Servlets Java Slides & Presentation

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

2 3 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Overview Servlets4 www.corewebprogramming.com A Servlet’s Job • Read explicit data sent by client (form data) • Read implicit data sent by client (request headers) • Generate the results • Send the explicit data back to client (HTML) • Send the implicit data to client (status codes and response headers)

3 Servlets5 www.corewebprogramming.com The Advantages of Servlets Over “Traditional” CGI • Efficient – Threads instead of OS processes, one servlet copy, persistence • Convenient – Lots of high-level utilities • Powerful – Sharing data, pooling, persistence • Portable – Run on virtually all operating systems and servers • Secure – No shell escapes, no buffer overflows • Inexpensive Servlets6 www.corewebprogramming.com Why Build Pages Dynamically? • The Web page is based on data submitted by the user – E.g., results page from search engines and order- confirmation pages at on-line stores • The Web page is derived from data that changes frequently – E.g., a weather report or news headlines page • The Web page uses information from databases or other server-side sources – E.g., an e-commerce site could use a servlet to build a Web page that lists the current price and availability of each item that is for sale

4 Servlets7 www.corewebprogramming.com Extending the Power of Servlets: JSP™ • Idea: – Use regular HTML for most of page – Mark dynamic content with special tags <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>Welcome to Our Store</TITLE></HEAD> <BODY> <H1>Welcome to Our Store</H1> <SMALL>Welcome,  <%= Utils.getUserNameFromCookie(request) %> To access your account settings, click <A HREF="Account-Settings.html">here.</A></SMALL><P> Regular HTML for rest of on-line store’s Web page </BODY></HTML> Servlets8 www.corewebprogramming.com Free Servlet and JSP Engines • Apache Tomcat – http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/ – See http://archive.coreservlets.com/Using-Tomcat.html • Allaire/Macromedia JRun – http://www.allaire.com/products/jrun/ • New Atlanta ServletExec – http://www.servletexec.com/ • Gefion Software LiteWebServer – http://www.gefionsoftware.com/LiteWebServer/ • Caucho's Resin – http://www.caucho.com/

5 Servlets9 www.corewebprogramming.com Server-Side Java is Driving the Web Get on board or get out of the way Servlets10 www.corewebprogramming.com Compiling and Invoking Servlets • Set your CLASSPATH – Servlet JAR file (e.g., install_dir/lib/servlet.jar). – Top of your package hierarchy • Put your servlet classes in proper location – Locations vary from server to server. E.g., • tomcat_install_dir/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes See http://archive.coreservlets.com/Using-Tomcat.html • jrun_install_dir/servers/default/default-app/ WEB-INF/classes • Invoke your servlets – http://host/servlet/ServletName – Custom URL-to-servlet mapping (via web.xml)

6 Servlets11 www.corewebprogramming.com A Simple Servlet That Generates Plain Text import java.io.*; import javax.servlet.*; import javax.servlet.http.*; public class HelloWorld extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); out.println("Hello World"); } } Servlets12 www.corewebprogramming.com Generating HTML • Set the Content-Type header – Use response.setContentType • Output HTML – Be sure to include the DOCTYPE • Use an HTML validation service – http://validator.w3.org/ – http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/

7 Servlets13 www.corewebprogramming.com 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(); String docType = "<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 " + "Transitional//EN">n"; out.println(docType + "<HTML>n" + "<HEAD><TITLE>Hello WWW</TITLE></HEAD>n"+ "<BODY>n" + "<H1>Hello WWW</H1>n" + "</BODY></HTML>"); } } Servlets14 www.corewebprogramming.com Some Simple HTML-Building Utilities public class ServletUtilities { public static final String DOCTYPE = "<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 " + "Transitional//EN">"; public static String headWithTitle(String title) { return(DOCTYPE + "n" + "<HTML>n" + "<HEAD><TITLE>" + title + "</TITLE></HEAD>n"); } ... } • Don’t go overboard – Complete HTML generation packages usually not worth the bother (IMHO) – The JSP framework is a better solution

8 Servlets15 www.corewebprogramming.com Packaging Servlets • Move the files to a subdirectory that matches the intended package name – We’ll use the cwp package. So, the class files need to go in a subdirectory called cwp. • Insert a package statement in the class file – E.g., top of SimplerHelloWWW.java: package cwp; • Set CLASSPATH to include top-level development directory – Same as with any Java programming, but everyone forgets this step! • Include package name in URL – http://localhost/servlet/cwp.SimplerHelloWWW Servlets16 www.corewebprogramming.com HelloWWW with ServletUtilities and Packages package cwp; import java.io.*; import javax.servlet.*; import javax.servlet.http.*; public class SimplerHelloWWW extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle("Hello WWW")+ "<BODY>n" + "<H1>Hello WWW</H1>n" + "</BODY></HTML>"); } }

