Servlet: Web Application Basics. Architecture and challenges of Web Application.

Introduction to servlet
life cycle Developing and Deploying Servlets Exploring Deployment Descriptor (web.xml). Handling
Request and Response Initializing a Servlet Accessing Database Servlet Chaining Session Tracking &
Management Dealing with cookies Transferring Request Accessing Web Context Passing INIT and
CONTEXT Parameter Sharing information using scope object Controlling concurrent access User
Authentication Filtering Request and Response Programming Filter Filter Mapping Servlet Listeners.

Servlets

Servlet technology is used to create a web application (resides at server side and generates a
dynamic web page).

Servlet technology is robust and scalable because of java language. Before Servlet, CGI
(Common Gateway Interface) scripting language was common as a server-side programming
language. However, there were many disadvantages to this technology. We have discussed these
disadvantages below.

There are many interfaces and classes in the Servlet API such as Servlet, GenericServlet,
HttpServlet, ServletRequest, ServletResponse, etc.

What is a Servlet?
Servlet can be described in many ways, depending on the context.

o Servlet is a technology which is used to create a web application.

o Servlet is an API that provides many interfaces and classes including documentation.
o Servlet is an interface that must be implemented for creating any Servlet.
o Servlet is a class that extends the capabilities of the servers and responds to the incoming
requests. It can respond to any requests.
o Servlet is a web component that is deployed on the server to create a dynamic web page.
What is a web application?
A web application is an application accessible from the web. A web application is composed of
web components like Servlet, JSP, Filter, etc. and other elements such as HTML, CSS, and
JavaScript. The web components typically execute in Web Server and respond to the HTTP
request.

CGI (Common Gateway Interface)

CGI technology enables the web server to call an external program and pass HTTP request
information to the external program to process the request. For each request, it starts a new
process.

Disadvantages of CGI
There are many problems in CGI technology:

1. If the number of clients increases, it takes more time for sending the response.
2. For each request, it starts a process, and the web server is limited to start processes.
3. It uses platform dependent language e.g. C, C++, perl.
Advantages of Servlet

There are many advantages of Servlet over CGI. The web container creates threads for handling
the multiple requests to the Servlet. Threads have many benefits over the Processes such as they
share a common memory area, lightweight, cost of communication between the threads are low.
The advantages of Servlet are as follows:

1. Better performance: because it creates a thread for each request, not process.
2. Portability: because it uses Java language.
3. Robust: JVM manages Servlets, so we don't need to worry about the memory
leak, garbage collection, etc.
4. Secure: because it uses java language.

Web Terminology
Servlet Description
Terminology

Website: static vs It is a collection of related web pages that may contain text, images, audio and
dynamic video.

HTTP It is the data communication protocol used to establish communication

between client and server.

HTTP Requests It is the request send by the computer to a web server that contains all sorts of
potentially interesting information.

Get vs Post It gives the difference between GET and POST request.

Container It is used in java for dynamically generating the web pages on the server side.
Server: Web vs It is used to manage the network resources and for running the program or
Application software that provides services.

Content Type It is HTTP header that provides the description about what are you sending to
the browser.

Website
Website is a collection of related web pages that may contain text, images, audio and video. The
first page of a website is called home page. Each website has specific internet address (URL) that
you need to enter in your browser to access a website.

Website is hosted on one or more servers and can be accessed by visiting its homepage using a
computer network. A website is managed by its owner that can be an individual, company or an
organization.

A website can be of two types:

o Static Website
o Dynamic Website
Static website
Static website is the basic type of website that is easy to create. You don't need the knowledge
of web programming and database design to create a static website. Its web pages are coded in
HTML.

The codes are fixed for each page so the information contained in the page does not change
and it looks like a printed page.

Dynamic website
Dynamic website is a collection of dynamic web pages whose content changes dynamically. It
accesses content from a database or Content Management System (CMS). Therefore, when you
alter or update the content of the database, the content of the website is also altered or
updated.

Dynamic website uses client-side scripting or server-side scripting, or both to generate dynamic
content.

Client side scripting generates content at the client computer on the basis of user input. The
web browser downloads the web page from the server and processes the code within the page
to render information to the user.

In server side scripting, the software runs on the server and processing is completed in the
server then plain pages are sent to the user.
Static vs Dynamic website
Static Website Dynamic Website

Prebuilt content is same every time the page is Content is generated quickly and changes regularly.
loaded.

It uses the HTML code for developing a It uses the server side languages such
website. as PHP,SERVLET, JSP, and ASP.NET etc. for
developing a website.

It sends exactly the same response for every It may generate different HTML for each of the
request. request.

The content is only changed when someone The page contains "server-side" code which allows
publishes and updates the file (sends it to the the server to generate the unique content when the
web server). page is loaded.

Flexibility is the main advantage of static Content Management System (CMS) is the main
website. advantage of dynamic website.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol)
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is application-level protocol for collaborative,
distributed, hypermedia information systems. It is the data communication protocol used to
establish communication between client and server.

HTTP is TCP/IP based communication protocol, which is used to deliver the data like image files,
query results, HTML files etc on the World Wide Web (WWW) with the default port is TCP 80. It
provides the standardized way for computers to communicate with each other.

The Basic Characteristics of HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol):

o It is the protocol that allows web servers and browsers to exchange data over the web.
o It is a request response protocol.
o It uses the reliable TCP connections by default on TCP port 80.
o It is stateless means each request is considered as the new request. In other words,
server doesn't recognize the user by default.

The Basic Features of HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol):

There are three fundamental features that make the HTTP a simple and powerful protocol used
for communication:

o HTTP is media independent: It specifies that any type of media content can be sent by
HTTP as long as both the server and the client can handle the data content.
o HTTP is connectionless: It is a connectionless approach in which HTTP client i.e., a
browser initiates the HTTP request and after the request is sent the client disconnects
from server and waits for the response.
 o HTTP is stateless: The client and server are aware of each other during a current request
only. Afterwards, both of them forget each other. Due to the stateless nature of protocol,
neither the client nor the server can retain the information about different request across
the web pages.

The Basic Architecture of HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol):

The below diagram represents the basic architecture of web application and depicts where HTTP
stands:

HTTP is request/response protocol which is based on client/server based architecture. In this

protocol, web browser, search engines, etc. behave as HTTP clients and the Web server like
Servlet behaves as a server

HTTP Requests
The request sent by the computer to a web server, contains all sorts of potentially interesting
information; it is known as HTTP requests.
The HTTP client sends the request to the server in the form of request message which includes
following information:

o The Request-line
o The analysis of source IP address, proxy and port
o The analysis of destination IP address, protocol, port and host
o The Requested URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)
o The Request method and Content
o The User-Agent header
o The Connection control header
o The Cache control header
The HTTP request method indicates the method to be performed on the resource identified by
the Requested URI (Uniform Resource Identifier). This method is case-sensitive and should
be used in uppercase.

The HTTP request methods are:

HTTP Description
Request

GET Asks to get the resource at the requested URL.

POST Asks the server to accept the body info attached. It is like GET request with extra info
sent with the request.

HEAD Asks for only the header part of whatever a GET would return. Just like GET but with
no body.

TRACE Asks for the loopback of the request message, for testing or troubleshooting.

PUT Says to put the enclosed info (the body) at the requested URL.

DELETE Says to delete the resource at the requested URL.

OPTIONS Asks for a list of the HTTP methods to which the thing at the request URL can
respond

Get vs. Post

There are many differences between the Get and Post request. Let's see these differences:

GET POST

1) In case of Get request, only limited amount of In case of post request, large amount of
data can be sent because data is sent in header. data can be sent because data is sent in body.

2) Get request is not secured because data is exposed Post request is secured because data is not
in URL bar. exposed in URL bar.

3) Get request can be bookmarked. Post request cannot be bookmarked.

4) Get request is idempotent . It means second Post request is non-idempotent.
request will be ignored until response of first request
is delivered

5) Get request is more efficient and used more than Post request is less efficient and used less
Post. than get.

GET and POST

Two common methods for the request-response between a server and client are:
 o GET- It requests the data from a specified resource
o POST- It submits the processed data to a specified resource

Anatomy of Get Request

The query string (name/value pairs) is sent inside the URL of a GET request:

1. GET/RegisterDao.jsp?name1=value1&name2=value2

As we know that data is sent in request header in case of get request. It is the default request
type. Let's see what information is sent to the server.

Some other features of GET requests are:

o It remains in the browser history

o It can be bookmarked
o It can be cached
o It have length restrictions
o It should never be used when dealing with sensitive data
o It should only be used for retrieving the data
 Anatomy of Post Request
The query string (name/value pairs) is sent in HTTP message body for a POST request:

1. POST/RegisterDao.jsp HTTP/1.1
2. Host: www. javatpoint.com
3. name1=value1&name2=value2

As we know, in case of post request original data is sent in message body. Let's see how
information is passed to the server in case of post request.

Some other features of POST requests are:

o This requests cannot be bookmarked

o This requests have no restrictions on length of data
o This requests are never cached
o This requests do not retain in the browser history
 o Servlet Container
o It provides the runtime environment for JavaEE (j2ee) applications. The client/user can
request only a static WebPages from the server. If the user wants to read the web pages
as per input then the servlet container is used in java.
o The servlet container is the part of web server which can be run in a separate process.
We can classify the servlet container states in three types:

o
o Servlet Container States
o The servlet container is the part of web server which can be run in a separate process.
We can classify the servlet container states in three types:

o Standalone: It is typical Java-based servers in which the servlet container and the web
servers are the integral part of a single program. For example:- Tomcat running by itself
o In-process: It is separated from the web server, because a different program runs within
the address space of the main server as a plug-in. For example:- Tomcat running inside
the JBoss.
o Out-of-process: The web server and servlet container are different programs which are
run in a different process. For performing the communications between them, web server
uses the plug-in provided by the servlet container.

The Servlet Container performs many operations that are given below:

o Life Cycle Management

o Multithreaded support
o Object Pooling
o Security etc.

Server: Web vs. Application

Server is a device or a computer program that accepts and responds to the request made by
other program, known as client. It is used to manage the network resources and for running the
program or software that provides services.

There are two types of servers:

1. Web Server
2. Application Server

Web Server

Web server contains only web or servlet container. It can be used for servlet, jsp, struts, jsf etc. It
can't be used for EJB.

It is a computer where the web content can be stored. In general web server can be used to host
the web sites but there also used some other web servers also such as FTP, email, storage,
gaming etc.

Examples of Web Servers are: Apache Tomcat and Resin.

Web Server Working

It can respond to the client request in either of the following two possible ways:

o Generating response by using the script and communicating with database.

o Sending file to the client associated with the requested URL.

The block diagram representation of Web Server is shown below:

Important points

o If the requested web page at the client side is not found, then web server will sends the
HTTP response: Error 404 Not found.
o When the web server searching the requested page if requested page is found then it
will send to the client with an HTTP response.
o If the client requests some other resources then web server will contact to application
server and data is store for constructing the HTTP response.

Application Server

Application server contains Web and EJB containers. It can be used for servlet, jsp, struts, jsf, ejb
etc. It is a component based product that lies in the middle-tier of a server centric architecture.

It provides the middleware services for state maintenance and security, along with persistence
and data access. It is a type of server designed to install, operate and host associated services
and applications for the IT services, end users and organizations.

The block diagram representation of Application Server is shown below:

The Example of Application Servers are:

1. JBoss: Open-source server from JBoss community.

2. Glassfish: Provided by Sun Microsystem. Now acquired by Oracle.
3. Weblogic: Provided by Oracle. It more secured.
4. Websphere: Provided by IBM.

