WEB

TECHNOLOGY
 Content
s
 SERVLET– SERVLET
OVERVIEW
 SERVLET ARCHITECTURE
 APACHE TOMCAT
 SERVLET APPLICATION
 Server
• A server is a computer that responds to
requests from asclient
– Typical requests: provide a web page, upload or
download a file, send email
• A server is also the software that responds to
these requests; a client could be the browser
or other software making these requests
• Any computer can be a server
– It is not unusual to have server software and
client software running on the same computer
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Web Server: also known as HTTP Server, it
can handle HTTP Requests send by client
and responds the request with an HTTP
Response.

Web Container: Also known as Servlet

Container and Servlet Engine. It is a part
of Web Server that interacts with
Servlets. This is the main component of
Web Server that manages the life cycle of
Servlets.

Web Application: Referred as webapp.

 Apache
• Apache is a very popular server
– 66% of web sites on the Internet use Apache
• Apache is:
– Full-featured and extensible
– Efficient
– Robust
– Secure (at least, more secure than other servers)
– Up to date with current standards
– Open source
– Free
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 Ports
• The http: at beginning signifies a
the particularprotocol (communication
language), the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
• The :80 specifies a port
• By default, Web server listens to port
80
– The Webserver could listen to any
port it chose
– This could lead to problems if the port was in
use by some other server
– For testing servlets, we typically have
the server listen to port 8080
 Tomcat
• Tomcat is the Servlet Engine, handles
servlet requests for Apache
– Tomcat is a “helper application” for Apache
– It’s best to think of Tomcat as a “servlet container”
• Apache can handle many types of web services
– Apache can be installed without Tomcat
– Tomcat can be installed without Apache
– By itself, Tomcat can handle web pages, servlets, and
JSP
• Apache and Tomcat are open source
(and
 Server-side programming
• Inmany cases, client-side applications will
be insufficient
– Heavy processing
– Communication with other clients
– Data available on server-side only
• It may be useful to send the request to the server,
and to process it there.
• A number of technologies available: CGI, Servlets,
JSP, ASP, PHP and others
• We will look at CGI, Servlets and JSP.
 CGI Scripts
• CGI stands for “Common Gateway Interface”
• CGI is a standard programming interface to Web servers that allows building
dynamic and interactive Web sites

• CGI is not a programming language.

Client sends a request to server

Server starts a CGI script

client
Script computes a result for
server
server and quits client
script
Server returns response to
client Another client sends a
request
Server starts the CGI script
again Etc.
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 Servlets
• A servlet is like an applet, but on the server side

Client sends a request to server

Server starts a servlet

client server
Servlet computes a result
for server and does not quit client
servlet
Server returns response to
client Another client sends a
request
Server calls the servlet
again Etc.
1
0
 Servlets vs. CGI scripts
• Advantages:
– Running a servlet doesn’t require creating a
separate process each time
– A servlet stays in memory, so it doesn’t have to be reloaded
each time
– There is only one instance handling multiple requests, not a
separate instance for every request
• Disadvantage:
– Less choice of languages (CGI scripts can be in any language)

1
1
 Cont…
• Servlets are generic extensions to Java-enabled
servers
• Servlets are secure, portable, and easy to
use replacement for CGI
• Servlet is a dynamically loaded module
that services requests from a Web server
• Servlets are executed within the JVM
• Because the servlet is running on the server
side, it does not depend on browser
compatibility
 Advantages of Servlets
⚫Efficiency
 More efficient – uses lightweight java threads
⚫Persistency
 Servlets remain in memory , can maintain state b/w
requests
⚫Portability
 Servlets are written in Java, so are platform
independent
⚫Robustness
 Error handling, Garbage collector to prevent
problems with memory leaks
 Large class library – network, file, database,
distributed object components, security, etc.
Cont.
.
⚫S
e
c
u
ri
t
y
– Security provided by the server as well
as the Java Security Manager
⚫Powerful
 Class and interface of Servlets
- A servlet is any class that implements the
javax.servlet.Servlet interface
– In practice, most servlets extend
the
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet class
– Some servlets
extend
javax.servlet.GenericServlet instead