9 Servlets17 www.corewebprogramming.com SimplerHelloWWW Result Servlets18 www.corewebprogramming.com The Servlet Life Cycle • init – Executed once when the servlet is first loaded. Not called for each request • service – Called in a new thread by server for each request. Dispatches to doGet, doPost, etc. Don’t override this method! • doGet, doPost, doXxx – Handles GET, POST, etc. requests – Override these methods to provide desired behavior • destroy – Called when server deletes servlet instance. Not called after each request

10 Servlets19 www.corewebprogramming.com Why You Should Not Override service • You can add support for other types of requests by adding doPut, doTrace, etc. • You can add support for modification dates – Add a getLastModified method • The service method gives you automatic support for: – HEAD, OPTIONS, and TRACE requests • Alternative: have doPost call doGet public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) … { doGet(request, response); } Servlets20 www.corewebprogramming.com Initializing Servlets • Common in real-life servlets – E.g., initializing database connection pools. • Use ServletConfig.getInitParameter to read initialization parameters – Call getServletConfig to obtain the ServletConfig object • Set init parameters in web.xml (ver 2.2/2.3) – …/WEB-INF/web.xml – Many servers have custom interfaces to create web.xml • It is common to use init even when you don’t read init parameters – E.g., to set up data structures that don’t change during the life of the servlet, to load information from disk, etc.

11 Servlets21 www.corewebprogramming.com A Servlet That Uses Initialization Parameters public class ShowMessage extends HttpServlet { private String message; private String defaultMessage = "No message."; private int repeats = 1; public void init() throws ServletException { ServletConfig config = getServletConfig(); message = config.getInitParameter("message"); if (message == null) { message = defaultMessage; } try { String repeatString = config.getInitParameter("repeats"); repeats = Integer.parseInt(repeatString); } catch(NumberFormatException nfe) {} } Servlets22 www.corewebprogramming.com ShowMessage Servlet (Continued) public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); String title = "The ShowMessage Servlet"; out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title)+ "<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" + "<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>"); for(int i=0; i<repeats; i++) { out.println(message + "<BR>"); } out.println("</BODY></HTML>"); } }

12 Servlets23 www.corewebprogramming.com Setting Init Parameters (Ver. 2.2 and Later) • ...WEB-INFweb.xml – tomcat_install_dirwebappsROOTWEB-INFweb.xml – jrun_install_dirserversdefaultdefault-appWEB-INFweb.xml <web-app> <servlet> <servlet-name>ShowMsg</servlet-name> <servlet-class>cwp.ShowMessage</servlet-class> <init-param><param-name>message</param-name> <param-value>Shibboleth</param-value> </init-param> <init-param><param-name>repeats</param-name> <param-value>5</param-value> </init-param> </servlet> </web-app> – For lots of detail on web.xml, see More Servlets and JavaServer Pages Servlets24 www.corewebprogramming.com ShowMessage Result • Note use of registered name – http://host/servlet/RegisteredName, not http://host/servlet/packageName.RealName

13 Servlets25 www.corewebprogramming.com Debugging Servlets • Use print statements; run server on desktop • Integrated debugger in IDE • Look at the HTML source • Return error pages to the client – Plan ahead for missing/malformed data • Use the log file – log("message") or log("message", Throwable) • Look at the request data separately – See EchoServer at archive.corewebprogramming.com • Look at the response data separately – See WebClient at archive.corewebprogramming.com • Stop and restart the server 26 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Handling the Client Request: Form Data

14 Servlets27 www.corewebprogramming.com Handling the Client Request: Form Data • Example URL at online travel agent – http://host/path?user=Marty+Hall&origin=iad&dest=nrt – Names (user) come from HTML author; values (Marty+Hall) usually come from end user • Parsing form (query) data in traditional CGI – Read the data one way for GET requests, another way for POST requests – Chop pairs at &, then separate parameter names (left of the "=") from parameter values (right of the "=") – URL decode values (e.g., "%7E" becomes "~") – Need special cases for omitted values (param1=val1&param2=&param3=val3) and repeated params (param1=val1&param2=val2&param1=val3) Servlets28 www.corewebprogramming.com Reading Form Data (Query Data) • getParameter("name") – Returns value as user entered it. I.e., URL-decoded value of first occurrence of name in query string. – Works identically for GET and POST requests – Returns null if no such parameter is in query • getParameterValues("name") – Returns an array of the URL-decoded values of all occurrences of name in query string – Returns a one-element array if param not repeated – Returns null if no such parameter is in query • getParameterNames() – Returns Enumeration of request params