Content Type
Content Type is also known as MIME (Multipurpose internet Mail Extension)Type. It is
a HTTP header that provides the description about what are you sending to the browser.

MIME is an internet standard that is used for extending the limited capabilities of email by
allowing the insertion of sounds, images and text in a message.

The features provided by MIME to the email services are as given below:

o It supports the non-ASCII characters

o It supports the multiple attachments in a single message
o It supports the attachment which contains executable audio, images and video files etc.
 o It supports the unlimited message length.

List of Content Types

There are many content types. The commonly used content types are given below:

o text/html
o text/plain
o application/msword
o application/vnd.ms-excel
o application/jar
 o application/pdf
o application/octet-stream
o application/x-zip
o images/jpeg
o images/png
o images/gif
o audio/mp3
o video/mp4
o video/quicktime etc.

Servlet API
The javax.servlet and javax.servlet.http packages represent interfaces and classes for servlet api.

The javax.servlet package contains many interfaces and classes that are used by the servlet or
web container. These are not specific to any protocol.

The javax.servlet.http package contains interfaces and classes that are responsible for http
requests only.

Let's see what are the interfaces of javax.servlet package.

Interfaces in javax.servlet package

There are many interfaces in javax.servlet package. They are as follows:

1. Servlet
2. ServletRequest
3. ServletResponse
4. RequestDispatcher
5. ServletConfig
6. ServletContext
7. SingleThreadModel
8. Filter
9. FilterConfig
10. FilterChain
11. ServletRequestListener
 12. ServletRequestAttributeListener
13. ServletContextListener
14. ServletContextAttributeListener

Classes in javax.servlet package

There are many classes in javax.servlet package. They are as follows:

1. GenericServlet
2. ServletInputStream
3. ServletOutputStream
4. ServletRequestWrapper
5. ServletResponseWrapper
6. ServletRequestEvent
7. ServletContextEvent
8. ServletRequestAttributeEvent
9. ServletContextAttributeEvent
10. ServletException
11. UnavailableException

Interfaces in javax.servlet.http package

There are many interfaces in javax.servlet.http package. They are as follows:

1. HttpServletRequest
2. HttpServletResponse
3. HttpSession
4. HttpSessionListener
5. HttpSessionAttributeListener
6. HttpSessionBindingListener
7. HttpSessionActivationListener
8. HttpSessionContext (deprecated now)

Classes in javax.servlet.http package

There are many classes in javax.servlet.http package. They are as follows:
 1. HttpServlet
2. Cookie
3. HttpServletRequestWrapper
4. HttpServletResponseWrapper
5. HttpSessionEvent
6. HttpSessionBindingEvent
7. HttpUtils (deprecated now)

Servlet Interface
Servlet interface provides commonbehaviorto all the servlets.Servlet interface defines methods
that all servlets must implement.

Servlet interface needs to be implemented for creating any servlet (either directly or indirectly).
It provides 3 life cycle methods that are used to initialize the servlet, to service the requests, and
to destroy the servlet and 2 non-life cycle methods.

Methods of Servlet interface

There are 5 methods in Servlet interface. The init, service and destroy are the life cycle methods
of servlet. These are invoked by the web container.

Method Description

public void init(ServletConfig config) initializes the servlet. It is the life cycle method of
servlet and invoked by the web container only once.

public void service(ServletRequest provides response for the incoming request. It is

request,ServletResponse response) invoked at each request by the web container.

public void destroy() is invoked only once and indicates that servlet is
being destroyed.

public ServletConfig getServletConfig() returns the object of ServletConfig.

public String getServletInfo() returns information about servlet such as writer,

 copyright, version etc.

Servlet Example by implementing Servlet interface

Let's see the simple example of servlet by implementing the servlet interface.

File: First.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3.
4. public class First implements Servlet{
5. ServletConfig config=null;
6.
7. public void init(ServletConfig config){
8. this.config=config;
9. System.out.println("servlet is initialized");
10. }
11.
12. public void service(ServletRequest req,ServletResponse res)
13. throws IOException,ServletException{
14.
15. res.setContentType("text/html");
16.
17. PrintWriter out=res.getWriter();
18. out.print("<html><body>");
19. out.print("<b>hello simple servlet</b>");
20. out.print("</body></html>");
21.
22. }
23. public void destroy(){System.out.println("servlet is destroyed");}
24. public ServletConfig getServletConfig(){return config;}
25. public String getServletInfo(){return "copyright 2007-1010";}
26.
27. }

GenericServlet class
 GenericServlet class implements Servlet, ServletConfig and Serializable interfaces. It provides
the implementation of all the methods of these interfaces except the service method.

GenericServlet class can handle any type of request so it is protocol-independent.

You may create a generic servlet by inheriting the GenericServlet class and providing the
implementation of the service method.

Methods of GenericServlet class

There are many methods in GenericServlet class. They are as follows:

1. public void init(ServletConfig config) is used to initialize the servlet.

2. public abstract void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse
response) provides service for the incoming request. It is invoked at each time when
user requests for a servlet.
3. public void destroy() is invoked only once throughout the life cycle and indicates that
servlet is being destroyed.
4. public ServletConfig getServletConfig() returns the object of ServletConfig.
5. public String getServletInfo() returns information about servlet such as writer,
copyright, version etc.
6. public void init() it is a convenient method for the servlet programmers, now there is no
need to call super.init(config)
7. public ServletContext getServletContext() returns the object of ServletContext.
8. public String getInitParameter(String name) returns the parameter value for the given
parameter name.
9. public Enumeration getInitParameterNames() returns all the parameters defined in
the web.xml file.
10. public String getServletName() returns the name of the servlet object.
11. public void log(String msg) writes the given message in the servlet log file.
12. public void log(String msg,Throwable t) writes the explanatory message in the servlet
log file and a stack trace.

Servlet Example by inheriting the GenericServlet class

Let's see the simple example of servlet by inheriting the GenericServlet class.

File: First.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3.
4. public class First extends GenericServlet{
5. public void service(ServletRequest req,ServletResponse res)
6. throws IOException,ServletException{
7.
8. res.setContentType("text/html");
9.
10. PrintWriter out=res.getWriter();
11. out.print("<html><body>");
12. out.print("<b>hello generic servlet</b>");
13. out.print("</body></html>");
14.
15. }
16. }

HttpServlet class
The HttpServlet class extends the GenericServlet class and implements Serializable interface. It provides
http specific methods such as doGet, doPost, doHead, doTrace etc.

Methods of HttpServlet class

There are many methods in HttpServlet class. They are as follows:

1. public void service(ServletRequest req,ServletResponse res) dispatches the request

to the protected service method by converting the request and response object into http
type.
2. protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) receives
the request from the service method, and dispatches the request to the doXXX() method
depending on the incoming http request type.
3. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the GET request. It is invoked by the web container.
4. protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the POST request. It is invoked by the web container.
5. protected void doHead(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the HEAD request. It is invoked by the web container.
 6. protected void doOptions(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse
res) handles the OPTIONS request. It is invoked by the web container.
7. protected void doPut(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the PUT request. It is invoked by the web container.
8. protected void doTrace(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the TRACE request. It is invoked by the web container.
9. protected void doDelete(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res) handles
the DELETE request. It is invoked by the web container.
10. protected long getLastModified(HttpServletRequest req) returns the time when
HttpServletRequest was last modified since midnight January 1, 1970 GMT.

Life Cycle of a Servlet (Servlet Life Cycle)

The web container maintains the life cycle of a servlet instance. Let's see the life cycle of the
servlet:

1. Servlet class is loaded.

2. Servlet instance is created.
3. init method is invoked.
4. service method is invoked.
5. destroy method is invoked.
As displayed in the above diagram, there are three states of a servlet: new, ready and end. The
servlet is in new state if servlet instance is created. After invoking the init() method, Servlet
comes in the ready state. In the ready state, servlet performs all the tasks. When the web
container invokes the destroy() method, it shifts to the end state.

1) Servlet class is loaded

The classloader is responsible to load the servlet class. The servlet class is loaded when the first
request for the servlet is received by the web container.

2) Servlet instance is created

The web container creates the instance of a servlet after loading the servlet class. The servlet
instance is created only once in the servlet life cycle.

3) init method is invoked

The web container calls the init method only once after creating the servlet instance. The init method is
used to initialize the servlet. It is the life cycle method of the javax.servlet.Servlet interface. Syntax of the
 init method is given below:

1. public void init(ServletConfig config) throws ServletException

4) service method is invoked

The web container calls the service method each time when request for the servlet is received. If
servlet is not initialized, it follows the first three steps as described above then calls the service
method. If servlet is initialized, it calls the service method. Notice that servlet is initialized only
once. The syntax of the service method of the Servlet interface is given below:

1. public void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response)

2. throws ServletException, IOException

5) destroy method is invoked

The web container calls the destroy method before removing the servlet instance from the
service. It gives the servlet an opportunity to clean up any resource for example memory, thread
etc. The syntax of the destroy method of the Servlet interface is given below:

1. public void destroy()

Steps to create a servlet example

There are given 6 steps to create a servlet example. These steps are required for all the servers.

The servlet example can be created by three ways:

1. By implementing Servlet interface,

2. By inheriting GenericServlet class, (or)
3. By inheriting HttpServlet class

The mostly used approach is by extending HttpServlet because it provides http request specific
method such as doGet(), doPost(), doHead() etc.

Here, we are going to use apache tomcat server in this example. The steps are as follows:

1. Create a directory structure

2. Create a Servlet
3. Compile the Servlet
 4. Create a deployment descriptor
5. Start the server and deploy the project
6. Access the servlet

download this example of servlet

download example of servlet by extending GenericServlet
download example of servlet by implementing Servlet interface

1)Create a directory structures

The directory structure defines that where to put the different types of files so that web
container may get the information and respond to the client.

The Sun Microsystem defines a unique standard to be followed by all the server vendors. Let's
see the directory structure that must be followed to create the servlet.

As you can see that the servlet class file must be in the classes folder. The web.xml file must be
under the WEB-INF folder.
 2)Create a Servlet
There are three ways to create the servlet.

1. By implementing the Servlet interface

2. By inheriting the GenericServlet class
3. By inheriting the HttpServlet class

The HttpServlet class is widely used to create the servlet because it provides methods to handle http
requests such as doGet(), doPost, doHead() etc.

In this example we are going to create a servlet that extends the HttpServlet class. In this example, we
are inheriting the HttpServlet class and providing the implementation of the doGet() method. Notice
that get request is the default request.

DemoServlet.java

1. import javax.servlet.http.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import java.io.*;
4. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
5. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
6. throws ServletException,IOException
7. {
8. res.setContentType("text/html");//setting the content type
9. PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();//get the stream to write the data
10.
11. //writing html in the stream
12. pw.println("<html><body>");
13. pw.println("Welcome to servlet");
14. pw.println("</body></html>");
15.
16. pw.close();//closing the stream
17. }}

3)Compile the servlet

For compiling the Servlet, jar file is required to be loaded. Different Servers provide different jar
files:
 Jar file Server

1) servlet-api.jar Apache Tomcat

2) weblogic.jar Weblogic

3) javaee.jar Glassfish

4) javaee.jar JBoss

Two ways to load the jar file

1. set classpath
2. paste the jar file in JRE/lib/ext folder

Put the java file in any folder. After compiling the java file, paste the class file of servlet in WEB-
INF/classes directory.

4)Create the deployment descriptor (web.xml file)

The deployment descriptor is an xml file, from which Web Container gets the information
about the servet to be invoked.