• Servlets, like applets, usually lack a main

 A Servlet’s Job
• Read explicit data sent by client (form data)
• Read implicit data sent by client
(request headers)
• Generate the results
• Send the explicit data back to
client (HTML)
• Send the implicit data to client
(status codes and response headers)
 Execution of Java Servlet
Request
Web Web
Servlet
Browser Server
Response
 Servlet API
• use Servlet API to create
servlets.
• Defined in javax.servlet
• Provides core servlet just
package
functionality- extend it,
accepts query, returns
Every Servlet must implement the java.servlet.Servlet interface,
response
you can do it by extending one of the following two classes:
javax.servlet.GenericServlet or javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.
- First one is for protocol independent Servlet ,second one
for http Servlet.
Cont
…
Let’s see the hierarchy of
packages:
 javax.servlet.Servlet

• Base interface of Java Servlet API

• Defines all the lifecycle methods of
servlet.
Since this is an interface, any class
implementing Servlet interface has to
implement all its methods
• Provides 3 life cycle methods that are used to
initialize the servlet, to service the requests,
and to destroy the servlet
These are invoked by the web
container.

• Also provide 2 non-life cycle methods.

Cont..

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,ServletResponse response) request. It is 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.
GenericServlet
class
• Implements Servlet, ServletConfig and Serializable
interfaces.
• Provides theimplementation of all the
methods of these interfaces
except the service method.

• It can handle any type of request so it is protocol-

independent.

•For creating a Generic Servlet we must extend

: javax.servlet.GenericServlet class.

•This class has an one abstract

Cont.
.
Signature of service()
method:
Public abstract void service(ServletRequestrequest,
ServletResponseresponse) throws
ServletException,java.io.IOException
• The service() methodaccepts two
arguments ServletRequest object and
ServletResponse
request object.
tells the servlet about the request
object
response madeis used
by to
client
return a response back to
object the client.

How Generic
Servlet works?
HTTPSERVLE
T
•For creating Http Servlet we
must extend : class,
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
is an abstract class. which
•Unlike Generic Servlet,the HTTP
Servlet
doesn’t override the service()
method.

•Instead it overrides one or more of

Cont…
• doGet() – called by servlet service method to handle the HTTP GET
request from client where Get method is used for getting information
from the server
• doPost() – Used for posting information to the Server
• doPut() – This method is similar to doPost method but unlike doPost
method where we send information to the server, this
method sends file to the server, this is similar to the FTP
operation from client to server
• doDelete() – allows a client to delete a document, webpage or
information from the server
• init() and destroy() – Used for managing resources that are held for
the life of the servlet
• getServletInfo() – Returns information about the servlet, such as
author, version, and copyright.
Cont
…
Interfaces in javax.servlet.http package Interfaces in javax.servlet package
•HttpSession •Servlet
•HttpServletRequest •ServletRequest
•HttpServletResponse •ServletResponse
•HttpSessionAttributeListener •ServletConfig
•ServletContext
more… •RequestDispatcher
•ServletRequestListener
more…

Classes in javax.servlet package

Classes in javax.servlet.http package
•GenericServlet
•HttpServlet
•ServletInputStream
•Cookie
•ServletOutputStream
•HttpSessionEvent
•ServletException
•HttpSessionBindingEvent
•ServletRequestWrapper
•HttpServletRequestWrapper
•ServletRequestEvent
•HttpServletResponseWrapper
•ServletResponseWrapper

