Servlets
Servlet is a technology that is used to create web application
Servlet is a web component that is deployed on the server to
create dynamic web page
Servlet is an API that has interfaces and classes for building
server processes
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlets
Servlets are programs that run on a web server which are
counterparts of Applets/jscripts that run on web client
Internet uses Client/Server model where client web browsers
send requests and web servers respond with needed
information.
Servlets operation is also based on request/response processing
model.
Servlets can be loaded dynamically and run by servlet
container of JVM.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlets
Servlets interact with clients via a request-response model
based on HTTP.
Therefore, a servlet container must support HTTP. A servlet
container also supports similar protocols such as HTTPS
(HTTP over SSL) for secure transactions.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Characteristics
HTTP is media independent: It refers to any type of media
content that can be sent by HTTP as long as both the server
and the client can handle the data content
HTTP is connectionless: It is a connectionless approach in
which HTTP client i.e., a browser initiates the HTTP request.
After the request is sent, the client disconnects from server and
waits for the response
HTTP is stateless: The client and server are aware of each
other during a current request only. Afterwards, both of them
forget each other.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlets vs. Common Gateway Interface
Perl 1
Browser 1
A CGI program needs to be loaded
Browser 2 Web Perl 2
and started for each CGI request
Server from client. Three requests are
Browser N
handled by three processes
Perl N
There is only a single Servlet
container JVM which answers all
Browser 1 requests concurrently.
Browser 2 Web Servlet
Server
Browser N A Servlet does not run as a separate
process but runs as separate thread.
Three requests are handled by three
threads
Servlets - Dr.S.E
How Servlets Work
Receive is servlet No
Request loaded?
Yes
is servlet No
current?
Load Servlet
Yes
Send Process Request
Response
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Web Server Environment
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Web server & Application server
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlet life cycle
1. init() method initializes the Servlet with configuration
2. service() method processes the client’s request
3. destroy() method destroys Servlet and its resources
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlet creation - APIs
1. Servlets can be written by implementing the Servlet interface
and defining its abstract methods.
javax.servlet.Servlet
2. Servlets can also be written by extending the GenericServlet
class and overriding its methods.
javax.servlet.GenericServlet
3. Servlets can also be written by extending the HttpServlet
class and overriding its methods which are Http specific.
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
Servlet hierarchy
interface Servlet >>>> class GenericServlet >>>> class HttpServlet
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Interface javax.servlet.Servlet
The Servlet interface defines methods
• to initialize a servlet
Life
• to receive and respond to client requests Cycle
• to destroy a servlet and its resources Methods
• to get any startup information
• to return basic information about itself, such as its author,
version and copyright.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Interface Servlet – Abstract Methods
void init(ServletConfig config)
Initializes the servlet.
void service(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)
Carries out a single request from the client.
void destroy()
Cleans up whatever resources are being held
ServletConfig getServletConfig()
Returns a servlet config object, which contains any initialization
parameters and startup configuration for this servlet.
String getServletInfo()
Returns a string containing information about the servlet, such as its
author, version, and copyright.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
GenericServlet class - Methods
void init(ServletConfig config)
Initializes the servlet.
void service(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)
Carries out a single request from the client.
void destroy()
Cleans up whatever resources are being held
ServletConfig getServletConfig()
Returns a servlet config object, which contains any initialization
parameters and startup configuration for this servlet.
String getServletInfo()
Returns a string containing information about the servlet, such as its
author, version, and copyright.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
HttpServlet class- Methods
• void doGet (HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
–handles GET requests
• void doPost (HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
–handles POST requests
• void doPut (HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
–handles PUT requests
• void doDelete (HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response)
– handles DELETE requests
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlet Request Objects
They provide client request information to a servlet running
inside the servlet container of server
The servlet container creates a servlet request object and
passes it as an argument to the servlet's service method.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
ServletRequest - Methods
Return type Method name
java.lang.String getParameter (java.lang.String name)
Returns the value of a request parameter as a String, or
null if the parameter does not exist
java.lang.String getMethod()
Returns the name of the HTTP method with which request
is made, for example, GET, POST, or PUT
HttpSession getSession()
Returns the current session associated with this request, or
if the request does not have a session, creates one
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlet Response Objects
• Defines an object to help Servlet in sending a response to the
client.