The web container uses the Parser to get the information from the web.xml file. There are many
xml parsers such as SAX, DOM and Pull.

There are many elements in the web.xml file. Here is given some necessary elements to run the
simple servlet program.

web.xml file

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/welcome</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. </web-app>

Description of the elements of web.xml file

There are too many elements in the web.xml file. Here is the illustration of some elements that is
used in the above web.xml file. The elements are as follows:

<web-app> represents the whole application.

<servlet> is sub element of <web-app> and represents the servlet.

<servlet-name> is sub element of <servlet> represents the name of the servlet.

<servlet-class> is sub element of <servlet> represents the class of the servlet.

<servlet-mapping> is sub element of <web-app>. It is used to map the servlet.

<url-pattern> is sub element of <servlet-mapping>. This pattern is used at client side to invoke the
servlet.

5)Start the Server and deploy the project

To start Apache Tomcat server, double click on the startup.bat file under apache-tomcat/bin
directory.

One Time Configuration for Apache Tomcat Server

You need to perform 2 tasks:
 1. set JAVA_HOME or JRE_HOME in environment variable (It is required to start server).
2. Change the port number of tomcat (optional). It is required if another server is running
on same port (8080).

1) How to set JAVA_HOME in environment variable?

To start Apache Tomcat server JAVA_HOME and JRE_HOME must be set in Environment
variables.

Go to My Computer properties -> Click on advanced tab then environment variables -> Click on
the new tab of user variable -> Write JAVA_HOME in variable name and paste the path of jdk
folder in variable value -> ok -> ok -> ok.

Go to My Computer properties:

Click on advanced system settings tab then environment variables:

Click on the new tab of user variable or system variable:
Write JAVA_HOME in variable name and paste the path of jdk folder in variable value:
There must not be semicolon (;) at the end of the path.

After setting the JAVA_HOME double click on the startup.bat file in apache tomcat/bin.

Note: There are two types of tomcat available:

1. Apache tomcat that needs to extract only (no need to install)

2. Apache tomcat that needs to install

It is the example of apache tomcat that needs to extract only.

Now server is started successfully.

2) How to change port number of apache tomcat

Changing the port number is required if there is another server running on the same system
with same port number.Suppose you have installed oracle, you need to change the port number
of apache tomcat because both have the default port number 8080.

Open server.xml file in notepad. It is located inside the apache-tomcat/conf directory .

Change the Connector port = 8080 and replace 8080 by any four digit number instead of 8080.
Let us replace it by 9999 and save this file.

5) How to deploy the servlet project

Copy the project and paste it in the webapps folder under apache tomcat.
 But there are several ways to deploy the project. They are as follows:

o By copying the context(project) folder into the webapps directory

o By copying the war folder into the webapps directory
o By selecting the folder path from the server
o By selecting the war file from the server

Here, we are using the first approach.

You can also create war file, and paste it inside the webapps directory. To do so, you need to use
jar tool to create the war file. Go inside the project directory (before the WEB-INF), then write:

1. projectfolder> jar cvf myproject.war *

Creating war file has an advantage that moving the project from one location to another takes
less time.

6) How to access the servlet

Open broser and write http://hostname:portno/contextroot/urlpatternofservlet. For example:

1. http://localhost:9999/demo/welcome
download this example of servlet (using notepad)
download example of servlet by extending GenericServlet
download example of servlet by implementing Servlet interface

How Servlet works?

It is important to learn how servlet works for understanding the servlet well. Here, we are going
to get the internal detail about the first servlet program.

The server checks if the servlet is requested for the first time.

If yes, web container does the following tasks:

o loads the servlet class.

o instantiates the servlet class.
o calls the init method passing the ServletConfig object

else

o calls the service method passing request and response objects

The web container calls the destroy method when it needs to remove the servlet such as at time
of stopping server or undeploying the project.

How web container handles the servlet request?

The web container is responsible to handle the request. Let's see how it handles the request.

o maps the request with the servlet in the web.xml file.

o creates request and response objects for this request
o calls the service method on the thread
o The public service method internally calls the protected service method
o The protected service method calls the doGet method depending on the type of request.
o The doGet method generates the response and it is passed to the client.
o After sending the response, the web container deletes the request and response objects.
The thread is contained in the thread pool or deleted depends on the server
implementation.
 What is written inside the public service method?
The public service method converts the ServletRequest object into the HttpServletRequest type
and ServletResponse object into the HttpServletResponse type. Then, calls the service method
passing these objects. Let's see the internal code:

1. public void service(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)

2. throws ServletException, IOException
3. {
4. HttpServletRequest request;
5. HttpServletResponse response;
6. try
7. {
8. request = (HttpServletRequest)req;
9. response = (HttpServletResponse)res;
10. }
11. catch(ClassCastException e)
12. {
13. throw new ServletException("non-HTTP request or response");
14. }
15. service(request, response);
16. }

What is written inside the protected service method?

The protected service method checks the type of request, if request type is get, it calls doGet
method, if request type is post, it calls doPost method, so on. Let's see the internal code:

1. protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)

2. throws ServletException, IOException
3. {
4. String method = req.getMethod();
5. if(method.equals("GET"))
6. {
7. long lastModified = getLastModified(req);
8. if(lastModified == -1L)
9. {
10. doGet(req, resp);
11. }
12. ....
13. //rest of the code
14. }
15. }

War File
A war (web archive) File contains files of a web project. It may have servlet, xml, jsp, image,
html, css, js etc. files.

Here, we will discuss what is war file, how to create war file, how to deploy war file and how to
extract war file.

What is war file?

web archive (war) file contains all the contents of a web application. It reduces the time duration
for transferring file.

Advantage of war file

saves time: The war file combines all the files into a single unit. So it takes less time while
transferring file from client to server.

How to create war file?

To create war file, you need to use jar tool of JDK. You need to use -c switch of jar, to create the
war file.

Go inside the project directory of your project (outside the WEB-INF), then write the following
command:

1. jar -cvf projectname.war *

Here, -c is used to create file, -v to generate the verbose output and -f to specify the arhive file
name.

The * (asterisk) symbol signifies that all the files of this directory (including sub directory).

How to deploy the war file?

There are two ways to deploy the war file.
 1. By server console panel
2. By manually having the war file in specific folder of server.

If you want to deploy the war file in apache tomcat server manually, go to
the webapps directory of apache tomcat and paste the war file here.

Now, you are able to access the web project through browser.

How to extract war file manually?

To extract the war file, you need to use -x switch of jar tool of JDK. Let's see the command to
extract the war file.

1. jar -xvf projectname.war

welcome-file-list in web.xml
The welcome-file-list element of web-app, is used to define a list of welcome files. Its sub
element is welcome-file that is used to define the welcome file.

A welcome file is the file that is invoked automatically by the server, if you don't specify any file
name.

By default server looks for the welcome file in following order:

1. welcome-file-list in web.xml
2. index.html
3. index.htm
4. index.jsp

If none of these files are found, server renders 404 error.

 If you have specified welcome-file in web.xml, and all the files index.html, index.htm and
index.jsp exists, priority goes to welcome-file.

If welcome-file-list entry doesn't exist in web.xml file, priority goes to index.html file then
index.htm and at last index.jsp file.

Let's see the web.xml file that defines the welcome files.

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2. ....
3.
4. <welcome-file-list>
5. <welcome-file>home.html</welcome-file>
6. <welcome-file>default.html</welcome-file>
7. </welcome-file-list>
8. </web-app>

Now, home.html and default.html will be the welcome files.

If you have the welcome file, you can directory invoke the project as given below:

1. http://localhost:8888/myproject

As you can see, we have not specified any file name after the project.

load on startup in web.xml

The load-on-startup element of web-app loads the servlet at the time of deployment or server
start if value is positive. It is also known as pre initialization of servlet.

You can pass positive and negative value for the servlet.

Advantage of load-on-startup element

As you know well, servlet is loaded at first request. That means it consumes more time at first
request. If you specify the load-on-startup in web.xml, servlet will be loaded at project
deployment time or server start. So, it will take less time for responding to first request.

Passing positive value

If you pass the positive value, the lower integer value servlet will be loaded before the higher
integer value servlet. In other words, container loads the servlets in ascending integer value. The
0 value will be loaded first then 1, 2, 3 and so on.

Let's try to understand it by the example given below:

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2. ....
3.
4. <servlet>
5. <servlet-name>servlet1</servlet-name>
6. <servlet-class>com.javatpoint.FirstServlet</servlet-class>
7. <load-on-startup>0</load-on-startup>
8. </servlet>
9.
10. <servlet>
11. <servlet-name>servlet2</servlet-name>
12. <servlet-class>com.javatpoint.SecondServlet</servlet-class>
13. <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
14. </servlet>
15.
16. ...
17. </web-app>

There are defined 2 servlets, both servlets will be loaded at the time of project deployment or
server start. But, servlet1 will be loaded first then servlet2.

Passing negative value

If you pass the negative value, servlet will be loaded at request time, at first request.
ServletRequest Interface
An object of ServletRequest is used to provide the client request information to a servlet such as
content type, content length, parameter names and values, header informations, attributes etc.

Methods of ServletRequest interface

There are many methods defined in the ServletRequest interface. Some of them are as follows:

Method Description

public String getParameter(String name) is used to obtain the value of a parameter by name.

public String[] returns an array of String containing all values of given

getParameterValues(String name) parameter name. It is mainly used to obtain values of a
Multi select list box.

java.util.Enumeration returns an enumeration of all of the request parameter

getParameterNames() names.

public int getContentLength() Returns the size of the request entity data, or -1 if not
known.

public String getCharacterEncoding() Returns the character set encoding for the input of this
request.

public String getContentType() Returns the Internet Media Type of the request entity
data, or null if not known.

public ServletInputStream Returns an input stream for reading binary data in the
getInputStream() throws IOException request body.

public abstract String getServerName() Returns the host name of the server that received the
request.

public int getServerPort() Returns the port number on which this request was
 received.

Example of ServletRequest to display the name of the user

In this example, we are displaying the name of the user in the servlet. For this purpose, we have
used the getParameter method that returns the value for the given request parameter name.

index.html

1. <form action="welcome" method="get">

2. Enter your name<input type="text" name="name"><br>
3. <input type="submit" value="login">
4. </form>

DemoServ.java

1. import javax.servlet.http.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import java.io.*;
4. public class DemoServ extends HttpServlet{
5. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
6. throws ServletException,IOException
7. {
8. res.setContentType("text/html");
9. PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();
10.
11. String name=req.getParameter("name");//will return value
12. pw.println("Welcome "+name);
13.
14. pw.close();
15. }}

RequestDispatcher in Servlet
The RequestDispatcher interface provides the facility of dispatching the request to another
resource it may be html, servlet or jsp. This interface can also be used to include the content of
another resource also. It is one of the way of servlet collaboration.
There are two methods defined in the RequestDispatcher interface.

Methods of RequestDispatcher interface

The RequestDispatcher interface provides two methods. They are:

1. public void forward(ServletRequest request,ServletResponse response)throws

ServletException,java.io.IOException:Forwards a request from a servlet to another
resource (servlet, JSP file, or HTML file) on the server.
2. public void include(ServletRequest request,ServletResponse response)throws
ServletException,java.io.IOException:Includes the content of a resource (servlet, JSP
page, or HTML file) in the response.

As you see in the above figure, response of second servlet is sent to the client. Response of the
first servlet is not displayed to the user.
 As you can see in the above figure, response of second servlet is included in the response of the first
servlet that is being sent to the client.

