Inside Servlets

The book starts with a brief, crystal-clear introduction to servlet technology and architecture -- and then dives into the sophisticated techniques Java developers need to make the most of their servlets. Dustin Callaway provides a complete development framework for building Internet applications, as well as three start-to-finish sample servlets. He also offers outstanding, code-rich explanations of key techniques such as state/session management, cookies, thread-safe servlets, JDBC database access, cross-request communications, request forwarding, and partitioning. This Second Edition adds extensive coverage of deployment, servlet security and authentication, internationalization, JavaServer Pages, and more.

For all Java and Web developers building server-side systems.

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

I: Introduction to Web Development

1: Internet Basics 3

Networks

Protocols

TCP/IP

Brief History of the Internet

Internet Addresses

Ports

Socket

Name Resolution

Firewalls

Protocol Tunneling

Proxy Servers

Internet Standards

Summary

2: Web Basics

Brief History of the Web

URLs

Web Browsers

Web Servers

Common Gateway Interface

Summary

3: Beyond Web Basics

HTTP

MIME

HTML Forms

Summary

II: Introduction to Servlets

4: Why Servlets?

What Is a Servlet?

Where Do Servlets Fit In?

What Can Servlets Do?

Why Are Servlets Better Than CGI?

NSAPI/ISAPI

Summary

5: Servlet Basics

Basic Servlet Structure

Servlet Lifecycle

Servlet Reloading

Dissecting Two Sample Servlets

Summary

6: Servlet API Basics

HttpServlet

Class

GenericServlet

Class

ServletRequest Interface

HttpServletRequest Interface

ServletResponse Interface

HttpServletResponse Interface

Summary

7: Writing Your First Servlet

Servlet Requirements

Main Page

View Bulletins

Post Bulletin Page

Save Bulletin Page

Complete Bulletin Board Servlet

Summary

8: Running Servlets

Apache Tomcat

Jrun

ServletExec

Resin

Summary

9: Debugging Servlets

AHEADS = Servlet Debugging Process

Jbuilder

Forte for Java

VisualCafé

Summary

10: Beyond Servlet API Basics

ServletInputStream Class

ServletOutputStream Class

ServletConfig Interface

ServletContext Interface

ServletException Class

UnavailableException Class

Summary

III: Advanced Servlet Concepts

11: Writing Thread-Safe Servlets

What Is Thread Safety?

Synchronization

Service, doGet, and doPost Local Variables

SingleThreadModel Interface

Background Threads

Summary

12: HTTP Redirects

What Is an HTTP Redirect?

HTTP Header Syntax for a Redirect

Sending a Redirect from a Servlet

Load-Balancing Servlet Using HTTP Redirects

Summary

13: Cookies

What Is a Cookie?

HTTP Header Syntax for a Cookie

Setting Cookies with the Servlet API

Summary

14: State and Session Management

What Is a Stateless Protocol?

What Is a Session?

State and Session Management Defined

State and Session Management Methods

Session Management with the Servlet API

Session Listeners and Events

Summary

15: Request Forwarding, Server-Side Includes, Servlet Chaining

Using the RequestDispatcher Object

Server-Side Includes

Servlet Chaining

Summary

16: Database Access with JDBC

JDBC Architecture

Accessing a Database

Basics

Advanced Database Concepts

Database Connection Pooling

Introduction to the MySQL Database

Summary

17: Security

Basic Authentication

Form-Based Authentication

Digest Authentication

Secure Sockets Layer

Summary

18: JavaServer

Introduction to JSP

Scope Rules

Implicit Objects

Directives

Scripting Elements

Comments

Actions

CCustom Tag Libraries

Using JSP and Servlets Together

Summary

19: Packaging and Deployment

@AHEADS Building a Web Application Archive

Deploying on Apache Tomcat

Deploying on Jrun

Deploying on ServletExec

Summary

20: Servlet Troubleshooting

Protocol Explorer Utility

Diagnostics Servlet

Summary

IV: Sample Servlets

21: Form Mailer Servlet

22: File Upload Servlet

23: Servlet Template Framework

Building a Web Application

Inside the Template Server

Guest Book Sample Application

V: SERVLET API QUICK REFERENCE

24: Javax.Servlet Package

Interface RequestDispatcher

Interface Servlet

Interface ServletConfig

Interface ServletContext

Interface ServletRequest

Interface ServletResponse

Interface SingleThreadModel

Class Generic Servlet

Class ServletInputStream

Class ServletOutputStream

Class ServletException

Class UnavailableException

25: Javax.Servlet.http Package

Interface HttpServletRequest

Interface HttpServletResponse

Interface HttpSession

Interface HttpSessionBindingListener

Class Cookie

Class HttpServlet

Class HttpSessionBindingEvent

Class HttpUtils

26: Servlet API 2.3 Update

Filtering

Application Lifecycle Events

Shared Library Dependencies

New Error and Security Attributes

Welcome Files

New Classes, Interfaces, and Methods

VI: Appendices

A: Common Well-Known Port Assignments

B: Java Port Scanner

C: The Internet Standardization Process

D: URL Syntax for Common Protocols

E: Meaning of URL Special Characters

F: US-ASCII Encoding for Unsafe URL Characters

G: Java HTTP Server

H: HTTP Response Status Codes

I: Common HTTP Request Header Fields

J: Deployment Descriptor DTD

K: Common MIME Types

L: printStackTrace to String

M: Servlet API Class Hierarchy Diagram

Index