Java Servlet API - is a web technology for java that is used to

build web application that run on web server. A web server is a

software that handles exectution of these web application and
also responsible for interaction with web browser. Eg of web
server apache, apache tomcat, IIS, Nginx, glassfish, and others.

HTTP :- Hyper text Transfer Protocol is used for communication

between web browser and web server. All web application (server-
side program) run over HTTP. It is request and response based
protocol. The client(Web browser) sends a request message to
web server. The web server, in turn, returns a response message.

Servlet :- is a Java object that generates a response to HTTP

request that sent by browser. Servlet runs inside
web container (servlet container). This web container
is run inside web server. A web container may run
multiple web application where each web application
having multiple servlets running inside.

This Servlet API is given in javax.servlet package. A java servlet

is just an ordinary java class which implement from
Servlet Interface.

What happens when a browswer sends HTTP request ?

The web server checks if the request is for a servlet, if it is,

the request is passed to web container. Web container will then
find out which servlet the request is for and activate that
Servlet by calling service() method of that class. The servlet
process that request and generate a response. The response is
sent back to web browser.

We create a servlet class by inheriting the Servlet interface

or any of two child classes (GenericServlet, HttpServlet) of
Servlet Inteface.

Before we can request a servlet, we need to map the servlet to a URL (Uniform
Resource Locator).
This is also known as URL mapping. This binding of URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
to servlet class is necessary
for web container to decide which servlet to activate.

URL :- http://ipaddress:portnumber/<url_pattern>

OR

http://domainname/<url_pattern>

url patterns :- always start with / (forward slash) and followed by pattern.

some useful url patterns usecases :-

/product
/product/redmi
/email/*
/email/add
For mapping url to Servlet, there are two ways :-

a) Using WebServlet annotation

Annotations are used to provide supplement information about a program.

Annotations help to associate metadata (information) to the program elements i.e.
instance variables, constructors,
methods, classes, etc.
Annotations start with �@�.

-> With Servlet 3.0, we can use @WebServlet annotation to map a servlet
to one or more URL patterns.

-> To map a servlet to a single URL pattern, code the URL pattern
in parentheses that follow the @WebServlet annotation.

@WebServlet("/test")

or

@WebServlet(urlPatterns="/test")

javax.servlet.annotation package contains WebServlet annotation.

-> To map a servlet to multiple URL patterns, code the urlPatterns

attribute within the paranthesis and assign multiple URL
patterns, separating each pattern with a comma within the braces.

@WebServlet(urlPatterns = {"/test123","/test123123"})

-> If we use both web.xml and @WebServlet annotation, then

mapping in web.xml overrides mapping in @WebServlet annotation.

b) using web.xml file

After entering an URL with URL patterns, A HTTP request is sent

by browser to Web Server. Web Server found out this Request is
for a Servlet, it passes this HTTP request to web container.
Web container extract URL pattern form Input URL and search for
match Servlet having same URL Patterns. Web container convert
HTTP request to ServletRequest object. The same way a
ServletResponse object is created and passes these object to
service method of activated servlet. The body of Servlet Response
is set by PrintWriter stream. We can get PrintWriter object by
calling getWriter() method of ServletResponse object. This
ServletResponse is sent back to Web Server. Web Server converts
this response to HTTP response and sends back to browser.
Browser read response message and display response data.

GenericServlet :- is a child clas of Servlet interface and parent

class of HttpServlet class. Generic Servlet is an abstract class,
that has only one abstract method which is service(). It is
protocol independent servlet that should always override
service() method to handle client request. The service() method
accept two arguments ServletRequest object and ServletResponse
object.

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Web.xml :- it is a deployment descriptor file. This is a file

which web container get information about servlet to invoke.
This file is used by web container to find servlet class(bind
url to Servlet class). It is extended Markup Language (XML) file.

<web-app>
<servlet>
<servlet-name> ...... </servlet-name>
<servlet-class> ...... </servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name> ...... </servlet-name>
<url-pattern> ....... </url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

Some elements are as follows :-

a) <web-app> :- this element represents whole web application.

b) <servlet> :- this element represents a servlet.

c) <servlet-name> :- is a name given to servlet.

d) <servlet-class> :- is a java class of servlet.

e) <servlet-mapping> :- used to map url to servlet.

f) <url-pattern> :- url pattern assign to servlet.