How to get the object of RequestDispatcher

The getRequestDispatcher() method of ServletRequest interface returns the object of

RequestDispatcher. Syntax:

Syntax of getRequestDispatcher method

1. public RequestDispatcher getRequestDispatcher(String resource);

Example of using getRequestDispatcher method

1. RequestDispatcher rd=request.getRequestDispatcher("servlet2");
2. //servlet2 is the url-pattern of the second servlet
3.
4. rd.forward(request, response);//method may be include or forward

Example of RequestDispatcher interface

In this example, we are validating the password entered by the user. If password is servlet, it will
forward the request to the WelcomeServlet, otherwise will show an error message: sorry
 username or password error!. In this program, we are cheking for hardcoded information. But
you can check it to the database also that we will see in the development chapter. In this
example, we have created following files:

o index.html file: for getting input from the user.

o Login.java file: a servlet class for processing the response. If password is servet, it will
forward the request to the welcome servlet.
o WelcomeServlet.java file: a servlet class for displaying the welcome message.
o web.xml file: a deployment descriptor file that contains the information about the
servlet.

index.html

1. <form action="servlet1" method="post">

2. Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/><br/>
3. Password:<input type="password" name="userPass"/><br/>
4. <input type="submit" value="login"/>
5. </form>
 Login.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5.
6. public class Login extends HttpServlet {
7.
8. public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
9. throws ServletException, IOException {
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
15. String p=request.getParameter("userPass");
16.
17. if(p.equals("servlet"){
18. RequestDispatcher rd=request.getRequestDispatcher("servlet2");
19. rd.forward(request, response);
20. }
21. else{
22. out.print("Sorry UserName or Password Error!");
23. RequestDispatcher rd=request.getRequestDispatcher("/index.html");
24. rd.include(request, response);
25.
26. }
27. }
28.
29. }

WelcomeServlet.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class WelcomeServlet extends HttpServlet {
6.
7. public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
8. throws ServletException, IOException {
9.
10. response.setContentType("text/html");
11. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
12.
13. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
14. out.print("Welcome "+n);
15. }
16.
17. }

web.xml

1. <web-app>
2. <servlet>
3. <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
4. <servlet-class>Login</servlet-class>
5. </servlet>
6. <servlet>
7. <servlet-name>WelcomeServlet</servlet-name>
8. <servlet-class>WelcomeServlet</servlet-class>
9. </servlet>
10.
11.
12. <servlet-mapping>
13. <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
14. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
15. </servlet-mapping>
16. <servlet-mapping>
17. <servlet-name>WelcomeServlet</servlet-name>
18. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
19. </servlet-mapping>
20.
21. <welcome-file-list>
22. <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
23. </welcome-file-list>
24. </web-app>

SendRedirect in servlet
The sendRedirect() method of HttpServletResponse interface can be used to redirect
response to another resource, it may be servlet, jsp or html file.

It accepts relative as well as absolute URL.

It works at client side because it uses the url bar of the browser to make another
request. So, it can work inside and outside the server.

Difference between forward() and sendRedirect()

method
There are many differences between the forward() method of RequestDispatcher and
sendRedirect() method of HttpServletResponse interface. They are given below:

forward() method sendRedirect() method

The forward() method works at server side. The sendRedirect() method works a
client side.

It sends the same request and response objects to another servlet. It always sends a new request.

It can work within the server only. It can be used within and outside th
server.

Example: Example:
request.getRequestDispacher("servlet2").forward(request,response); response.sendRedirect("servlet2");

Syntax of sendRedirect() method

1. public void sendRedirect(String URL)throws IOException;
 Example of sendRedirect() method
1. response.sendRedirect("http://www.javatpoint.com");

Full example of sendRedirect method in servlet

In this example, we are redirecting the request to the google server. Notice that sendRedirect method works
client side, that is why we can our request to anywhere. We can send our request within and outside the server.

DemoServlet.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
6. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
7. throws ServletException,IOException
8. {
9. res.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();
11.
12. response.sendRedirect("http://www.google.com");
13.
14. pw.close();
15. }}

Creating custom google search using sendRedirect

In this example, we are using sendRedirect method to send request to google server
with the request data.

index.html

1. <!DOCTYPE html>
2. <html>
3. <head>
4. <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
5. <title>sendRedirect example</title>
6. </head>
7. <body>
8.
9.
10. <form action="MySearcher">
11. <input type="text" name="name">
12. <input type="submit" value="Google Search">
13. </form>
14.
15. </body>
16. </html>
MySearcher.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
3. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
4. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
5. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
6.
7. public class MySearcher extends HttpServlet {
8. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
9. throws ServletException, IOException {
10.
11. String name=request.getParameter("name");
12. response.sendRedirect("https://www.google.co.in/#q="+name);
13. }
14. }
Output
 ServletConfig Interface
An object of ServletConfig is created by the web container for each servlet. This object
can be used to get configuration information from web.xml file.

If the configuration information is modified from the web.xml file, we don't need to
change the servlet. So it is easier to manage the web application if any specific content
is modified from time to time.

Advantage of ServletConfig
The core advantage of ServletConfig is that you don't need to edit the servlet file if
information is modified from the web.xml file.

Methods of ServletConfig interface

1. public String getInitParameter(String name):Returns the parameter value for the
specified parameter name.
2. public Enumeration getInitParameterNames():Returns an enumeration of all the
initialization parameter names.
3. public String getServletName():Returns the name of the servlet.
4. public ServletContext getServletContext():Returns an object of ServletContext.

How to get the object of ServletConfig

1. getServletConfig() method of Servlet interface returns the object of ServletConfig.

Syntax of getServletConfig() method

1. public ServletConfig getServletConfig();

Example of getServletConfig() method

1. ServletConfig config=getServletConfig();
2. //Now we can call the methods of ServletConfig interface

Syntax to provide the initialization parameter for a servlet

The init-param sub-element of servlet is used to specify the initialization parameter for a
servlet.
1. <web-app>
2. <servlet>
3. ......
4.
5. <init-param>
6. <param-name>parametername</param-name>
7. <param-value>parametervalue</param-value>
8. </init-param>
9. ......
10. </servlet>
11. </web-app>

Example of ServletConfig to get initialization parameter

In this example, we are getting the one initialization parameter from the web.xml file
and printing this information in the servlet.

DemoServlet.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet {
6. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
7. throws ServletException, IOException {
8.
9. response.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
11.
12. ServletConfig config=getServletConfig();
13. String driver=config.getInitParameter("driver");
14. out.print("Driver is: "+driver);
15.
16. out.close();
17. }
18.
19. }

web.xml

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
6.
7. <init-param>
8. <param-name>driver</param-name>
9. <param-value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</param-value>
10. </init-param>
11.
12. </servlet>
13.
14. <servlet-mapping>
15. <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
16. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
17. </servlet-mapping>
18.
19. </web-app>

Example of ServletConfig to get all the initialization parameters

In this example, we are getting all the initialization parameter from the web.xml file and
printing this information in the servlet.

DemoServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3. import java.util.Enumeration;
4.
5. import javax.servlet.ServletConfig;
6. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
10.
11.
12. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet {
13. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
14. throws ServletException, IOException {
15.
16. response.setContentType("text/html");
17. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
18.
19. ServletConfig config=getServletConfig();
20. Enumeration<String> e=config.getInitParameterNames();
21.
22. String str="";
23. while(e.hasMoreElements()){
24. str=e.nextElement();
25. out.print("<br>Name: "+str);
26. out.print(" value: "+config.getInitParameter(str));
27. }
28.
29. out.close();
30. }
31.
32. }

web.xml

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
6.
7. <init-param>
8. <param-name>username</param-name>
9. <param-value>system</param-value>
10. </init-param>
11.
12. <init-param>
13. <param-name>password</param-name>
14. <param-value>oracle</param-value>
15. </init-param>
16.
17. </servlet>
18.
19. <servlet-mapping>
20. <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
21. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
22. </servlet-mapping>
23.
24. </web-app>

ServletContext Interface
An object of ServletContext is created by the web container at time of deploying the
project. This object can be used to get configuration information from web.xml file.
There is only one ServletContext object per web application.

If any information is shared to many servlet, it is better to provide it from the web.xml
file using the <context-param> element.

Advantage of ServletContext
Easy to maintain if any information is shared to all the servlet, it is better to make it
available for all the servlet. We provide this information from the web.xml file, so if the
information is changed, we don't need to modify the servlet. Thus it removes
maintenance problem.
Usage of ServletContext Interface
There can be a lot of usage of ServletContext object. Some of them are as follows:

1. The object of ServletContext provides an interface between the container and

servlet.
2. The ServletContext object can be used to get configuration information from the
web.xml file.
3. The ServletContext object can be used to set, get or remove attribute from the
web.xml file.
4. The ServletContext object can be used to provide inter-application
communication.

Commonly used methods of ServletContext interface

There is given some commonly used methods of ServletContext interface.

1. public String getInitParameter(String name):Returns the parameter value for the

specified parameter name.
2. public Enumeration getInitParameterNames():Returns the names of the context's
initialization parameters.
3. public void setAttribute(String name,Object object):sets the given object in the
application scope.
4. public Object getAttribute(String name):Returns the attribute for the specified name.
5. public Enumeration getInitParameterNames():Returns the names of the context's
initialization parameters as an Enumeration of String objects.
 6. public void removeAttribute(String name):Removes the attribute with the given name
from the servlet context.

How to get the object of ServletContext interface

1. getServletContext() method of ServletConfig interface returns the object of
ServletContext.
2. getServletContext() method of GenericServlet class returns the object of
ServletContext.

Syntax of getServletContext() method

1. public ServletContext getServletContext()

Example of getServletContext() method

1. //We can get the ServletContext object from ServletConfig object
2. ServletContext application=getServletConfig().getServletContext();
3.
4. //Another convenient way to get the ServletContext object
5. ServletContext application=getServletContext();

Syntax to provide the initialization parameter in Context scope

The context-param element, subelement of web-app, is used to define the initialization parameter in
the application scope. The param-name and param-value are the sub-elements of the context-param.
The param-name element defines parameter name and and param-value defines its value.

1. <web-app>
2. ......
3.
4. <context-param>
5. <param-name>parametername</param-name>
6. <param-value>parametervalue</param-value>
7. </context-param>
8. ......
9. </web-app>
 Example of ServletContext to get the initialization parameter
In this example, we are getting the initialization parameter from the web.xml file and printing the
value of the initialization parameter. Notice that the object of ServletContext represents the
application scope. So if we change the value of the parameter from the web.xml file, all the servlet
classes will get the changed value. So we don't need to modify the servlet. So it is better to have the
common information for most of the servlets in the web.xml file by context-param element. Let's see
the simple example:

DemoServlet.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5.
6. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
7. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
8. throws ServletException,IOException
9. {
10. res.setContentType("text/html");
11. PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();
12.
13. //creating ServletContext object
14. ServletContext context=getServletContext();
15.
16. //Getting the value of the initialization parameter and printing it
17. String driverName=context.getInitParameter("dname");
18. pw.println("driver name is="+driverName);
19.
20. pw.close();
21.
22. }}
web.xml

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <context-param>
9. <param-name>dname</param-name>
10. <param-value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</param-value>
11. </context-param>
12.
13. <servlet-mapping>
14. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
15. <url-pattern>/context</url-pattern>
16. </servlet-mapping>
17.
18. </web-app>

Example of ServletContext to get all the initialization

parameters
In this example, we are getting all the initialization parameter from the web.xml file. For getting all
the parameters, we have used the getInitParameterNames() method in the servlet class.