15 Servlets29 www.corewebprogramming.com An HTML Form With Three Parameters <FORM ACTION="/servlet/cwp.ThreeParams"> First Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param1"><BR> Second Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param2"><BR> Third Parameter: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="param3"><BR> <CENTER><INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT"></CENTER> </FORM> Servlets30 www.corewebprogramming.com Reading the Three Parameters public class ThreeParams extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); String title = "Reading Three Request Parameters"; out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title) + "<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" + "<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n" + "<UL>n" + " <LI><B>param1</B>: " + request.getParameter("param1") + "n" + " <LI><B>param2</B>: " + request.getParameter("param2") + "n" + " <LI><B>param3</B>: " + request.getParameter("param3") + "n" + "</UL>n" + "</BODY></HTML>"); }}

16 Servlets31 www.corewebprogramming.com Reading Three Parameters: Result Servlets32 www.corewebprogramming.com Filtering Strings for HTML-Specific Characters • You cannot safely insert arbitrary strings into servlet output – < and > can cause problems anywhere – & and " cause problems inside of HTML attributes • You sometimes cannot manually translate – String is derived from a program excerpt or another source where it is already in standard format – String is derived from HTML form data • Failing to filter special characters makes you vulnerable to cross-site scripting attack – http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2000-02.html – http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/crssite.asp • See filter method of ServletUtilities at http://www.corewebprogramming.com

17 33 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Handling the Client Request: HTTP Request Headers Servlets34 www.corewebprogramming.com Handling the Client Request: HTTP Request Headers • Example HTTP 1.1 Request – GET /search?keywords=servlets+jsp HTTP/1.1 – Accept: image/gif, image/jpg, */* – Accept-Encoding: gzip – Connection: Keep-Alive – Cookie: userID=id456578 – Host: www.somebookstore.com – Referer: http://www.somebookstore.com/findbooks.html – User-Agent: Mozilla/4.7 [en] (Win98; U) • It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize you need to understand HTTP to be effective with servlets or JSP

18 Servlets35 www.corewebprogramming.com Reading Request Headers • General – getHeader – getHeaders – getHeaderNames • Specialized – getCookies – getAuthType and getRemoteUser – getContentLength – getContentType – getDateHeader – getIntHeader • Related info – getMethod, getRequestURI, getProtocol Servlets36 www.corewebprogramming.com Printing All Headers public class ShowRequestHeaders extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); String title = "Servlet Example: Showing Request Headers"; out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title) + "<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" + "<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n" + "<B>Request Method: </B>" + request.getMethod() + "<BR>n" + "<B>Request URI: </B>" + request.getRequestURI() + "<BR>n" + "<B>Request Protocol: </B>" + request.getProtocol() + "<BR><BR>n" +

19 Servlets37 www.corewebprogramming.com Printing All Headers (Continued) "<TABLE BORDER=1 ALIGN=CENTER>n" + "<TR BGCOLOR="#FFAD00">n" + "<TH>Header Name<TH>Header Value"); Enumeration headerNames = request.getHeaderNames(); while(headerNames.hasMoreElements()) { String headerName = (String)headerNames.nextElement(); out.println("<TR><TD>" + headerName); out.println(" <TD>" + request.getHeader(headerName)); } out.println("</TABLE>n</BODY></HTML>"); } public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { doGet(request, response); } } Servlets38 www.corewebprogramming.com Printing All Headers: Netscape Result

20 Servlets39 www.corewebprogramming.com Printing All Headers: Internet Explorer Result Servlets40 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Request Headers • Accept – Indicates MIME types browser can handle – Can send different content to different clients • Accept-Encoding – Indicates encodings (e.g., gzip) browser can handle – See following example • Authorization – User identification for password-protected pages. – Instead of HTTP authorization, use HTML forms to send username/password. Store in session object. • For details on programming security manually and using web.xml to tell the server to enforce security automatically, see More Servlets and JavaServer Pages.