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Servlet Interface :- It is top most parent interface of any

servlet. It provides 3 life cycle methods that are used to
intialise the servlet, to service the request and to destroy
the servlet. It also provides 2 additional non-life cycle methods.

a) init(ServletConfig config)
it is life cycle method of servlet that is used to initialse
the servlet and it invoked by web container only once after
instantiation of Servlet class. An object of ServletConfig is
also create by web container for each servlet object. This
object is passed to init method by web container.

b) service(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)

it provide response for incoming request. It is invoked at
each HTTP request sent by browser.

c) destroy()
it invoked only once when servlet is clearing out from
memory or when web server is shutting down. It indicates that
servert is being destroyed.
d) getServletConfig()
returns object of ServletConfig class created by web container
for each servlet.

e) getServletInfo()
retuns a string containing information about servlet such as
servet name, servlet version, servlet summary, servlet
copyright info etc, declared by programmer.

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HTTP request / response message consists of two parts :-

a) Header :- carries information about request and response

message such as URL, hostname, user-agent, result code, etc.

b) Body :- carries data such as HTML, plain text, form data,

file data etc.

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HttpServlet :- this class is dedicated to HTTP protocol.

HttpServlet read Http request and determinse if the request is
of type GET or POST. It provides http specific methods such
as doGet and doPost.

Two common methods for request message :-

a) GET :- request data for specific resource (html,image,file,text)

b) POST :- submit the data to server.

GET:- is default request type. It also carries data in URL inside

HTTP Request Header. Query String (name-value pair) is used
with URL of a GET request.

ex: GET /login?name=ravi&password=12345

Host:
User-Agent
Accept:
Accept-language

GET request send some data to server by appending with URL.

Query String :- is sequence of name and value pair separated by

&.

?name=value&name2=value2&name3=value3........

Some key points :-

a) it remains in browser history

b) it can be bookmarked
c) it has length restriction (URL length limitation)
d) it should never be used when dealing with sensitive data because
data is visible in URL.
-------------------------------------------------------------

to handle get request, doGet() method of HttpServlet class is

used.
to handle post request, doPost() method of HttpServlet class is
used.
to handle both request (get/post) , service() method of HttpServlet
class.

HttpServletRequest :- the purpose of this object is to retrieve

information about Http request message send by browser.

The data send by browser alongside with HttpRequest is termed as

paramters. To get paramter's value call getParameter(name) method
of HttpServletRequest and pass name of parameter. If parameter
is not exist with given name , null will returned.

String value = httpservletrequestobj.getParamter("parameter-name");

HttpServletRespnse :- the purpose of this object is to write

resposne of Http request. We can set header inforamtion or body
of response using this object.

Post :- data is send in request body in case of post request.

The query string (name-value pair) is carries data inside
body of Post request.

ex: POST /login HTTP 1.1

Host:
Accept:
Accept-language:

username=ravi&password=123456

Key points :-

a) this request can't be bookmarked

b) this request have no restriction on length of data
c) this request don't retain in browser history
d) secure ( data is not visible in URL)
e) but littel bit slower in comparison to GET request.

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HTTP Request Header :- The request header are name-value pair

send by browswer along with HTTP request. The request headers
contains information such as what browswer software is being
used, what file type the browser is capable of receiving,
what language the browser understand etc.... In short, a lot of
metadata about HttpRequest.

To get Headers information call getHeader() method of

ServletRequest object & pass name of header key.

String value = requestobject.getHeader("header-key");

To get all headers name, getHeaderNames() method of ServletRequest
returns an Enumeration object, containing all headers name.
Enumeration object is capable of iterating header key one by one.

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HTTP Response Body :- carries data such as text, html, image data,
file data, etc......

TO set response body , PrintWriter is used .

PrintWriter pw = responseobject.getWriter();

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HTTP Response Header :- carry information about Response message,

such as date of resonse, type of content , server information,
length (size) of body.

We can set header information using setHeader() method of Http

response object.

responseobject.setHeader("header-name", "header-value");

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ServletConfig :-
----------------

A web container creates a ServletConfig object for each servlet

during instantantiation of Servlet to pass information to servlet.
This object can be used to get configuration information such
as parameter names and values from deployment descriptor file
(web.xml).