DemoServlet.java

1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
6. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
7. throws ServletException,IOException
8. {
9. res.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter out=res.getWriter();
11.
12. ServletContext context=getServletContext();
13. Enumeration<String> e=context.getInitParameterNames();
14.
15. String str="";
16. while(e.hasMoreElements()){
17. str=e.nextElement();
18. out.print("<br> "+context.getInitParameter(str));
19. }
20. }}
web.xml

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <context-param>
9. <param-name>dname</param-name>
10. <param-value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</param-value>
11. </context-param>
12.
13. <context-param>
14. <param-name>username</param-name>
15. <param-value>system</param-value>
16. </context-param>
17.
18. <context-param>
19. <param-name>password</param-name>
20. <param-value>oracle</param-value>
21. </context-param>
22.
23. <servlet-mapping>
24. <servlet-name>sonoojaiswal</servlet-name>
25. <url-pattern>/context</url-pattern>
26. </servlet-mapping>
27.
28. </web-app>

Attribute in Servlet
An attribute in servlet is an object that can be set, get or removed from one of the
following scopes:

1. request scope
2. session scope
3. application scope

The servlet programmer can pass informations from one servlet to another using
attributes. It is just like passing object from one class to another so that we can reuse
the same object again and again.

Attribute specific methods of ServletRequest, HttpSession and

ServletContext interface
There are following 4 attribute specific methods. They are as follows:

1. public void setAttribute(String name,Object object):sets the given object in the application
scope.
2. public Object getAttribute(String name):Returns the attribute for the specified name.
3. public Enumeration getInitParameterNames():Returns the names of the context's
initialization parameters as an Enumeration of String objects.
4. public void removeAttribute(String name):Removes the attribute with the given name from
the servlet context.

Example of ServletContext to set and get attribute

In this example, we are setting the attribute in the application scope and getting that value from
another servlet.

DemoServlet1.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4. public class DemoServlet1 extends HttpServlet{
5. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
6. {
7. try{
8.
9. res.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter out=res.getWriter();
11.
12. ServletContext context=getServletContext();
13. context.setAttribute("company","IBM");
14.
15. out.println("Welcome to first servlet");
16. out.println("<a href='servlet2'>visit</a>");
17. out.close();
18.
19. }catch(Exception e){out.println(e);}
20.
21. }}

DemoServlet2.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4. public class DemoServlet2 extends HttpServlet{
5. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res)
6. {
7. try{
8.
9. res.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter out=res.getWriter();
11.
12. ServletContext context=getServletContext();
13. String n=(String)context.getAttribute("company");
14.
15. out.println("Welcome to "+n);
16. out.close();
17.
18. }catch(Exception e){out.println(e);}
19. }}

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>DemoServlet1</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <servlet>
14. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
15. <servlet-class>DemoServlet2</servlet-class>
16. </servlet>
17.
18. <servlet-mapping>
19. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
21. </servlet-mapping>
22.
23. </web-app>

Difference between ServletConfig and ServletContext

The servletconfig object refers to the single servlet whereas servletcontext object refers to the whole
web application.
Session Tracking in Servlets
Session simply means a particular interval of time.

Session Tracking is a way to maintain state (data) of an user. It is also known as session
management in servlet.

Http protocol is a stateless so we need to maintain state using session tracking techniques. Each
time user requests to the server, server treats the request as the new request. So we need to
maintain the state of an user to recognize to particular user.

HTTP is stateless that means each request is considered as the new request. It is shown in the
figure given below:.4KOOPs Concepts in Java

Why use Session Tracking?

To recognize the user It is used to recognize the particular user.

Session Tracking Techniques

There are four techniques used in Session tracking:

1. Cookies
2. Hidden Form Field
3. URL Rewriting
4. HttpSession

Cookies in Servlet
A cookie is a small piece of information that is persisted between the multiple client requests.

A cookie has a name, a single value, and optional attributes such as a comment, path and
domain qualifiers, a maximum age, and a version number.

How Cookie works

By default, each request is considered as a new request. In cookies technique, we add cookie
with response from the servlet. So cookie is stored in the cache of the browser. After that if
request is sent by the user, cookie is added with request by default. Thus, we recognize the user
as the old user.

Types of Cookie
There are 2 types of cookies in servlets.

1. Non-persistent cookie
2. Persistent cookie

Non-persistent cookie

It is valid for single session only. It is removed each time when user closes the browser.

Persistent cookie

It is valid for multiple session . It is not removed each time when user closes the browser. It is
removed only if user logout or signout.
Advantage of Cookies
1. Simplest technique of maintaining the state.
2. Cookies are maintained at client side.

Disadvantage of Cookies
1. It will not work if cookie is disabled from the browser.
2. Only textual information can be set in Cookie object.

Note: Gmail uses cookie technique for login. If you disable the cookie, gmail won't work.

Cookie class
javax.servlet.http.Cookie class provides the functionality of using cookies. It provides a lot of
useful methods for cookies.

Constructor of Cookie class

Constructor Description

Cookie() constructs a cookie.

Cookie(String name, String value) constructs a cookie with a specified name and value.

Useful Methods of Cookie class

There are given some commonly used methods of the Cookie class.

Method Description

public void setMaxAge(int Sets the maximum age of the cookie in seconds.
expiry)

public String getName() Returns the name of the cookie. The name cannot be changed after
creation.

public String getValue() Returns the value of the cookie.

 public void setName(String changes the name of the cookie.
name)

public void setValue(String changes the value of the cookie.

value)

Other methods required for using Cookies

For adding cookie or getting the value from the cookie, we need some methods provided by other
interfaces. They are:

1. public void addCookie(Cookie ck):method of HttpServletResponse interface is used to add

cookie in response object.
2. public Cookie[] getCookies():method of HttpServletRequest interface is used to return all the
cookies from the browser.

How to create Cookie?

Let's see the simple code to create cookie.

1. Cookie ck=new Cookie("user","sonoo jaiswal");//creating cookie object

2. response.addCookie(ck);//adding cookie in the response

How to delete Cookie?

Let's see the simple code to delete cookie. It is mainly used to logout or signout the user.

1. Cookie ck=new Cookie("user","");//deleting value of cookie

2. ck.setMaxAge(0);//changing the maximum age to 0 seconds
3. response.addCookie(ck);//adding cookie in the response

How to get Cookies?

Let's see the simple code to get all the cookies.

1. Cookie ck[]=request.getCookies();
2. for(int i=0;i<ck.length;i++){
3. out.print("<br>"+ck[i].getName()+" "+ck[i].getValue());//printing name and value of cookie
4. }

Simple example of Servlet Cookies

In this example, we are storing the name of the user in the cookie object and accessing it in
another servlet. As we know well that session corresponds to the particular user. So if you access
it from too many browsers with different values, you will get the different value.

index.html
1. <form action="servlet1" method="post">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/><br/>
3. <input type="submit" value="go"/>
4. </form>

FirstServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5.
6. public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {
7.
8. public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
9. try{
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
15. out.print("Welcome "+n);
16.
17. Cookie ck=new Cookie("uname",n);//creating cookie object
18. response.addCookie(ck);//adding cookie in the response
19.
20. //creating submit button
21. out.print("<form action='servlet2'>");
22. out.print("<input type='submit' value='go'>");
23. out.print("</form>");
24.
25. out.close();
26.
27. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
28. }
29. }

SecondServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class SecondServlet extends HttpServlet {
6.
7. public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
8. try{
9.
10. response.setContentType("text/html");
11. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
12.
13. Cookie ck[]=request.getCookies();
14. out.print("Hello "+ck[0].getValue());
15.
16. out.close();
17.
18. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
19. }
20.
21.
22. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>FirstServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <servlet>
14. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
15. <servlet-class>SecondServlet</servlet-class>
16. </servlet>
17.
18. <servlet-mapping>
19. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
21. </servlet-mapping>
22.
23. </web-app>

Servlet Login and Logout Example using Cookies

A cookie is a kind of information that is stored at client side.

In the previous page, we learned a lot about cookie e.g. how to create cookie, how to delete
cookie, how to get cookie etc.
 Here, we are going to create a login and logout example using servlet cookies.

In this example, we are creating 3 links: login, logout and profile. User can't go to profile page
until he/she is logged in. If user is logged out, he need to login again to visit profile.

In this application, we have created following files.

1. index.html
2. link.html
3. login.html
4. LoginServlet.java
5. LogoutServlet.java
6. ProfileServlet.java
7. web.xml

1. <!DOCTYPE html>
2. <html>
3. <head>
4. <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
5. <title>Servlet Login Example</title>
6. </head>
7. <body>
8.
9. <h1>Welcome to Login App by Cookie</h1>
10. <a href="login.html">Login</a>|
11. <a href="LogoutServlet">Logout</a>|
12. <a href="ProfileServlet">Profile</a>
13.
14. </body>
15. </html>

File: link.html
1. <a href="login.html">Login</a> |
2. <a href="LogoutServlet">Logout</a> |
3. <a href="ProfileServlet">Profile</a>
4. <hr>
 File: login.html
1. <form action="LoginServlet" method="post">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="name"><br>
3. Password:<input type="password" name="password"><br>
4. <input type="submit" value="login">
5. </form>

File: LoginServlet.java
1. package com.javatpoint;
2.
3. import java.io.IOException;
4. import java.io.PrintWriter;
5. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
6. import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
10. public class LoginServlet extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15.
16. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
17.
18. String name=request.getParameter("name");
19. String password=request.getParameter("password");
20.
21. if(password.equals("admin123")){
22. out.print("You are successfully logged in!");
23. out.print("<br>Welcome, "+name);
24.
25. Cookie ck=new Cookie("name",name);
26. response.addCookie(ck);
27. }else{
28. out.print("sorry, username or password error!");
29. request.getRequestDispatcher("login.html").include(request, response);
30. }
31.
32. out.close();
33. }
34.
35. }

File: LogoutServlet.java
1. package com.javatpoint;
2.
3. import java.io.IOException;
4. import java.io.PrintWriter;
5. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
6. import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
10. public class LogoutServlet extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15.
16.
17. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
18.
19. Cookie ck=new Cookie("name","");
20. ck.setMaxAge(0);
21. response.addCookie(ck);
22.
23. out.print("you are successfully logged out!");
24. }
25. }

File: ProfileServlet.java
1. package com.javatpoint;
2.
3. import java.io.IOException;
4. import java.io.PrintWriter;
5. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
6. import javax.servlet.http.Cookie;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
10. public class ProfileServlet extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15.
16. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
17.
18. Cookie ck[]=request.getCookies();
19. if(ck!=null){
20. String name=ck[0].getValue();
21. if(!name.equals("")||name!=null){
22. out.print("<b>Welcome to Profile</b>");
23. out.print("<br>Welcome, "+name);
24. }
25. }else{
26. out.print("Please login first");
27. request.getRequestDispatcher("login.html").include(request, response);
28. }
29. out.close();
30. }
31. }

File: web.xml
1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2. <web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
3. xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jav
aee
4. http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5">
5.
6. <servlet>
7. <description></description>
8. <display-name>LoginServlet</display-name>
9. <servlet-name>LoginServlet</servlet-name>
10. <servlet-class>com.javatpoint.LoginServlet</servlet-class>
11. </servlet>
12. <servlet-mapping>
13. <servlet-name>LoginServlet</servlet-name>
14. <url-pattern>/LoginServlet</url-pattern>
15. </servlet-mapping>
16. <servlet>
17. <description></description>
18. <display-name>ProfileServlet</display-name>
19. <servlet-name>ProfileServlet</servlet-name>
20. <servlet-class>com.javatpoint.ProfileServlet</servlet-class>
21. </servlet>
22. <servlet-mapping>
23. <servlet-name>ProfileServlet</servlet-name>
24. <url-pattern>/ProfileServlet</url-pattern>
25. </servlet-mapping>
26. <servlet>
27. <description></description>
28. <display-name>LogoutServlet</display-name>
29. <servlet-name>LogoutServlet</servlet-name>
30. <servlet-class>com.javatpoint.LogoutServlet</servlet-class>
31. </servlet>
32. <servlet-mapping>
33. <servlet-name>LogoutServlet</servlet-name>
34. <url-pattern>/LogoutServlet</url-pattern>
35. </servlet-mapping>
36. </web-app>
Output
If again you click on the profile link, you need to login first.