• The servlet container creates a ServletResponse object and
passes it as an argument to the Servlet's service method.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
ServletResponse - Methods
Return type Method Name
java.io.PrintWriter getWriter()
Returns a PrintWriter object that can send
character text to the client
Void setContentType (java.lang.String type)
Sets the content type of the response being sent to the
client. The content type may include the type of
character encoding used, for example, text/html
getWriter() returns the object of PrintWriter Class, which is used to print
output in HTML format in the client’s web page as a response.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Content Type
Content Type is also known as MIME (Multipurpose internet
Mail Extension). It is a HTTP header that provides the
description about the response content sent to the client browser.
content types:
text/html
text/plain
application/msword
application/pdf
image/jpeg
video/quicktime
audio/mp4
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Steps to test a Generic Servlet
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
public class HelloServlet extends GenericServlet
{
public void service (ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
res.setContentType("text/html");
PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();
pw.println("<B> HELLO welcome “);
pw.close();
}
}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
set path=c:\jdk1.3\bin; c:\jsdk2.0\bin - to access jdk and jsdk tools
set classpath=c:\jsdk2.0\lib\jsdk.jar - to access javax api
javac HelloServlet.java - compile the servlet and create class file
servletrunner -d G:\javaLab2\servletsdir - run servletrunner with dir spec .
Either type http://localhost:8080/servlet/HelloServlet
Or include this in form tag of html
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Differences between Get and Post methods
1) In case of Get request, only limited amount of data can be sent
because data is sent along with header. In case of Post request, large
amount of data can be sent because data is sent in body section.
2) Get request is not secure because data is exposed in URL
bar.Post request is secure because data is not exposed in URL bar.
3) Get request is idempotent. It means second request will be
ignored until response of first request is delivered.Post request is
non-idempotent
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Interactive HttpServlet
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
public class HServlet extends HttpServlet
{
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,
HttpServletResponse res)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
int n=Integer.parseInt(req.getParameter("t1"));
int f=1;
for(int i=1;i<=n;i++)f=f*i;
res.setContentType("text/html");
PrintWriter p=res.getWriter();
p.println("<h1>Factorial value</h1>");
p.println("N value : "+n+”<br>”);
p.println("Factorial Value :"+f);
}
}
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Client html document
<html>
<form name="frm" method="get"
action="http://localhost:8080/servlet/HServlet">
<input type="text" name="t1">
<input type="submit" value="N value">
</form>
</html>
In the url specified, the protocol is clearly http, the resource is servlet type
and the class name is HServlet
Servlets - Dr.S.E
What is Apache Tomcat?
Tomcat is a Servlet container or Http -Web server that interacts
with Servlets developed by Apache Software Foundation
Representation and management of web applications
A Servlet container is a mini server, serving html, jsp and
servlet components.
Tomcat is an open-source, non commercial project
Tomcat is written in Java (OS independent)
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Web Server Environment
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Tomcat Directory Structure
Tomcat-Base
conf logs webapps server work shared
server.xml ROOT myApp1 myApp2 lib classes
WEB-INF
web.xml Tomcat-Home
lib classes
bin common
lib classes
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlet sample program execution in server
After installing Tomcat Server on computer, follow the following steps
Step 1: Create directory structure for web application.
Step 2: Create a servlet class file
Step 3: Create Deployment Descriptor
Step 4: Start the server and deploy the application
Deployment Descriptor(DD) is a XML document that is used by web
Container to run Servlets and JSPs. DD is used for mapping URL to
Servlet class.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
TOMCAT Server
Environment
Create the above directory structure inside Apache-Tomcat\webapps directory. All html,
static files( images, css etc) are kept directly under Web application folder. All servlet
classes are kept inside classes folder. The web.xml(deployment descriptor) file is kept under
WEB-INF folder. Servlets - Dr.S.E
1.Full form of WAMP is Windows, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
2.This is a open source platform.
3. WAMP Server works on Windows Operating System only.
4. Apache is the web server
5. Mysql is the relational database management system.
6. PHP is the object-oriented scripting language.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlets - Dr.S.E
LAMP
1.Full form of LAMP is Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
2.This is a open source platform.
3. LAMP Server works on Linux Operating System only.
4. LAMP is a combined package of Linux, Apache, MySQL
and PHP.
5. Apache is the web server
6. Mysql is the relational database management system.
7. PHP is the object-oriented scripting language.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
Servlets - Dr.S.E
1.Full form of MAMP is MACINTOSH, Apache, MySQL and PHP.
2.This is a open source platform.
3. MAMP Server works on MAC Operating System only.
4.Apache is the web server
5. Mysql is the relational database management system.
6. PHP is the object-oriented scripting language.
Servlets - Dr.S.E