more…
more…
welcome-file-list tag in web.xml file of Project
 The tag<welcome-file- is used for specifying the
files that
needs list>
to be invoked by server by default, if you do
not specify a file name while loading the project
on browser.
 For e.g. You have created a project named
“MyServletProject” and you have few html pages
and servlet classes defined in the project. However
in browser you have given the url like this:
http://localhost:8080/MyServletProject
 Usually we give the complete path like
this:http://localhost:8080/MyServletProject/index.html.
However if you have given the path like above then
the webserver will look for the <welcome-file-list>
<web-app>
....
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>myhome.htm</welcome-file>
<welcome-file>myindex.htm</welcome-file>
<welcome-file>mydefaultpage.htm</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
....
</web-app>
Based on the welcome file list, server would look for the
myhome.htm page if this doesn’t exist then the second
welcome file myindex.html and so on till it finds a valid
welcome
Note file.
If the <welcome-file-list> tag is not defined in
:welcome
web.xml
files defined
or the in the <welcome-file> tags does not
exist then the server would look for the following files in
the given sequence:
1) index.html 2) index.htm 3)
 Java Servlet Architecture
• Two packages make up the servlet architecture
– javax.servlet
• Contains generic interfaces and classes that are
implemented and
extended by all servlets
– javax.servlet.http
• Contains classes that are extended when creating HTTP-specific servlets
• The heart of servlet architecture is the interface
class
javax.servlet.Servlet

• It provides the framework for all servlets

• Defines five basic methods – init, service,

destroy, getServletConfig and getServletInfo
 Servlet Architecture: 3-Tier system
• Tier 1: Client
– HTML browser
– Java client
• Tier 2: Servlets
– embody business logic
– secure, robust
• Tier 3: Data Sources
– Java can talk to SQL, JDBC, OODB, files,
etc…
 Web Application model

Enterprise
Client Middle Information
Tier Tier System (EIS) Tier

SQL
applicatio Web Container
n
Servl Databas
et e
browser Servl
et
JSP File
… syste
m
 Servlet Name
• Servlet is invoked using its name
–Servlet should be located in
appropriate directory

• A servlet’s name is its class name

• Name is usually a single word

–Possibly with a package name and dots
 The HelloWorld Servlet
import javax.servlet.*;
import java.io.*;
public class HelloServlet extends GenericServlet
{ public void service(ServletRequest req,
ServletResponse res) throws IOException,
ServletException{
res.setContentType("text/plain");
ServletOutputStream out = res.getOutputStream();
out.println("Hello, World!");
}
}
 Life Cycle of a Servlet
• Servlets operate in the context of a request
and response model managed by a servlet engine
The engine does the following
– Loads the servlet when it is first requested
– Web Container creates the instance of it
and that is created only once in the life
cycle.
– Calls the servlet’s init( ) method
– Handles any number of requests by
calling the
servlet’s service( ) method
– When shutting down, calls each
Cont..

Loading Servlet Class A Servlet class is loaded when first request for the servlet is
received by the Web Container.

Servlet instance creation After the Servlet class is loaded, Web Container creates the
instance of it and that is created only once in the life cycle.

Call to the init() method : init() method is called by the Web Container on servlet
Signature of init() method : public instance to initialize the servlet.
void init(ServletConfig config) throws
ServletException

Call to the service() method This method is called by the containers each time the request
Signature of service() method: for servlet is received. The service() method will then call the
public void service(ServletRequest doGet() or doPost() methods based on the type of the HTTP
request, ServletResponse response) request
throws ServletException,
IOException

Call to destroy() method: The Web Container call the destroy() method before removing
servlet instance, giving it a chance for cleanup activity
Cont… Life Cycle
 Free Servlet and JSP Engines
• Apache Tomcat
– http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/
• Allaire/Macromedia JRun
– http://www.macromedia.com/software/jrun/
• New Atlanta ServletExec
– http://www.servletexec.com/
• Gefion Software LiteWebServer
– http://www.gefionsoftware.com/LiteWebServer/
• Caucho's Resin
– http://www.caucho.com/
 Compiling and Invoking Servlets
• Set your CLASSPATH
– C:\xampp\tomcat\lib\servlet-api.jar

– Put your servlet classes in proper location

– Locations vary from server to server. E.g.,
• tomcat_install_dir\webapps\examples\WEB-INF\
classes