2) Hidden Form Field

In case of Hidden Form Field a hidden (invisible) textfield is used for maintaining the state of
an user.
 In such case, we store the information in the hidden field and get it from another servlet. This
approach is better if we have to submit form in all the pages and we don't want to depend on
the browser.

Let's see the code to store value in hidden field.

1. <input type="hidden" name="uname" value="Vimal Jaiswal">

Here, uname is the hidden field name and Vimal Jaiswal is the hidden field value.

Real application of hidden form field

It is widely used in comment form of a website. In such case, we store page id or page name in
the hidden field so that each page can be uniquely identified.

Advantage of Hidden Form Field

1. It will always work whether cookie is disabled or not.

Disadvantage of Hidden Form Field:

1. It is maintained at server side.
2. Extra form submission is required on each pages.
3. Only textual information can be used.

Example of using Hidden Form Field

In this example, we are storing the name of the user in a hidden textfield and getting that value
from another servlet.
 index.html
1. <form action="servlet1">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/><br/>
3. <input type="submit" value="go"/>
4. </form>

FirstServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {
6. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
7. try{
8.
9. response.setContentType("text/html");
10. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
11.
12. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
13. out.print("Welcome "+n);
14.
15. //creating form that have invisible textfield
16. out.print("<form action='servlet2'>");
17. out.print("<input type='hidden' name='uname' value='"+n+"'>");
18. out.print("<input type='submit' value='go'>");
19. out.print("</form>");
20. out.close();
21.
22. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
23. }
24.
25. }

SecondServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4. public class SecondServlet extends HttpServlet {
5. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
6. try{
7. response.setContentType("text/html");
8. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
9.
10. //Getting the value from the hidden field
11. String n=request.getParameter("uname");
12. out.print("Hello "+n);
13.
14. out.close();
15. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
16. }
17. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>FirstServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <servlet>
14. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
15. <servlet-class>SecondServlet</servlet-class>
16. </servlet>
17.
18. <servlet-mapping>
19. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
21. </servlet-mapping>
22.
23. </web-app>

3)URL Rewriting
In URL rewriting, we append a token or identifier to the URL of the next Servlet or the next
resource. We can send parameter name/value pairs using the following format:

url?name1=value1&name2=value2&??

A name and a value is separated using an equal = sign, a parameter name/value pair is
separated from another parameter using the ampersand(&). When the user clicks the hyperlink,
the parameter name/value pairs will be passed to the server. From a Servlet, we can use
getParameter() method to obtain a parameter value.
 Advantage of URL Rewriting
1. It will always work whether cookie is disabled or not (browser independent).
2. Extra form submission is not required on each pages.

Disadvantage of URL Rewriting

1. It will work only with links.
2. It can send Only textual information.

Example of using URL Rewriting

In this example, we are maintaning the state of the user using link. For this purpose, we are
appending the name of the user in the query string and getting the value from the query string
in another page.

index.html
1. <form action="servlet1">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/><br/>
3. <input type="submit" value="go"/>
4. </form>

FirstServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5.
6. public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {
7.
8. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
9. try{
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
15. out.print("Welcome "+n);
16.
17. //appending the username in the query string
18. out.print("<a href='servlet2?uname="+n+"'>visit</a>");
19.
20. out.close();
21.
22. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
23. }
24.
25. }

SecondServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class SecondServlet extends HttpServlet {
6.
7. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
8. try{
9.
10. response.setContentType("text/html");
11. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
12.
13. //getting value from the query string
14. String n=request.getParameter("uname");
15. out.print("Hello "+n);
16.
17. out.close();
18.
19. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
20. }
21.
22.
23. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>FirstServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <servlet>
14. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
15. <servlet-class>SecondServlet</servlet-class>
16. </servlet>
17.
18. <servlet-mapping>
19. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
21. </servlet-mapping>
22.
23. </web-app>

4) HttpSession interface
In such case, container creates a session id for each user.The container uses this id to identify
the particular user.An object of HttpSession can be used to perform two tasks:

1. bind objects
2. view and manipulate information about a session, such as the session identifier, creation
time, and last accessed time.
How to get the HttpSession object ?

The HttpServletRequest interface provides two methods to get the object of HttpSession:

1. public HttpSession getSession():Returns the current session associated with this

request, or if the request does not have a session, creates one.
2. public HttpSession getSession(boolean create):Returns the current HttpSession
associated with this request or, if there is no current session and create is true, returns a
new session.

Commonly used methods of HttpSession interface

1. public String getId():Returns a string containing the unique identifier value.
2. public long getCreationTime():Returns the time when this session was created,
measured in milliseconds since midnight January 1, 1970 GMT.
3. public long getLastAccessedTime():Returns the last time the client sent a request
associated with this session, as the number of milliseconds since midnight January 1,
1970 GMT.
4. public void invalidate():Invalidates this session then unbinds any objects bound to it.

Example of using HttpSession

In this example, we are setting the attribute in the session scope in one servlet and getting that
value from the session scope in another servlet. To set the attribute in the session scope, we
have used the setAttribute() method of HttpSession interface and to get the attribute, we have
used the getAttribute method.
 index.html
1. <form action="servlet1">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="userName"/><br/>
3. <input type="submit" value="go"/>
4. </form>

FirstServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5.
6. public class FirstServlet extends HttpServlet {
7.
8. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response){
9. try{
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. String n=request.getParameter("userName");
15. out.print("Welcome "+n);
16.
17. HttpSession session=request.getSession();
18. session.setAttribute("uname",n);
19.
20. out.print("<a href='servlet2'>visit</a>");
21.
22. out.close();
23.
24. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
25. }
26.
27. }

SecondServlet.java
1. import java.io.*;
2. import javax.servlet.*;
3. import javax.servlet.http.*;
4.
5. public class SecondServlet extends HttpServlet {
6.
7. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
8. try{
9.
10. response.setContentType("text/html");
11. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
12.
13. HttpSession session=request.getSession(false);
14. String n=(String)session.getAttribute("uname");
15. out.print("Hello "+n);
16.
17. out.close();
18.
19. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
20. }
21.
22.
23. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>FirstServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <servlet>
14. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
15. <servlet-class>SecondServlet</servlet-class>
16. </servlet>
17.
18. <servlet-mapping>
19. <servlet-name>s2</servlet-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet2</url-pattern>
21. </servlet-mapping>
22.
23. </web-app>

Servlet HttpSession Login and Logout Example

We can bind the objects on HttpSession instance and get the objects by using setAttribute and
getAttribute methods.

In the previous page, we have learnt about what is HttpSession, How to store and get data from
session object etc.

Here, we are going to create a real world login and logout application without using database
code. We are assuming that password is admin123.

Visit here for login and logout application using cookies only servlet login and logout example
using cookies

In this example, we are creating 3 links: login, logout and profile. User can't go to profile page
until he/she is logged in. If user is logged out, he need to login again to visit profile.

In this application, we have created following files.

1. index.html
2. link.html
3. login.html
4. LoginServlet.java
5. LogoutServlet.java
6. ProfileServlet.java
7. web.xml

1. <!DOCTYPE html>
2. <html>
3. <head>
4. <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
5. <title>Servlet Login Example</title>
6. </head>
7. <body>
8.
9. <h1>Login App using HttpSession</h1>
10. <a href="login.html">Login</a>|
11. <a href="LogoutServlet">Logout</a>|
12. <a href="ProfileServlet">Profile</a>
13.
14. </body>
15. </html>

File: link.html

1. <a href="login.html">Login</a> |
2. <a href="LogoutServlet">Logout</a> |
3. <a href="ProfileServlet">Profile</a>
4. <hr>

File: login.html

1. <form action="LoginServlet" method="post">

2. Name:<input type="text" name="name"><br>
3. Password:<input type="password" name="password"><br>
4. <input type="submit" value="login">
5. </form>

File: LoginServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
9. public class LoginServlet extends HttpServlet {
10. protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
11. throws ServletException, IOException {
12. response.setContentType("text/html");
13. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
14. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
15.
16. String name=request.getParameter("name");
17. String password=request.getParameter("password");
18.
19. if(password.equals("admin123")){
20. out.print("Welcome, "+name);
21. HttpSession session=request.getSession();
22. session.setAttribute("name",name);
23. }
24. else{
25. out.print("Sorry, username or password error!");
26. request.getRequestDispatcher("login.html").include(request, response);
27. }
28. out.close();
29. }
30. }

File: LogoutServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
9. public class LogoutServlet extends HttpServlet {
10. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
11. throws ServletException, IOException {
12. response.setContentType("text/html");
13. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
14.
15. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
16.
17. HttpSession session=request.getSession();
18. session.invalidate();
19.
20. out.print("You are successfully logged out!");
21.
22. out.close();
23. }
24. }

File: ProfileServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
4. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
5. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpSession;
8. public class ProfileServlet extends HttpServlet {
9. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
10. throws ServletException, IOException {
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
13. request.getRequestDispatcher("link.html").include(request, response);
14.
15. HttpSession session=request.getSession(false);
16. if(session!=null){
17. String name=(String)session.getAttribute("name");
18.
19. out.print("Hello, "+name+" Welcome to Profile");
20. }
21. else{
22. out.print("Please login first");
23. request.getRequestDispatcher("login.html").include(request, response);
24. }
25. out.close();
26. }
27. }

File: web.xml

1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

2. <web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
3. xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/jav
aee
4. http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" id="WebApp_ID" version="2.5">
5.
6. <servlet>
7. <description></description>
8. <display-name>LoginServlet</display-name>
9. <servlet-name>LoginServlet</servlet-name>
10. <servlet-class>LoginServlet</servlet-class>
11. </servlet>
12. <servlet-mapping>
13. <servlet-name>LoginServlet</servlet-name>
14. <url-pattern>/LoginServlet</url-pattern>
15. </servlet-mapping>
16. <servlet>
17. <description></description>
18. <display-name>ProfileServlet</display-name>
19. <servlet-name>ProfileServlet</servlet-name>
20. <servlet-class>ProfileServlet</servlet-class>
21. </servlet>
22. <servlet-mapping>
23. <servlet-name>ProfileServlet</servlet-name>
24. <url-pattern>/ProfileServlet</url-pattern>
25. </servlet-mapping>
26. <servlet>
27. <description></description>
28. <display-name>LogoutServlet</display-name>
29. <servlet-name>LogoutServlet</servlet-name>
30. <servlet-class>LogoutServlet</servlet-class>
31. </servlet>
32. <servlet-mapping>
33. <servlet-name>LogoutServlet</servlet-name>
34. <url-pattern>/LogoutServlet</url-pattern>
35. </servlet-mapping>
36. </web-app>

download this example (developed using Eclipse IDE)

Output
If again you click on the profile link, you need to login first

Event and Listener in Servlet

Events are basically occurrence of something. Changing the state of an object is known
as an event.
We can perform some important tasks at the occurrence of these exceptions, such as
counting total and current logged-in users, creating tables of the database at time of
deploying the project, creating database connection object etc.

