be placed
into resultant HTML page

50
Review:
Using HTTP Request Headers
• Many servlet tasks can only be
accomplished by making use of HTTP
headers coming from the browser
• Use request.getHeader for arbitrary header
• Cookies, authorization info, content length,
and content type have shortcut methods
• Most important headers you read directly
– Accept
– Accept-Encoding
– Connection
– Referer
– User-Agent
Review:
Generating the HTTP Response
• Many servlet tasks can only be
accomplished through use of HTTP status
codes and headers sent to the browser
• Two parts of the response
– Status line
• In general, set via response.setStatus
• In special cases, set via
response.sendRedirect and response.sendError
– Response headers
• In general, set via response.setHeader
• In special cases, set via response.setContentType,
response.setContentLength, response.addCookie,
and response.sendRedirect

51
Review: Generating the HTTP
Response (Continued)
• Most important status codes
– 200 (default)
– 302 (forwarding; set via sendRedirect)
– 401 (password needed)
– 404 (not found; set via sendError)
• Most important headers you set directly
– Cache-Control and Pragma
– Content-Encoding
– Content-Length
– Expires
– Refresh
– WWW-Authenticate
Review: Handling Cookies
• Cookies involve name/value pairs sent from
server to browser and returned when the
same page, site, or domain is visited later
• Let you
– Track sessions (use higher-level API)
– Permit users to avoid logging in at low-security sites
– Customize sites for different users
– Focus content or advertising
• Setting cookies
– Cookie constructor, set age, response.addCookie
• Reading cookies
– Call request.getCookies, check for null, look through
array for matching name, use associated value

52
Review: Session Tracking
• Although it usually uses cookies behind the
scenes, the session tracking API is higher-
level and easier to use than the cookie API
• Session information lives on server
– Cookie or extra URL info associates it with a user
• Obtaining session
– request.getSession(true)
• Associating values with keys
– session.setAttribute
• Finding values associated with keys
– session.getAttribute
• Always check if this value is null before trying to use it
Preview: The Need for JSP
• With servlets, it is easy to
– Read form data
– Read HTTP request headers
– Set HTTP status codes and response headers
– Use cookies and session tracking
– Share data among servlets
– Remember data between requests
– Get fun, high-paying jobs
• But, it sure is a pain to
– Use those println statements to generate HTML
– Maintain that HTML

53
Preview: Benefits of JSP
• Although JSP technically can't do anything
servlets can't do, JSP makes it easier to:
– Write HTML
– Read and maintain the HTML
• JSP makes it possible to:
– Use standard HTML tools such as HomeSite or
UltraDev
– Have different members of your team do the HTML
layout and the programming
• JSP encourages you to
– Separate the (JavaTM technology) code that creates the
content from the (HTML) code that presents it
More Information
• Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages
– http://www.coreservlets.com
– More detail on all topics presented here
• More Servlets and
JavaServer Pages
– http://www.moreservlets.com
– New features in servlets 2.3 and JSP 1.2 (filters and
listeners), Web applications, security, standard JSP tag
library
• Servlet home page
– http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/
• JavaServer Pages home page
– http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/

54
Web
core
programming
Questions?

Servlets

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