– Invoke your servlets

– http://host/servlet/ServletName
A Simple Servlet That Generates Plain Text
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import
javax.servlet.http.*;

public class
HelloWorld extends
HttpServlet
{
public void
doGet(HttpServletRe
quest request,
HttpServle
tResponse
response)
throws
ServletException,
IOException
{
 A Servlet That Generates HTML
public class HelloWWW extends HttpServlet {
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest
request, HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException, IOException
{
response.setContentType("text/html");
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
out.println(docType +
"<HTML>\n" +
"<HEAD><TITLE>Hello
WWW</TITLE></HEAD>\n" +
"<BODY>\n" +
"<H1>Hello WWW</H1>\n"
+ "</BODY></HTML>");
} }
HelloWWW Result
 Scalability of servlets
⚫The servlet is only recompiled if it was changed otherwise
the already compiled class is loaded
- Faster response times as servlet does not need to be recompiled

⚫The servlet can be kept in memory for a long time

to service many sequential requests
- Faster response times as servlet does not need to be reloaded

⚫Only one copy of the servlet is held in memory even

if there are multiple concurrent requests
- Less memory usage for concurrent requests and no need to load
another copy of the servlet and create a new process to run it.
APACHE TOMCAT
SERVLET

APPLICATION
 APACHE TOMCAT
• Apache is most common HTTP Web Server on Internet.
• The Tomcat server is a Java-based Web Application
container used to run Servlet and JSP Web applications.
• Tomcat was chosen to be the official Sun Web
Component (JSP/Servlet) Container Reference
Implementation.
• It is an open source Java Servlet application server used
to deploy Java applications after they are built with JSP
and Servlets.
• It can be used as a stand-alone product or it can be
integrated with the Apache server.
45
 What is a Container?
• Containers are interface b/w a component
and low-level platform-specific functionality
that supports the component.

Web container :
Manages the execution of JSP page and
servlet components for J2EE applications.
Web components and their container run
on the J2EE server.
46
 J2EE Server and Containers
Client Web Server (Apache)

Tomcat
Browser
Servlet JSP page

Java Web Container

Application
Client
Database
Client
Container Session Entity
Bean Bean

Client Machine
EJB Container
JBoss,
WebSphere,
WebLogic, etc

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 Installation of Apache Tomcat
•Java is already installed on PCs
The installation guides for TOMCAT:
- Initiate download of Tomcat from the site
http://tomcat.apache.org/

• After downloading follow the instructions to

start installation.

48
 Start Up Tomcat
• Tomcat can be started by following command: C:\
xampp\tomcat\bin\startup.bat
(Windows)

• After startup, the default web

applications included with Tomcat will be available
by visiting:
http://localhost:8080/
Shut Tomcat can be shut down by
Down executing:
Tomca
t
(Window
• C:\xampp\tomcat\bin\ s)
shutdown
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 Advantages of Tomcat
1) It is an open source application server
2) It is a light weight server (no EJB)
3) It is easily configured with Apache and IIS
4) Very stable on Unix systems
5) Good documentation online
6) Java Sun compliant
7) Does not require a lot of memory at startup
8) It is free, yet high quality!
50
Steps to Create Servlet Application using Tomcat

After installing Tomcat Server, follow the steps :

1. Create directory structure for your application.

2. Create a Servlet
3. Compile the Servlet
4. Create Deployement Descriptor for your application
5. Start the server and deploy the application

All these 5 steps are explained in details below, lets

create our first Servlet Application.
 1. Creating the Directory Structure
A unique directory structure defined by Sun Microsystem, must be
followed to create a servlet application.
Cont
… Create directory
structure
Create directory structure inside Apache-Tomcat\webapps
directory.