21 Servlets41 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Request Headers (Continued) • Connection – In HTTP 1.0, keep-alive means browser can handle persistent connection. In HTTP 1.1, persistent connection is default. Persistent connections mean that the server can reuse the same socket over again for requests very close together from the same client – Servlets can't do this unilaterally; the best they can do is to give the server enough info to permit persistent connections. So, they should set Content-Length with setContentLength (using ByteArrayOutputStream to determine length of output). See example in Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages. • Cookie – Gives cookies previously sent to client. Use getCookies, not getHeader. (See later slides) Servlets42 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Request Headers (Continued) • Host – Indicates host given in original URL – This is a required header in HTTP 1.1. This fact is important to know if you write a custom HTTP client (e.g., WebClient used in book) or telnet to a server and use the HTTP/1.1 version • If-Modified-Since – Indicates client wants page only if it has been changed after specified date – Don’t handle this situation directly; implement getLastModified instead. See example in Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages Chapter 2

22 Servlets43 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Request Headers (Continued) • Referer – URL of referring Web page – Useful for tracking traffic; logged by many servers – Can be easily spoofed • User-Agent – String identifying the browser making the request – Use sparingly – Again, can be easily spoofed Servlets44 www.corewebprogramming.com Sending Compressed Web Pages Dilbert used with permission of United Syndicates Inc.

23 Servlets45 www.corewebprogramming.com Sending Compressed Pages: EncodedPage.java public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); String encodings = request.getHeader("Accept-Encoding"); String encodeFlag = request.getParameter("encoding"); PrintWriter out; String title; if ((encodings != null) && (encodings.indexOf("gzip") != -1) && !"none".equals(encodeFlag)) { title = "Page Encoded with GZip"; OutputStream out1 = response.getOutputStream(); out = new PrintWriter(new GZIPOutputStream(out1), false); response.setHeader("Content-Encoding", "gzip"); } else { title = "Unencoded Page"; out = response.getWriter(); } Servlets46 www.corewebprogramming.com EncodedPage.java (Continued) out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title) + "<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" + "<H1 ALIGN=CENTER>" + title + "</H1>n"); String line = "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. " + "Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda."; for(int i=0; i<10000; i++) { out.println(line); } out.println("</BODY></HTML>"); out.close(); }

24 Servlets47 www.corewebprogramming.com Sending Compressed Pages: Results • Uncompressed (28.8K modem), Netscape 4.7 and Internet Explorer 5.0: > 50 seconds • Compressed (28.8K modem), Netscape 4.7 and Internet Explorer 5.0: < 5 seconds • Caution: be careful about generalizing benchmarks 48 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Generating the HTTP Response

25 Servlets49 www.corewebprogramming.com Generating the Server Response: HTTP Status Codes • Example HTTP 1.1 Response HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: text/html <!DOCTYPE ...> <HTML> ... </HTML> • Changing the status code lets you perform a number of tasks not otherwise possible – Forward client to another page – Indicate a missing resource – Instruct browser to use cached copy • Set status before sending document Servlets50 www.corewebprogramming.com Setting Status Codes • public void setStatus(int statusCode) – Use a constant for the code, not an explicit int. Constants are in HttpServletResponse – Names derived from standard message. E.g., SC_OK, SC_NOT_FOUND, etc. • public void sendError(int code, String message) – Wraps message inside small HTML document • public void sendRedirect(String url) – Relative URLs permitted in 2.2/2.3 – Also sets Location header

26 Servlets51 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Status Codes • 200 (OK) – Everything is fine; document follows – Default for servlets • 204 (No Content) – Browser should keep displaying previous document • 301 (Moved Permanently) – Requested document permanently moved elsewhere (indicated in Location header) – Browsers go to new location automatically Servlets52 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Status Codes (Continued) • 302 (Found) – Requested document temporarily moved elsewhere (indicated in Location header) – Browsers go to new location automatically – Servlets should use sendRedirect, not setStatus, when setting this header. See example • 401 (Unauthorized) – Browser tried to access protected page without proper Authorization header. See example in book • 404 (Not Found) – No such page. Servlets should use sendError to set this header – Problem: Internet Explorer 5.0

