Servlets and JavaServer Pages: The J2EE Technology Web Tier

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Chapter 2. Java Servlets

In this chapter the concept of Servlets, not the entire Servlet specification, is explained; consider this an introduction to the Servlet specification starting strictly with Servlets. At times the content of this chapter may seem dry, even reminiscent of the actual specification. While an attempt is always made to liven the material up, however, there are several relevant but boring aspects of Servlet development that need to be presented now. Do attempt to read the whole chapter straight through, but also remember you can always reference this chapter when needed.

This chapter discusses the following topics:

• An explanation of what Servlets are and why you would want to use them.

• The Servlet life cyclethat is, how a container manages a Servlet.

• Building Servlets for use on the World Wide Web, which includes a review of the HTTP protocol.

• Configuring Servlets using web.xml.

• Coding both text-producing and non-text-producing Servlets.

• Handling HTML forms and file uploads.

• Request dispatchingServlet to Servlet communication and including or forwarding to other resources in the Web Application.

• Application context and communicating with the container via a Servlet.

• Servlet event listeners.

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