There are many Event classes and Listener interfaces in the javax.servlet and
javax.servlet.http packages.

Event classes
The event classes are as follows:

1. ServletRequestEvent
2. ServletContextEvent
3. ServletRequestAttributeEvent
4. ServletContextAttributeEvent
5. HttpSessionEvent
6. HttpSessionBindingEvent

Event interfaces
The event interfaces are as follows:

1. ServletRequestListener
2. ServletRequestAttributeListener
3. ServletContextListener
4. ServletContextAttributeListener
5. HttpSessionListener
6. HttpSessionAttributeListener
7. HttpSessionBindingListener
8. HttpSessionActivationListener

Upcoming topics in Servlet Events and Listeners

ServletContextEvent

Let's see the simple example of ServletContextEvent and ServletContextListener

HttpSessionEvent

Let's see the simple example of HttpSessionEvent and HttpSessionListener

ServletRequestEvent

Let's see the simple example of ServletRequestEvent and ServletRequestListener

ServletContext AttributeEvent

Let's see the simple example of ServletContextAttributeEvent and

ServletContextAttributeListener

HttpSessionBindingEvent

Let's see the simple example of HttpSessionBindingEvent and

HttpSessionAttributeListener

ServletRequestAttributeEvent

Let's see the simple example of ServletRequestAttributeEvent and

ServletRequestAttributeEvent

Servlet Filter
A filter is an object that is invoked at the preprocessing and postprocessing of a
request.

It is mainly used to perform filtering tasks such as conversion, logging, compression,

encryption and decryption, input validation etc.

The servlet filter is pluggable, i.e. its entry is defined in the web.xml file, if we remove
the entry of filter from the web.xml file, filter will be removed automatically and we don't
need to change the servlet.

So maintenance cost will be less.

Note: Unlike Servlet, One filter doesn't have dependency on another filter.

Usage of Filter
o recording all incoming requests
o logs the IP addresses of the computers from which the requests originate
o conversion
o data compression
o encryption and decryption
o input validation etc.

Advantage of Filter
1. Filter is pluggable.
2. One filter don't have dependency onto another resource.
3. Less Maintenance

Filter API
Like servlet filter have its own API. The javax.servlet package contains the three
interfaces of Filter API.

1. Filter
2. FilterChain
3. FilterConfig
 1) Filter interface

For creating any filter, you must implement the Filter interface. Filter interface provides
the life cycle methods for a filter.

Method Description

public void init(FilterConfig config) init() method is invoked only once. It is used to initialize
the filter.

public void doFilter(HttpServletRequest doFilter() method is invoked every time when user
request,HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain request to any resource, to which the filter is mapped.It
chain) is used to perform filtering tasks.

public void destroy() This is invoked only once when filter is taken out of the
service.

2) FilterChain interface

The object of FilterChain is responsible to invoke the next filter or resource in the
chain.This object is passed in the doFilter method of Filter interface.The FilterChain
interface contains only one method:

1. public void doFilter(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response): it

passes the control to the next filter or resource.

How to define Filter

We can define filter same as servlet. Let's see the elements of filter and filter-mapping.

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <filter>
4. <filter-name>...</filter-name>
5. <filter-class>...</filter-class>
6. </filter>
7.
8. <filter-mapping>
9. <filter-name>...</filter-name>
10. <url-pattern>...</url-pattern>
11. </filter-mapping>
12.
13. </web-app>

For mapping filter we can use, either url-pattern or servlet-name. The url-pattern
elements has an advantage over servlet-name element i.e. it can be applied on servlet,
JSP or HTML.

Simple Example of Filter

In this example, we are simply displaying information that filter is invoked automatically
after the post processing of the request.

index.html
1. <a href="servlet1">click here</a>

MyFilter.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.*;
5.
6. public class MyFilter implements Filter{
7.
8. public void init(FilterConfig arg0) throws ServletException {}
9.
10. public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse resp,
11. FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException {
12.
13. PrintWriter out=resp.getWriter();
14. out.print("filter is invoked before");
15.
16. chain.doFilter(req, resp);//sends request to next resource
17.
18. out.print("filter is invoked after");
19. }
20. public void destroy() {}
21. }

HelloServlet.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.http.*;
6.
7. public class HelloServlet extends HttpServlet {
8. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
9. throws ServletException, IOException {
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. out.print("<br>welcome to servlet<br>");
15.
16. }
17.
18. }
web.xml

For defining the filter, filter element of web-app must be defined just like servlet.

1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>HelloServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>s1</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <filter>
14. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
15. <filter-class>MyFilter</filter-class>
16. </filter>
17.
18. <filter-mapping>
19. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
20. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
21. </filter-mapping>
22.
23.
24. </web-app>

Authentication Filter
We can perform authentication in filter. Here, we are going to check to password given
by the user in filter class, if given password is admin, it will forward the request to the
WelcomeAdmin servlet otherwise it will display error message.

Example of authenticating user using filter

Let's see the simple example of authenticating user using filter.

o Here, we have created 4 files: index.html

o MyFilter.java
o AdminServlet.java
o web.xml

index.html
1. <form action="servlet1">
2. Name:<input type="text" name="name"/><br/>
3. Password:<input type="password" name="password"/><br/>
4.
5. <input type="submit" value="login">
6.
7. </form>

MyFilter.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3. import javax.servlet.*;
4.
5. public class MyFilter implements Filter{
6.
7. public void init(FilterConfig arg0) throws ServletException {}
8.
9. public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse resp,
10. FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException {
11.
12. PrintWriter out=resp.getWriter();
13.
14. String password=req.getParameter("password");
15. if(password.equals("admin")){
16. chain.doFilter(req, resp);//sends request to next resource
17. }
18. else{
19. out.print("username or password error!");
20. RequestDispatcher rd=req.getRequestDispatcher("index.html");
21. rd.include(req, resp);
22. }
23.
24. }
25. public void destroy() {}
26.
27. }

AdminServlet.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.http.*;
6.
7. public class AdminServlet extends HttpServlet {
8. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
9. throws ServletException, IOException {
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. out.print("welcome ADMIN");
15. out.close();
16. }
17. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2. <servlet>
3. <servlet-name>AdminServlet</servlet-name>
4. <servlet-class>AdminServlet</servlet-class>
5. </servlet>
6.
7. <servlet-mapping>
8. <servlet-name>AdminServlet</servlet-name>
9. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
10. </servlet-mapping>
11.
12. <filter>
13. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
14. <filter-class>MyFilter</filter-class>
15. </filter>
16. <filter-mapping>
17. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
18. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
19. </filter-mapping>
20.
21. </web-app>

FilterConfig
An object of FilterConfig is created by the web container. This object can be used to get
the configuration information from the web.xml file.

Methods of FilterConfig interface

There are following 4 methods in the FilterConfig interface.

1. public void init(FilterConfig config): init() method is invoked only once it is used to
initialize the filter.
2. public String getInitParameter(String parameterName): Returns the parameter value
for the specified parameter name.
3. public java.util.Enumeration getInitParameterNames(): Returns an enumeration
containing all the parameter names.
4. public ServletContext getServletContext(): Returns the ServletContext object.

Example of FilterConfig

In this example, if you change the param-value to no, request will be forwarded to the
servlet otherwise filter will create the response with the message: this page is
underprocessing. Let's see the simple example of FilterConfig. Here, we have created 4
files:

o index.html
o MyFilter.java
o HelloServlet.java
o web.xml

index.html
1. <a href="servlet1">click here</a>

MyFilter.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.*;
5.
6. public class MyFilter implements Filter{
7. FilterConfig config;
8.
9. public void init(FilterConfig config) throws ServletException {
10. this.config=config;
11. }
12.
13. public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse resp,
14. FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException {
15.
16. PrintWriter out=resp.getWriter();
17.
18. String s=config.getInitParameter("construction");
19.
20. if(s.equals("yes")){
21. out.print("This page is under construction");
22. }
23. else{
24. chain.doFilter(req, resp);//sends request to next resource
25. }
26.
27. }
28. public void destroy() {}
29. }

HelloServlet.java
1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.http.*;
6.
7. public class HelloServlet extends HttpServlet {
8. public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
9. throws ServletException, IOException {
10.
11. response.setContentType("text/html");
12. PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
13.
14. out.print("<br>welcome to servlet<br>");
15.
16. }
17.
18. }

web.xml
1. <web-app>
2.
3. <servlet>
4. <servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
5. <servlet-class>HelloServlet</servlet-class>
6. </servlet>
7.
8. <servlet-mapping>
9. <servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
10. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
11. </servlet-mapping>
12.
13. <filter>
14. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
15. <filter-class>MyFilter</filter-class>
16. <init-param>
17. <param-name>construction</param-name>
18. <param-value>no</param-value>
19. </init-param>
20. </filter>
21. <filter-mapping>
22. <filter-name>f1</filter-name>
23. <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
24. </filter-mapping>
25.
26.
27. </web-app>

ServletInputStream class
ServletInputStream class provides stream to read binary data such as image etc. from
the request object. It is an abstract class.

The getInputStream() method of ServletRequest interface returns the instance of

ServletInputStream class. So can be get as:

1. ServletInputStream sin=request.getInputStream();

Method of ServletInputStream class

There are only one method defined in the ServletInputStream class.

1. int readLine(byte[] b, int off, int len) it reads the input stream.

ServletOutputStream class
ServletOutputStream class provides a stream to write binary data into the response. It
is an abstract class.

The getOutputStream() method of ServletResponse interface returns the instance of

ServletOutputStream class. It may be get as:

1. ServletOutputStream out=response.getOutputStream();
Methods of ServletOutputStream class
The ServletOutputStream class provides print() and println() methods that are
overloaded.

1. void print(boolean b){}

2. void print(char c){}
3. void print(int i){}
4. void print(long l){}
5. void print(float f){}
6. void print(double d){}
7. void print(String s){}
8. void println{}
9. void println(boolean b){}
10. void println(char c){}
11. void println(int i){}
12. void println(long l){}
13. void println(float f){}
14. void println(double d){}
15. void println(String s){}

CRUD in Servlet
A CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) application is the most important application
for any project development. In Servlet, we can easily create CRUD application.