• All HTML, static files(images, css etc)

are kept directly under Web application
folder(here First).
• Make folder WEB-INF inside your web app(First).
• Inside WEB-INF, make 2 folders: Lib and classes
•i) Allfor
the servlet,
Servlet classes are kept
provide inside classesCopy
servlet-api.jar folder.
• Lib//contains two (.jar) files. Copy from their resp. location
C:\xampp\tomcat\lib\servlet- from:
api.jar
ii) for mysql mysql- // fro C:\
Files\Java\jre1.8.0_271\lib\ext\mysql-
connector.jar Copy m Program
connector.jar
• The web.xml (deployement descriptor) file is kept under
 2. Creating a Servlet
There are 3 different ways to create a servlet.
• By implementing Servlet interface
• By extending GenericServlet class
• By extending HttpServlet class
But mostly a servlet is created by extending
HttpServlet abstract class because it provides
methods to handle http requests such as
doGet(), doPost etc..
Cont..
Write below code in a notepad file and save it as
MyServlet.java anywhere on your PC. Compile it from
there and paste the class file into WEB-INF/classes/
directory that you have to create inside Tomcat/webapps
directory.
import
javax.servlet.*;
import
javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.io.*;
public MyServlet
extends HttpServlet

{
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest
request,HttpServletResposne response)
throws ServletException {
3. Compiling a Servlet
• To compile a Servlet a JAR file is required. In
Apache Tomcat server servlet-api.jar file is
required to compile a servlet class.
• Download servlet-api.jar file.
• Paste servlet-api.jar file
inside Java\jdk\jre\lib\ext directory.
• Compile the Servlet class.
• After compiling Servlet class, paste the class
file into WEB-INF/classes/ directory.
 4. Create Deployment Descriptor

• Deployment Descriptor(DD) is an XML

document that is used by Web Container to
run Servlets and JSP pages. DD is used for
several important purposes such as:
– Mapping URL to Servlet class.
– Initializing parameters.
– Defining Error page.
– Security roles.
– Declaring tag libraries.
 Cont…

To create
a simple
web.xml
file for
our web
applicatio
n
.
 5. Start the Server

•Double click on the startup.bat file

Or,
execute below command on prompt:
–C:\apache-tomcat-7.0.14\bin\startup.bat
6. Starting Tomcat Server for the first
time
Its needed to set JAVA_HOME in the Enviroment
variable
•.
 7. Run Servlet Application
• Open Browser and type--

http:localhost:8080/First/hello
Cont… To Run HTML(index.html) in
TTomcat
o start with an index file, make it in any editor, save
with extension
.html and keep it parallel to WEB-INF.

There is no need to mention its name while

execution, as it gets executed automatically by
the tomcat
Redirecting
Requests
to

other
Resources
 FORWARD(
RequestDispatch )
er interface INCLUDE()

HttpServletResponse sendRedirect
interface method
 Redirecting Requests to Other
Resources
(1)RequestDispatcher interface(a paít of Seívlet
API)
It defines an object that receives the request from
client and dispatches it to the resource(such as servlet,
JSP, HTML
a) Public voidfile). This interface hasthefollowing
It forwards two
request from
forward(ServletRequest
methods: forward() andreq, one servlet to another
include()
ServletResponse res): resource (such as servlet,
JSP, HTML file).

b) public void It includes the content of the

include(ServletRequest req, resource(such as servlet, JSP,
ServletResponse res): HTML file) in the response.
Cont…
. forward() vs include() method
include() : Suppose you have two pages X and Y. In page
X you have an include tag, this means that the control
will be in the page X till it encounters include tag, after
that the control will be transferred to page Y. At the
end of the processing of page Y, the control will return
back to the page X starting just after the include
tag and remain in X till the end. In this case
the final response to the client will be send by page X.
forward (): Taking the same example with forward,
have same pages X and Y. In page X, we have forward
tag. In this case the control will be in page X till it
encounters forward, after this the control will be
transferred to page Y. The main difference here is that
the control will not return back to X, it will be
in page Y till the end of it. In this
case the final response to the client will be send by page
(2) SendRedirect() of HttpServletResponse
interface
• Used to redirect response to another resource, it may
be servlet, jsp or html file.
• It works at client side because it uses the url bar of browser
to make another request. So, it can work inside & outside
server.
• This approach generally is used when the control needs to be
forwarded outside the web application. For example we
need
to forward the control to google.com . It does not mean that we
cannot use redirect within same web application , but
Cont
…
Difference b/w forward() & sendRedirect()
method
forward() method sendRedirect() method
Works at server side; ie. intended to works at client side; ie. used to
forward a request to resources within send control outside the web
the web application. Servlet can forward application.
the request to another servlet or JSP
which are part of same web application.
It sends the same request and It always sends a new request.
response objects to another servlet.
It can work within the server only. can be used within & outside
server.
Control is forwarded by container Browser takes the
and browser is not involved responsibility. But gets
To validate this , in case of forward, changed while redirect.
browser URL is not changed
Example: Example:
request.getRequestDispacher("servlet2") response.sendRedirect("servlet2")
.forw ard(request,response); ;
 Program of sendRedirect method in servlet

