SERVLETS

Java Servlet API allows a software developer to add dynamic content to a Web server using the Java platform.

Servlets are the Java counterpart to dynamic web content technologies such as CGI, PHP or ASP. Servlets can maintain state across many server transactions by using HTTP cookies, session variables or URL rewriting.

The Servlet API, contained in the Java package hierarchy javax.servlet, defines the expected interactions of a web container and a servlet. A web container is essentially the component of a web server that interacts with the servlets. The web container is responsible for managing the lifecycle of servlets, mapping a URL to a particular servlet and ensuring that the URL requester has the correct access rights.

A Servlet is an object that receives requests (ServletRequest) and generates a response (ServletResponse) based on the request. The API package javax.servlet.http defines HTTP subclasses of the generic servlet (HttpServlet) request (HttpServletRequest) and response (HttpServletResponse) as well as an (HttpSession) that tracks multiple requests and responses between the web server and a client. Servlets may be packaged in a WAR file as a Web application.

History

The original servlet specification was created by Sun Microsystems (version 1.0 was finalized in June 1997). Starting with version 2.3, the servlet specification was developed under the Java Community Process. JSR 53 defined both the Servlet 2.3 and JavaServer Page 1.2 specifications. JSR 154 specifies the Servlet 2.4 and 2.5 specifications. As of May 10, 2006, the current version of the servlet specification is 2.5.

In his blog on java.net, Sun veteran and GlassFish lead Jim Driscoll details the history of servlet technology. James Gosling first thought of servlets in the early days of Java, but the concept did not become a product until Sun shipped the Java Web Server product. This was before what is now the Java Platform, Enterprise Edition was made into a specification.

Web containers

A Web container is a computer program that runs Web applications. Web containers are also sometimes called Web engines. Like the other Java APIs, different vendors provide their own implementation. Below is a list of some of the free web containers. (Note that 'free' means that commercial use is free. Some of the commercial containers, e.g. Resin and Orion, make ideal development containers and are also free to use in a server environment for non-profit organizations).

Non-commercial web containers

* Java System Application Server is developed by Sun.
* Apache Tomcat (formerly Jakarta Tomcat) is an open source web container available free of charge under the Apache Software License. It is used in the official reference implementation and has a reputation for being stable.
* Jetty
* Jaminid contains a higher abstraction than servlets.
* Enhydra
* jo!
* Winstone supports specification v2.4, has a focus on minimal configuration and the ability to strip the container down to only what you need.
* tjws spec 2.4, small footprint, modular design

// Hello.java
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;

public class Hello extends GenericServlet
{
public void service(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
response.setContentType("text/html");
PrintWriter pw = response.getWriter();
pw.println("Hello, world!");
pw.close();
}
}

The import statements direct the Java compiler to include all of the public classes and interfaces from the java.io and javax.servlet packages in the compilation. The Hello class extends the GenericServlet class; the GenericServlet class provides the interface for the server to forward requests to the servlet and control the servlet's lifecycle.

The Hello class overrides the service(ServletRequest, ServletResponse) method defined by the Servlet interface to provide the code for the service request handler. The service() method is passed a ServletRequest object that contains the request from the client and a ServletResponse object used to create the response returned to the client. The service() method declares that it throws the exceptions ServletException and IOException if a problem prevents it from responding to the request.

The setContentType(String) method in the response object is called to set the MIME content type of the returned data to "text/html". The getWriter() method in the response returns a PrintWriter object that is used to write the data that is sent to the client. The println(String) method is called to write the "Hello, world!" string to the response and then the close() method is called to close the print writer, which causes the data that has been written to the stream to be returned to the client.