27 Servlets53 www.corewebprogramming.com A Front End to Various Search Engines: Code public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { String searchString = request.getParameter("searchString"); if ((searchString == null) || (searchString.length() == 0)) { reportProblem(response, "Missing search string."); return; } searchString = URLEncoder.encode(searchString); String numResults = request.getParameter("numResults"); ... String searchEngine = request.getParameter("searchEngine"); Servlets54 www.corewebprogramming.com A Front End to Various Search Engines: Code (Continued) SearchSpec[] commonSpecs = SearchSpec.getCommonSpecs(); for(int i=0; i<commonSpecs.length; i++) { SearchSpec searchSpec = commonSpecs[i]; if (searchSpec.getName().equals(searchEngine)) { String url = searchSpec.makeURL(searchString, numResults); response.sendRedirect(url); return; } } reportProblem(response, "Unrecognized search engine.");

28 Servlets55 www.corewebprogramming.com A Front End to Various Search Engines: Code (Continued) private void reportProblem(HttpServletResponse response, String message) throws IOException { response.sendError(response.SC_NOT_FOUND, "<H2>" + message + "</H2>"); } Servlets56 www.corewebprogramming.com Front End to Search Engines: Result of Legal Request

29 Servlets57 www.corewebprogramming.com Front End to Search Engines: Result of Illegal Request – Fix: • Tools, Internet Options, Advanced • Deselect "Show 'friendly' HTTP error messages" • Not a real fix -- doesn't help unsuspecting users of your pages Servlets58 www.corewebprogramming.com Generating the Server Response: HTTP Response Headers • Purposes – Give forwarding location – Specify cookies – Supply the page modification date – Instruct the browser to reload the page after a designated interval – Give the document size so that persistent HTTP connections can be used – Designate the type of document being generated – Etc.

30 Servlets59 www.corewebprogramming.com Setting Arbitrary Response Headers • public void setHeader(String headerName, String headerValue) – Sets an arbitrary header • public void setDateHeader(String name, long millisecs) – Converts millis since 1970 to date in GMT format • public void setIntHeader(String name, int headerValue) – Prevents need to convert int to String • addHeader, addDateHeader, addIntHeader – Adds header instead of replacing Servlets60 www.corewebprogramming.com Setting Common Response Headers • setContentType – Sets the Content-Type header. Servlets almost always use this header. See Table 19.1 (Common MIME Types). • setContentLength – Sets the Content-Length header. Used for persistent HTTP connections. See Connection request header. • addCookie – Adds a value to the Set-Cookie header. See separate section on cookies. • sendRedirect – Sets Location header (plus changes status code)

31 Servlets61 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Response Headers • Cache-Control (1.1) and Pragma (1.0) – A no-cache value prevents browsers from caching page. Send both headers or check HTTP version • Content-Encoding – The way document is encoded. Browser reverses this encoding before handling document. See compression example earlier. • Content-Length – The number of bytes in the response – See setContentLength on previous slide – Use ByteArrayOutputStream to buffer document so you can determine size. • See detailed example in Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages Servlets62 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Response Headers (Continued) • Content-Type – The MIME type of the document being returned. – Use setContentType to set this header • Expires – The time at which document should be considered out-of- date and thus should no longer be cached – Use setDateHeader to set this header • Last-Modified – The time document was last changed. – Don’t set this header explicitly; provide a getLastModified method instead. • See example in Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages Chapter 2

32 Servlets63 www.corewebprogramming.com Common HTTP 1.1 Response Headers (Continued) • Location – The URL to which browser should reconnect. – Use sendRedirect instead of setting this directly. • Refresh – The number of seconds until browser should reload page. Can also include URL to connect to. See following example. • Set-Cookie – The cookies that browser should remember. Don’t set this header directly; use addCookie instead. • WWW-Authenticate – The authorization type and realm needed in Authorization header. See details in More Servlets & JavaServer Pages. Servlets64 www.corewebprogramming.com Persistent Servlet State and Auto-Reloading Pages • Idea: generate list of large (e.g., 150-digit) prime numbers – Show partial results until completed – Let new clients make use of results from others • Demonstrates use of the Refresh header • Shows how easy it is for servlets to maintain state between requests – Very difficult in traditional CGI • Also illustrates that servlets can handle multiple simultaneous connections – Each request is in a separate thread – Synchronization required for shared data