Creating custom google search using sendRedirect

import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletRespo
nse res)
throws ServletException,IOException
{ res.setContentType("text/html");
PrintWriter pw=res.getWriter();
res.sendRedirect("http://www.google.com");
pw.close(); }}
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.

Advantage of ServletConfig
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.
Program: getting the one initialization parameter from the web.xml file and printing
this information in the servlet.
DemoServlet.java web.xml
import java.io.*; <web-app>
import javax.servlet.*; <servlet>
import javax.servlet.http.*; <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet {
<init-param>
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, <param-name>driver</param-name>
HttpServletResponse response) <param-
throws ServletException, IOException { value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</param-
value>
response.setContentType("text/html"); </init-param> </servlet>
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
ServletConfig config=getServletConfig(); <servlet-mapping>
String driver=config.getInitParameter("driver <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
"); <url-pattern>/servlet1</url-pattern>
out.print("Driver is: </servlet-mapping> </web-app>
"+driver); out.close();
} }
 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 context 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
• The object of ServletContext provides an interface between
the container and servlet.
ServletContext
interface

Commonly used methods of ServletContext interface

1. public String getInitParameter(String name):Returns 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.
Example of ServletContext to get the initialization
parameter
DemoServlet.java web.xml

import java.io.*; <web-app>

import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*; <servlet>
public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{ <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletRespons name>
e res) <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-
throws ServletException,IOException class>
{ </servlet>
res.setContentType("text/
html"); PrintWriter <context-param>
pw=res.getWriter(); <param-name>dname</param-name>
<param-
//creating ServletContext object value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</par
ServletContext am-value>
context=getServletContext(); </context-param>
//Getting the value of the initialization parameter and printing <servlet-mapping>
it <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-
String driverName=context.getInitParameter("dname"); name>
pw.println("driver name is="+driverName); <url-pattern>/context</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
pw.close();
</web-app>
}}
Example of ServletContext to get all the initialization
parameters
DemoServlet.java web.xml
import java.io.*; <web-app>
import javax.servlet.*; <servlet>
import javax.servlet.http.*; <servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
public class DemoServlet extends HttpServlet{
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req,HttpServletResponse res) <servlet-class>DemoServlet</servlet-class>
throws ServletException,IOException </servlet>
{ <context-param>
res.setContentType("text/html"); <param-name>dname</param-name>
PrintWriter out=res.getWriter(); <param-value>sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver</param-
value>
ServletContext context=getServletContext(); </context-param>
Enumeration<String>
e=context.getInitParameterNames(); <context-param>
<param-name>username</param-name>
String str=""; <param-value>system</param-value>
while(e.hasMoreElements()){ </context-param>
str=e.nextElement(); <context-param>
out.print("<br> <param-name>password</param-name>
"+context.getInitParameter
(str)); <param-value>oracle</param-value>
} </context-param>
}} <servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>DemoServlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/context</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

The servletconfig object refers to the single servlet whereas servletcontext object
refers to the whole web application.
 SESSION

HANDLING
 COOKIES

 URL RE-WRITING
 HIDDEN FIELDS
Managing Session in
Servlets
We all know that HTTP is a stateless protocol. All requests and responses are
independent. But sometimes you need to keep track of client's activity across
multiple requests. For eg. When a User logs into your website, not matter on
which web page he visits after logging in, his credentials will be with the
server, until he logs out. So this is managed by creating a session.

