The javax.servlet.http Package

The javax.servlet.http Package

The preceding examples have used the classes and interfaces defined in javax.servlet, such as ServletRequest, ServletResponse, and GenericServlet, to illustrate the basic functionality of servlets. However, when working with HTTP, you will normally use the interfaces and classes in javax.servlet.http. As you will see, its functionality makes it easy to build servlets that work with HTTP requests and responses.

The following table summarizes the interfaces used in this chapter:

Interface : Description

HttpServletRequest : Enables servlets to read data from an HTTP request.

HttpServletResponse : Enables servlets to write data to an HTTP response.

HttpSession : Allows session data to be read and written.

The following table summarizes the classes used in this chapter. The most important of these is HttpServlet. Servlet developers typically extend this class in order to process HTTP requests.

Class : Description

Cookie : Allows state information to be stored on a client machine.

HttpServlet : Provides methods to handle HTTP requests and responses.

The HttpServletRequest Interface

The HttpServletRequest interface enables a servlet to obtain information about a client request. Several of its methods are shown in Table 38-5.

The HttpServletResponse Interface

The HttpServletResponse interface enables a servlet to formulate an HTTP response to a client. Several constants are defined. These correspond to the different status codes that can be assigned to an HTTP response. For example, SC_OK indicates that the HTTP

request succeeded, and SC_NOT_FOUND indicates that the requested resource is not available. Several methods of this interface are summarized in Table 38-6.

The HttpSession Interface

The HttpSession interface enables a servlet to read and write the state information that is associated with an HTTP session. Several of its methods are summarized in Table 38-7. All of these methods throw an IllegalStateException if the session has already been invalidated.

The Cookie Class

The Cookie class encapsulates a cookie. A cookie is stored on a client and contains state information. Cookies are valuable for tracking user activities. For example, assume that a user visits an online store. A cookie can save the user’s name, address, and other information. The user does not need to enter this data each time he or she visits the store.

A servlet can write a cookie to a user’s machine via the addCookie( ) method of the HttpServletResponse interface. The data for that cookie is then included in the header of the HTTP response that is sent to the browser.

The names and values of cookies are stored on the user’s machine. Some of the information that can be saved for each cookie includes the following:

        The name of the cookie

        The value of the cookie

        The expiration date of the cookie

        The domain and path of the cookie

The expiration date determines when this cookie is deleted from the user’s machine. If an expiration date is not explicitly assigned to a cookie, it is deleted when the current browser session ends.

The domain and path of the cookie determine when it is included in the header of an HTTP request. If the user enters a URL whose domain and path match these values, the cookie is then supplied to the web server. Otherwise, it is not.

There is one constructor for Cookie. It has the signature shown here: Cookie(String name, String value)

Here, the name and value of the cookie are supplied as arguments to the constructor. The methods of the Cookie class are summarized in Table 38-8.

The HttpServlet Class

The HttpServlet class extends GenericServlet. It is commonly used when developing servlets that receive and process HTTP requests. The methods defined by the HttpServlet class are summarized in Table 38-9.

Method : Description

Object clone( ) : Returns a copy of this object.

String getComment( ) : Returns the comment.

String getDomain( ) : Returns the domain.

int getMaxAge( ) : Returns the maximum age (in seconds).

String getName( ) : Returns the name.

String getPath( ) : Returns the path.

boolean getSecure( ) : Returns true if the cookie is secure. Otherwise, returns false.

String getValue( ) : Returns the value.

int getVersion( ) : Returns the version.

boolean isHttpOnly(?) : Returns true if the cookie has the HttpOnly attribute.

void setComment(String c) : Sets the comment to c.

void setDomain(String d) : Sets the domain to d.

void setHttpOnly(boolean httpOnly) : If httpOnly is true, then the HttpOnly attribute is added to the cookie. If httpOnly is false, the HttpOnly attribute is removed.

void setMaxAge(int secs) : Sets the maximum age of the cookie to secs. This is the number of seconds after which the cookie is deleted.

void setPath(String p) : Sets the path to p.

void setSecure(boolean secure) : Sets the security flag to secure.

void setValue(String v) : Sets the value to v.

void setVersion(int v) : Sets the version to v.

Table 38-8   The Methods Defined by Cookie