33 Servlets65 www.corewebprogramming.com Generating Prime Numbers: Source Code public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { int numPrimes = ServletUtilities.getIntParameter(request, "numPrimes", 50); int numDigits = ServletUtilities.getIntParameter(request, "numDigits", 120); // findPrimeList is synchronized PrimeList primeList = findPrimeList(primeListVector, numPrimes, numDigits); if (primeList == null) { primeList = new PrimeList(numPrimes, numDigits, true); Servlets66 www.corewebprogramming.com Generating Prime Numbers: Source Code (Continued) synchronized(primeListVector) { if (primeListVector.size() >= maxPrimeLists) primeListVector.removeElementAt(0); primeListVector.addElement(primeList); } } Vector currentPrimes = primeList.getPrimes(); int numCurrentPrimes = currentPrimes.size(); int numPrimesRemaining = (numPrimes - numCurrentPrimes); boolean isLastResult = (numPrimesRemaining == 0); if (!isLastResult) { response.setHeader("Refresh", "5"); } response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); // Show List of Primes found ...

34 Servlets67 www.corewebprogramming.com Prime Number Servlet: Front End Servlets68 www.corewebprogramming.com Prime Number Servlet: Initial Result

36 Servlets71 www.corewebprogramming.com The Potential of Cookies • Idea – Servlet sends a simple name and value to client – Client returns same name and value when it connects to same site (or same domain, depending on cookie settings) • Typical Uses of Cookies – Identifying a user during an e-commerce session • Servlets have a higher-level API for this task – Avoiding username and password – Customizing a site – Focusing advertising Servlets72 www.corewebprogramming.com Cookies and Focused Advertising

37 Servlets73 www.corewebprogramming.com Cookies and Privacy – FoxTrot © 1998 Bill Amend. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved. Servlets74 www.corewebprogramming.com Some Problems with Cookies • The problem is privacy, not security – Servers can remember your previous actions – If you give out personal information, servers can link that information to your previous actions – Servers can share cookie information through use of a cooperating third party like doubleclick.net – Poorly designed sites store sensitive information like credit card numbers directly in cookie • Morals for servlet authors – If cookies are not critical to your task, avoid servlets that totally fail when cookies are disabled – Don't put sensitive info in cookies

38 Servlets75 www.corewebprogramming.com Sending Cookies to Browser • Standard approach: Cookie c = new Cookie("name", "value"); c.setMaxAge(...); // Means cookie persists on disk // Set other attributes. response.addCookie(c); • Simplified approach: – Use LongLivedCookie class: public class LongLivedCookie extends Cookie { public static final int SECONDS_PER_YEAR = 60*60*24*365; public LongLivedCookie(String name, String value) { super(name, value); setMaxAge(SECONDS_PER_YEAR); } } Servlets76 www.corewebprogramming.com Reading Cookies from Browser • Standard approach: Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies(); if (cookies != null) { for(int i=0; i<cookies.length; i++) { Cookie c = cookies[i]; if (c.getName().equals("someName")) { doSomethingWith(c); break; } } } • Simplified approach: – Extract cookie or cookie value from cookie array by using ServletUtilities.getCookieValue or ServletUtilities.getCookie

39 Servlets77 www.corewebprogramming.com ServletUtilities.getCookieValue public static String getCookieValue(Cookie[] cookies, String cookieName, String defaultVal) { if (cookies != null) { for(int i=0; i<cookies.length; i++) { Cookie cookie = cookies[i]; if (cookieName.equals(cookie.getName())) return(cookie.getValue()); } } return(defaultVal); } • The getCookie method is similar – Returns the Cookie object instead of the value Servlets78 www.corewebprogramming.com Simple Cookie-Setting Servlet public class SetCookies extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { for(int i=0; i<3; i++) { Cookie cookie = new Cookie("Session-Cookie-" + i, "Cookie-Value-S" + i); response.addCookie(cookie); cookie = new Cookie("Persistent-Cookie-" + i, "Cookie-Value-P" + i); cookie.setMaxAge(3600); response.addCookie(cookie); } response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); out.println(...);

40 Servlets79 www.corewebprogramming.com Result of Cookie-Setting Servlet Servlets80 www.corewebprogramming.com Simple Cookie-Viewing Servlet public class ShowCookies extends HttpServlet { public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); String title = "Active Cookies"; out.println(ServletUtilities.headWithTitle(title) + "<BODY BGCOLOR="#FDF5E6">n" + "<H1 ALIGN="CENTER">" + title + "</H1>n" + "<TABLE BORDER=1 ALIGN="CENTER">n" + "<TR BGCOLOR="#FFAD00">n" + " <TH>Cookie Namen" + " <TH>Cookie Value");