Session Management is a mechanism used by the Web container to store

session information for a particular user. There are four different techniques
used by Servlet application for session management. They are as
follows:

1.Cookies
2.Hidden form field
3.URL Rewriting
4.HttpSession

Session is used to store everything that we can get from the client from all
the requests the client makes.
How Session Works

Basic concept: whenever a user starts using our application, we can save a
unique identification information about him, in an object which is available
throughout the application, until its destroyed. So wherever the user goes,
we will always have his information and we can always manage which user is
doing what. Whenever a user wants to exit from your application, destroy
the object with his information.
 1)
• HttpSession
HttpSession object is used to store entire session with a specific client. We
can store, retrieve and remove attribute from HttpSession object.
• Any servlet can have access to HttpSession object throughout the
getSession() method of the
HttpServletRequest object.
How HttpSession works:

1. On client's first request, the Web Container generates a unique session ID and
gives it back to the client with response. This is a temporary session created by
web container.
2. The client sends back the session ID with each request. Making it easier for the
web container to identify where the request is coming from.
3. The Web Container uses this ID, finds the matching session with the ID and
associates the session with the request.
 Some Important Methods of Servlet HttpSession
Methods Description
long getCreationTime() returns the time when the session was created,
measured in milliseconds since midnight January 1,
1970 GMT.

String getId() returns a string containing the unique identifier

assigned to the
session.
long getLastAccessedTime() returns last time the client sent a request associated
with the
session
int getMaxInactiveInterval() returns the maximum time interval, in seconds.

void invalidate() destroy the session

boolean isNew() returns true if the session is new else false

void Specifies the time, in seconds,afterservlet container

setMaxInactiveInterval(int will invalidate the session.
interval)
 2) Using Cookies for Session Management in
Servlet
• Cookies are small pieces of information that are sent in response from web
server to client.
• Cookies are the simplest technique used for storing client state.
• Cookies are stored on client's computer.
• They have a lifespan and are destroyed by the client browser at the end of
that lifespan.
• Using Cookies for storing client state has one shortcoming though, if the client
has turned of Cookie saving settings in his browser then, client state can
never be saved because the browser will not allow the application to store
cookies.

Servlet: Cookies API

 Cookies are created using Cookie class present in Servlet API.
 Cookies are added to response object using the addCookie()
Example: creating and using
Cookies
Example demonstrating usage of
Cookies
 Types of
Cookies
There are two types of cookies. They are as following:
i) Session cookies ii) Persistent cookies

1)Session cookies:
The session cookies do not have any expiration time. It is present in the
browser memory. When the web browser is closed then the cookies are
destroyed automatically.

2)Persistent Cookies:
The Persistent cookies have an expiration time. It is stored in the hard
drive of the user and it
is destroyed based on the expiry time.

How cookies works?

When a user Start a web and request information from the
website. The website server replies and it sends a cookie. This
cookie is put on the hard drive. Next time when you return to
the same website your computer will send the cookies back.
Now the website server identifies the data and sale your
 3) Using URL Rewriting for Session Management in
•Servlet
If the client has disabled cookies in the browser then session management
using cookie wont work. In that case URL Rewriting can be used as a backup.
URL rewriting will always work.

• In URL rewriting, a token(parameter) is added at the end of the URL. The

token consist of
name/value pair seperated by an equal(=) sign. For Example:

 When the User clicks on the URL having parameters, the request goes to the
Web Container with extra bit of information at the end of URL. The Web
Container will fetch the extra part of the requested URL and use it for
session management.

 The getParameter() method is used to get the parameter value at the server
side.
 4) Using Hidden Form Field for Session Management in Servlet
• Hidden form field can also be used to store session
information for a particular client.
• In this case user information is stored in hidden
field value and retrieved from another servlet.
Advantages:
• Does not have to depend on browser whether the cookie
is disabled or not.
• Inserting a simple HTML Input field of type hidden is
required. Hence, its easier to implement.

Disadvantage:

Extra form submission is required on every page. This is a

big overhead.
Example demonstrating usage of Hidden Form Field for Session
Thank You