Servlets
By: aathishankaran Printer Friendly Format
Servlets
Servlets are Java technology’s answer to Common Gateway Interface
(CGI) Programming. They are programs that run on a Web server, acting as middle
Layer between a request coming from a Web browser or other HTTP client and
databases or applications on the HTTP server.
Their
job is to:
1.
Read
any data sent by the user.
This data is usually entered in a form on a Web page, but could
also come from a Java applet or a custom HTTP client program.
2.
Look
up any other information about the request that is embedded in the HTTP request.
This information includes details about browser capabilities,
cookies, the host name of the requesting client, and so forth.
3.
Generate
the results.
This process may require talking to a database, executing an RMI or
CORBA call, invoking a legacy application, or computing the response directly.
4.
Format
the results inside a document.
In most cases, this involves embedding the information inside an
HTML page.
5.
Set
the appropriate HTTP response parameters.
This means telling the browser what type of document is being
returned (e.g., HTML), setting cookies and caching parameters, and other such
tasks.
6.
Send
the document back to the client.
This document may be sent in text format (HTML), binary format (GIF
images), or even in a compressed format like zip that is layered on top of some
other underlying format.
Returning
pre-built documents can satisfy many client requests, and the server would
handle these requests without invoking servlets. In many cases, however, a
static result is not sufficient, and a page needs to be generated for each
request. There are a number of reasons why Web pages need to be built on-the-fly
like this:
•
The
Web page is based on data submitted by the user.
For instance, the results page from search engines and
order-confirmation pages at on-line stores are specific to particular user
requests.
•
The
Web page is derived from data that changes frequently.
For example, a weather report or news headlines page might build
the page dynamically, perhaps returning a previously built page if it is still
up to date.
•
The
Web page uses information from corporate databases or other server-side sources.
For example, 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. In principle, servlets are not restricted to Web or application servers
that handle HTTP requests, but can be used for other types of servers as well.
For example, servlets could be embedded in mail or FTP servers to extend their
functionality. In practice, however, this use of servlets has not caught on, and
I’ll only be discussing HTTP servlets.
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