41 Servlets81 www.corewebprogramming.com Simple Cookie-Viewing Servlet (Continued) Cookie[] cookies = request.getCookies(); if (cookies != null) { Cookie cookie; for(int i=0; i<cookies.length; i++) { cookie = cookies[i]; out.println("<TR>n" + " <TD>" + cookie.getName() + "n" + " <TD>" + cookie.getValue()); } } out.println("</TABLE></BODY></HTML>"); } } Servlets82 www.corewebprogramming.com Result of Cookie-Viewer (Before & After Restarting Browser)

42 Servlets83 www.corewebprogramming.com Methods in the Cookie API • getDomain/setDomain – Lets you specify domain to which cookie applies. Current host must be part of domain specified • getMaxAge/setMaxAge – Gets/sets the cookie expiration time (in seconds). If you fail to set this, cookie applies to current browsing session only. See LongLivedCookie helper class given earlier • getName/setName – Gets/sets the cookie name. For new cookies, you supply name to constructor, not to setName. For incoming cookie array, you use getName to find the cookie of interest Servlets84 www.corewebprogramming.com Methods in the Cookie API (Continued) • getPath/setPath – Gets/sets the path to which cookie applies. If unspecified, cookie applies to URLs that are within or below directory containing current page • getSecure/setSecure – Gets/sets flag indicating whether cookie should apply only to SSL connections or to all connections • getValue/setValue – Gets/sets value associated with cookie. For new cookies, you supply value to constructor, not to setValue. For incoming cookie array, you use getName to find the cookie of interest, then call getValue on the result

43 85 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Session Tracking Servlets86 www.corewebprogramming.com Session Tracking and E-Commerce Dilbert used with permission of United Syndicates Inc.

44 Servlets87 www.corewebprogramming.com Session Tracking • Why? – When clients at an on-line store add an item to their shopping cart, how does the server know what’s already in the cart? – When clients decide to proceed to checkout, how can the server determine which previously created shopping cart is theirs? • How? – Cookies – URL-rewriting – Hidden form fields • Higher-level API needed Servlets88 www.corewebprogramming.com The Session Tracking API • Session objects live on the server • Automatically associated with client via cookies or URL-rewriting – Use request.getSession(true) to get either existing or new session • Behind the scenes, the system looks at cookie or URL extra info and sees if it matches the key to some previously stored session object. If so, it returns that object. If not, it creates a new one, assigns a cookie or URL info as its key, and returns that new session object. • Hashtable-like mechanism lets you store arbitrary objects inside session – setAttribute stores values – getAttribute retrieves values

45 Servlets89 www.corewebprogramming.com Using Sessions HttpSession session = request.getSession(true); ShoppingCart cart = (ShoppingCart)session.getAttribute("shoppingCart"); if (cart == null) { // No cart already in session cart = new ShoppingCart(); session.setAttribute("shoppingCart", cart); } doSomethingWith(cart); Servlets90 www.corewebprogramming.com HttpSession Methods • getAttribute, getValue [2.1] – Extracts a previously stored value from a session object. Returns null if no value is associated with given name • setAttribute, putValue [2.1] – Associates a value with a name. Monitor changes: values implement HttpSessionBindingListener. • removeAttribute, removeValue [2.1] – Removes values associated with name • getAttributeNames, getValueNames [2.1] – Returns names of all attributes in the session • getId – Returns the unique identifier

46 Servlets91 www.corewebprogramming.com HttpSession Methods (Continued) • isNew – Determines if session is new to client (not to page) • getCreationTime – Returns time at which session was first created • getLastAccessedTime – Returns time session was last sent from client • getMaxInactiveInterval, setMaxInactiveInterval – Gets or sets the amount of time session should go without access before being invalidated • invalidate – Invalidates the session and unbinds all objects associated with it Servlets92 www.corewebprogramming.com A Servlet Showing Per-Client Access Counts public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException { response.setContentType("text/html"); PrintWriter out = response.getWriter(); String title = "Session Tracking Example"; HttpSession session = request.getSession(true); String heading; Integer accessCount = (Integer)session.getAttribute("accessCount"); if (accessCount == null) { accessCount = new Integer(0); heading = "Welcome, Newcomer"; } else { heading = "Welcome Back"; accessCount = new Integer(accessCount.intValue() + 1); } session.setAttribute("accessCount", accessCount);

47 Servlets93 www.corewebprogramming.com First Visit to ShowSession Servlet Servlets94 www.corewebprogramming.com Eleventh Visit to ShowSession Servlet