Servlet CRUD example

Create "user905" table in Oracle Database with auto incrementing id using sequence. There are 5 fields
in it: id, name, password, email and country.
 File: index.html

1. <!DOCTYPE html>
2. <html>
3. <head>
4. <meta charset="ISO-8859-1">
5. <title>Insert title here</title>
6. </head>
7. <body>
8.
9. <h1>Add New Employee</h1>
10. <form action="SaveServlet" method="post">
11. <table>
12. <tr><td>Name:</td><td><input type="text" name="name"/></td></tr>
13. <tr><td>Password:</td><td><input type="password" name="password"/></td></tr>
14. <tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type="email" name="email"/></td></tr>
15. <tr><td>Country:</td><td>
16. <select name="country" style="width:150px">
17. <option>India</option>
18. <option>USA</option>
19. <option>UK</option>
20. <option>Other</option>
21. </select>
22. </td></tr>
23. <tr><td colspan="2"><input type="submit" value="Save Employee"/></td></tr>
24. </table>
25. </form>
26.
27. <br/>
28. <a href="ViewServlet">view employees</a>
29.
30. </body>
31. </html>
1. File: Emp.java public class Emp {
2. private int id;
3. private String name,password,email,country;
4. public int getId() {
5. return id;
6. }
7. public void setId(int id) {
8. this.id = id;
9. }
10. public String getName() {
11. return name;
12. }
13. public void setName(String name) {
14. this.name = name;
15. }
16. public String getPassword() {
17. return password;
18. }
19. public void setPassword(String password) {
20. this.password = password;
21. }
22. public String getEmail() {
23. return email;
24. }
25. public void setEmail(String email) {
26. this.email = email;
27. }
28. public String getCountry() {
29. return country;
30. }
31. public void setCountry(String country) {
32. this.country = country;
33. }
34.
35. }

File: EmpDao.java

1. import java.util.*;
2. import java.sql.*;
3.
4. public class EmpDao {
5.
6. public static Connection getConnection(){
7. Connection con=null;
8. try{
9. Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
10. con=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:xe","syste
m","oracle");
11. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
12. return con;
13. }
14. public static int save(Emp e){
15. int status=0;
16. try{
17. Connection con=EmpDao.getConnection();
18. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement(
19. "insert into user905(name,password,email,country) values (?,?,?,?)");
20. ps.setString(1,e.getName());
21. ps.setString(2,e.getPassword());
22. ps.setString(3,e.getEmail());
23. ps.setString(4,e.getCountry());
24.
25. status=ps.executeUpdate();
26.
27. con.close();
28. }catch(Exception ex){ex.printStackTrace();}
29.
30. return status;
31. }
32. public static int update(Emp e){
33. int status=0;
34. try{
35. Connection con=EmpDao.getConnection();
36. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement(
37. "update user905 set name=?,password=?,email=?,country=? where id=?
");
38. ps.setString(1,e.getName());
39. ps.setString(2,e.getPassword());
40. ps.setString(3,e.getEmail());
41. ps.setString(4,e.getCountry());
42. ps.setInt(5,e.getId());
43.
44. status=ps.executeUpdate();
45.
46. con.close();
47. }catch(Exception ex){ex.printStackTrace();}
48.
49. return status;
50. }
51. public static int delete(int id){
52. int status=0;
53. try{
54. Connection con=EmpDao.getConnection();
55. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement("delete from user905 where id=?"
);
56. ps.setInt(1,id);
57. status=ps.executeUpdate();
58.
59. con.close();
60. }catch(Exception e){e.printStackTrace();}
61.
62. return status;
63. }
64. public static Emp getEmployeeById(int id){
65. Emp e=new Emp();
66.
67. try{
68. Connection con=EmpDao.getConnection();
69. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement("select * from user905 where id=?
");
70. ps.setInt(1,id);
71. ResultSet rs=ps.executeQuery();
72. if(rs.next()){
73. e.setId(rs.getInt(1));
74. e.setName(rs.getString(2));
75. e.setPassword(rs.getString(3));
76. e.setEmail(rs.getString(4));
77. e.setCountry(rs.getString(5));
78. }
79. con.close();
80. }catch(Exception ex){ex.printStackTrace();}
81.
82. return e;
83. }
84. public static List<Emp> getAllEmployees(){
85. List<Emp> list=new ArrayList<Emp>();
86.
87. try{
88. Connection con=EmpDao.getConnection();
89. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement("select * from user905");
90. ResultSet rs=ps.executeQuery();
91. while(rs.next()){
92. Emp e=new Emp();
93. e.setId(rs.getInt(1));
94. e.setName(rs.getString(2));
95. e.setPassword(rs.getString(3));
96. e.setEmail(rs.getString(4));
97. e.setCountry(rs.getString(5));
98. list.add(e);
99. }
100. con.close();
101. }catch(Exception e){e.printStackTrace();}
102.
103. return list;
104. }
105. }

File: SaveServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
9. @WebServlet("/SaveServlet")
10. public class SaveServlet extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15.
16. String name=request.getParameter("name");
17. String password=request.getParameter("password");
18. String email=request.getParameter("email");
19. String country=request.getParameter("country");
20.
21. Emp e=new Emp();
22. e.setName(name);
23. e.setPassword(password);
24. e.setEmail(email);
25. e.setCountry(country);
26.
27. int status=EmpDao.save(e);
28. if(status>0){
29. out.print("<p>Record saved successfully!</p>");
30. request.getRequestDispatcher("index.html").include(request, response);
31. }else{
32. out.println("Sorry! unable to save record");
33. }
34.
35. out.close();
36. }
37.
38. }

File: EditServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
9. @WebServlet("/EditServlet")
10. public class EditServlet extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15. out.println("<h1>Update Employee</h1>");
16. String sid=request.getParameter("id");
17. int id=Integer.parseInt(sid);
18.
19. Emp e=EmpDao.getEmployeeById(id);
20.
21. out.print("<form action='EditServlet2' method='post'>");
22. out.print("<table>");
23. out.print("<tr><td></td><td><input type='hidden' name='id' value='"+e.getId()
+"'/></td></tr>");
24. out.print("<tr><td>Name:</td><td><input type='text' name='name' value='"+e.
getName()+"'/></td></tr>");
25. out.print("<tr><td>Password:</td><td><input type='password' name='password'
value='"+e.getPassword()+"'/>
26. </td></tr>");
27. out.print("<tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type='email' name='email' value='"+e.
getEmail()+"'/></td></tr>");
28. out.print("<tr><td>Country:</td><td>");
29. out.print("<select name='country' style='width:150px'>");
30. out.print("<option>India</option>");
31. out.print("<option>USA</option>");
32. out.print("<option>UK</option>");
33. out.print("<option>Other</option>");
34. out.print("</select>");
35. out.print("</td></tr>");
36. out.print("<tr><td colspan='2'><input type='submit' value='Edit & Save '/></td>
</tr>");
37. out.print("</table>");
38. out.print("</form>");
39.
40. out.close();
41. }
42. }

File: EditServlet2.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3.
4. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
5. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
9. @WebServlet("/EditServlet2")
10. public class EditServlet2 extends HttpServlet {
11. protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
12. throws ServletException, IOException {
13. response.setContentType("text/html");
14. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
15.
16. String sid=request.getParameter("id");
17. int id=Integer.parseInt(sid);
18. String name=request.getParameter("name");
19. String password=request.getParameter("password");
20. String email=request.getParameter("email");
21. String country=request.getParameter("country");
22.
23. Emp e=new Emp();
24. e.setId(id);
25. e.setName(name);
26. e.setPassword(password);
27. e.setEmail(email);
28. e.setCountry(country);
29.
30. int status=EmpDao.update(e);
31. if(status>0){
32. response.sendRedirect("ViewServlet");
33. }else{
34. out.println("Sorry! unable to update record");
35. }
36.
37. out.close();
38. }
39.
40. }

File: DeleteServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
3. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
4. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
5. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
6. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
7. @WebServlet("/DeleteServlet")
8. public class DeleteServlet extends HttpServlet {
9. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
10. throws ServletException, IOException {
11. String sid=request.getParameter("id");
12. int id=Integer.parseInt(sid);
13. EmpDao.delete(id);
14. response.sendRedirect("ViewServlet");
15. }
16. }

File: ViewServlet.java

1. import java.io.IOException;
2. import java.io.PrintWriter;
3. import java.util.List;
4.
5. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
6. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
7. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
10. @WebServlet("/ViewServlet")
11. public class ViewServlet extends HttpServlet {
12. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
13. throws ServletException, IOException {
14. response.setContentType("text/html");
15. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
16. out.println("<a href='index.html'>Add New Employee</a>");
17. out.println("<h1>Employees List</h1>");
18.
19. List<Emp> list=EmpDao.getAllEmployees();
20.
21. out.print("<table border='1' width='100%'");
22. out.print("<tr><th>Id</th><th>Name</th><th>Password</th><th>Email</th><th>Cou
ntry</th>
23. <th>Edit</th><th>Delete</th></tr>");
24. for(Emp e:list){
25. out.print("<tr><td>"+e.getId()+"</td><td>"+e.getName()+"</td><td>"+e.getPassword(
)+"</td>
26. <td>"+e.getEmail()+"</td><td>"+e.getCountry()+"</td><td><a href='EditServlet?i
d="+e.getId()+"'>edit</a></td>
27. <td><a href='DeleteServlet?id="+e.getId()+"'>delete</a></td></tr>");
28. }
29. out.print("</table>");
30.
31. out.close();
32. }
33. }

Output

First page will look like this, fill the form and submit it.
You will get a message "Record successfully saved!".
Click on the View Employees link to see the total employees list.
Click on the update link, to change the data.
After changing information, submit button. You will see that information is changed.
Now, click on the delete link to delete the record.
 Pagination in Servlet
To divide large number of records into multiple parts, we use pagination. It allows user
to display a part of records only. Loading all records in a single page may take time, so it
is always recommended to created pagination. In servlet, we can develop pagination
example easily.

In this servlet pagination example, we are using MySQL database to fetch records.

Here, we have created "emp" table in "test" database. The emp table has three fields: id,
name and salary. Either create table and insert records manually or import our sql file.

index.html
1. <a href="ViewServlet?page=1">View Employees</a>

ViewServlet.java
1. package com.javatpoint.servlets;
2.
3. import java.io.IOException;
4. import java.io.PrintWriter;
5. import java.util.List;
6. import javax.servlet.ServletException;
7. import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
8. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
9. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
10. import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;
11. import com.javatpoint.beans.Emp;
12. import com.javatpoint.dao.EmpDao;
13.
14. @WebServlet("/ViewServlet")
15. public class ViewServlet extends HttpServlet {
16. private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
17. protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
18. throws ServletException, IOException {
19. response.setContentType("text/html");
20. PrintWriter out=response.getWriter();
21.
22. String spageid=request.getParameter("page");
23. int pageid=Integer.parseInt(spageid);
24. int total=5;
25. if(pageid==1){}
26. else{
27. pageidpageid=pageid-1;
28. pageidpageid=pageid*total+1;
29. }
30. List<Emp> list=EmpDao.getRecords(pageid,total);
31.
32. out.print("<h1>Page No: "+spageid+"</h1>");
33. out.print("<table border='1' cellpadding='4' width='60%'>");
34. out.print("<tr><th>Id</th><th>Name</th><th>Salary</th>");
35. for(Emp e:list){
36. out.print("<tr><td>"+e.getId()+"</td><td>"+e.getName()+"</td><td>"+e.getSalary
()+"</td></tr>");
37. }
38. out.print("</table>");
39.
40. out.print("<a href='ViewServlet?page=1'>1</a> ");
41. out.print("<a href='ViewServlet?page=2'>2</a> ");
42. out.print("<a href='ViewServlet?page=3'>3</a> ");
43.
44. out.close();
45. }
46. }

Emp.java
1. package com.javatpoint.beans;
2.
3. public class Emp {
4. private int id;
5. private String name;
6. private float salary;
7. //getters and setters
8. }

EmpDao.java
1. package com.javatpoint.dao;
2. import com.javatpoint.beans.*;
3. import java.sql.*;
4. import java.util.ArrayList;
5. import java.util.List;
6. public class EmpDao {
7.
8. public static Connection getConnection(){
9. Connection con=null;
10. try{
11. Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver");
12. con=DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/test","","");
13. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
14. return con;
15. }
16.
17. public static List<Emp> getRecords(int start,int total){
18. List<Emp> list=new ArrayList<Emp>();
19. try{
20. Connection con=getConnection();
21. PreparedStatement ps=con.prepareStatement("select * from emp limit "+(start-
1)+","+total);
22. ResultSet rs=ps.executeQuery();
23. while(rs.next()){
24. Emp e=new Emp();
25. e.setId(rs.getInt(1));
26. e.setName(rs.getString(2));
27. e.setSalary(rs.getFloat(3));
28. list.add(e);
29. }
30. con.close();
31. }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(e);}
32. return list;
33. }
34. }

Output