<servlet>
<servlet-name>.....</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>.....</servlet-class>
<init-parameter>
<param-name>.......</param-name>
<param-value>......</param-value>
</init-parameter>
</servlet>

We can get ServletConfig object by calling getServletConfig()

method of Servlet interface.

ServletConfig sc = getServletConfig();

getInitParameter(parameter_name) method is used to get init

parameter value given in web.xml file for a respective servlet.

String value = sc.getInitParameter(parameter_name);

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RequestDispatcher :- is a class that is responsible for

navigation between servlet. This class enables servlet to call
another servlet and pass request and response information as
if HTTP request was send by browser. We can get object of
RequestDispatcher class by calling getRequestDispatcher() method
of HttpServletRequest object.

RequestDisptacher rd =
httpservletrequestobj.getRequestDispatcher(URL-PATTERN);

There are two ways to call another servlet :-

a) forward method(request, response)

b) include method(request, response)

forward() method is intended for use in forwarding request, and

final response will be of activated(another) servlet.

include() method merges the resoonse written by calling servlet

and activated servlet. and final merge response will be send back
to browser.

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Redirecting to a Different URL
-------------------------------

We can redirect to browser to a different URL from our servlet.

We can't send any data back to browser when redirecting. Call
sendRedirect("url") method of response object.

responseobj.sendREdirect("url");

RequestDispatcher allows us to do server side forward/include

whereas sendRedirect() does a client side (browser) redirect.
RequestDispatcher transfer request to other resource within same
server whereas sendRedirect() request is transfer to another
resource of same server or another server.

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ServletContext :-

A web container creates a ServletContext object per web application.

during deployment of web application.
This object can be used to get configuration information such
as parameter names and values from deployment descriptor file
(web.xml). These parameters can be read within any servlet in
our web application.

<web-app>
<context-parameter>
<param-name>.......</param-name>
<param-value>......</param-value>
</context-parameter>
</web-app>

Context intialization parameter are parameter name and value pairs

that we can specify in deployment descriptof file. These parameters
will be accessible to all servlets in web application.

When we deploy web application, web container intialized the

ServletContext object with these paramters.

We can get ServletContext object by calling getServletContext()

method of GenericServlet.

ServletContext sc = getServletContext();

getInitParameter(parameter_name) method is used to get context

parameter value given in web.xml file..

String value = sc.getInitParameter(parameter_name);

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JavaMail API :- provides a protocol indepent framework to send and

receive mail. It provide standard packages for
reading, composing and sending e-mail.

SMTP :- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It is a protocol to deliver

email. This protocol communicate with email server and
send email to other email server.

Them main package is javax.mail inside JavaMail API.

Steps for sending email :-

1> create a Connection with email server (private or public).

Public email server are gmail, yahoomail, hotmail etc.....
Email Server hostname and port number is required to create
connection.

2> Login into server by providing email id and password.

3> Compose an email using MimeMessage class.

4> Send email using Transport class.

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Exception Handling in Servlets

-------------------------------

Since browser understand only HTML, when our application throw

exception, web container processes the exception and generate a
HTML response. Different Web server provide different error
HTML response.

The problem with this response is that it's of no value to user.

Also its' showing application classes and server details to user
that makes no sense to user and it's not good from security point
of view.

Servlet API provides support for Exception and Error Handler

servlets that we can configure in deployment descriptor file.
The whole purpose of these servlets are to handle the Exception or
Error raised by application and send useful HTML response to
user. We can provide link to application home page or some
details to let user known what went wrong.

To declare an error-page, In web.xml file use error-page element

and each error-page element should have either error-code (HTTP
status code) or exception-type element. We define exception
handlier servlet or html page in location element.

<error-page>
<error-code>404</error-code>
<location>/error.html</location>
</error-page>

OR

<error-page>
<exception-type>......</exception-type>
<location>/ErrorServlet</location>
</error-page>

AutoRefresh in Servlet:-
-----------------------

Consider a web page which is displaying live game score or stock

market stuatus or currency exchange rate. For all such type of
pages, we need to refresh our web page regulary using refresh
or reload button with our browser.

Java Servlet makes this job easy by providign a mechanism where

we cam make a webpage in such a way that it would automatically
refresh after a given interval.

The simplest way of refreshing a web page is using setIntHeader()

method of response object.

responseobject.setIntHeader("headername",integervalue);

So header name will be refresh and integer value is a specifiec

time interval.

responseobject.setIntHeader("refresh",timeinterval);