48 95 © 2001-2003 Marty Hall, Larry Brown http://www.corewebprogramming.com Web core programming Review: Servlets Servlets96 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Getting Started • Servlets are efficient, portable, powerful, and widely accepted in industry • Regardless of deployment server, run a free server on your desktop for development • Getting started: – Set your CLASSPATH • Servlet and JSP JAR files • Top of your package hierarchy – Put class files in proper location • .../WEB-INF/classes with servlets 2.2 – Use proper URL; default is http://host/servlet/ServletName • Download existing servlet first time – Start with HelloWWW from www.corewebprogramming.com

49 Servlets97 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Getting Started (Continued) • Main servlet code goes in doGet or doPost: – The HttpServletRequest contains the incoming information – The HttpServletResponse lets you set outgoing information • Call setContentType to specify MIME type • Call getWriter to obtain a Writer pointing to client • One-time setup code goes in init – Servlet gets initialized and loaded once – Servlet gets invoked multiple times Servlets98 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Handling Form Data (Query Data) • Query data comes from HTML forms as URL-encoded name/value pairs • Servlets read data by calling request.getParameter("name") – Results in value as entered into form, not as sent over network. I.e. not URL-encoded. • Always check for missing or malformed data – Special case: query data that contains special HTML characters • Need to be filtered if query data will be placed into resultant HTML page

50 Servlets99 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Using HTTP Request Headers • Many servlet tasks can only be accomplished by making use of HTTP headers coming from the browser • Use request.getHeader for arbitrary header • Cookies, authorization info, content length, and content type have shortcut methods • Most important headers you read directly – Accept – Accept-Encoding – Connection – Referer – User-Agent Servlets100 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Generating the HTTP Response • Many servlet tasks can only be accomplished through use of HTTP status codes and headers sent to the browser • Two parts of the response – Status line • In general, set via response.setStatus • In special cases, set via response.sendRedirect and response.sendError – Response headers • In general, set via response.setHeader • In special cases, set via response.setContentType, response.setContentLength, response.addCookie, and response.sendRedirect

51 Servlets101 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Generating the HTTP Response (Continued) • Most important status codes – 200 (default) – 302 (forwarding; set via sendRedirect) – 401 (password needed) – 404 (not found; set via sendError) • Most important headers you set directly – Cache-Control and Pragma – Content-Encoding – Content-Length – Expires – Refresh – WWW-Authenticate Servlets102 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Handling Cookies • Cookies involve name/value pairs sent from server to browser and returned when the same page, site, or domain is visited later • Let you – Track sessions (use higher-level API) – Permit users to avoid logging in at low-security sites – Customize sites for different users – Focus content or advertising • Setting cookies – Cookie constructor, set age, response.addCookie • Reading cookies – Call request.getCookies, check for null, look through array for matching name, use associated value

52 Servlets103 www.corewebprogramming.com Review: Session Tracking • Although it usually uses cookies behind the scenes, the session tracking API is higher- level and easier to use than the cookie API • Session information lives on server – Cookie or extra URL info associates it with a user • Obtaining session – request.getSession(true) • Associating values with keys – session.setAttribute • Finding values associated with keys – session.getAttribute • Always check if this value is null before trying to use it Servlets104 www.corewebprogramming.com Preview: The Need for JSP • With servlets, it is easy to – Read form data – Read HTTP request headers – Set HTTP status codes and response headers – Use cookies and session tracking – Share data among servlets – Remember data between requests – Get fun, high-paying jobs • But, it sure is a pain to – Use those println statements to generate HTML – Maintain that HTML

53 Servlets105 www.corewebprogramming.com Preview: Benefits of JSP • Although JSP technically can't do anything servlets can't do, JSP makes it easier to: – Write HTML – Read and maintain the HTML • JSP makes it possible to: – Use standard HTML tools such as HomeSite or UltraDev – Have different members of your team do the HTML layout and the programming • JSP encourages you to – Separate the (JavaTM technology) code that creates the content from the (HTML) code that presents it Servlets106 www.corewebprogramming.com More Information • Core Servlets and JavaServer Pages – http://www.coreservlets.com – More detail on all topics presented here • More Servlets and JavaServer Pages – http://www.moreservlets.com – New features in servlets 2.3 and JSP 1.2 (filters and listeners), Web applications, security, standard JSP tag library • Servlet home page – http://java.sun.com/products/servlet/ • JavaServer Pages home page – http://java.sun.com/products/jsp/

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