Servlets - Examples
Servlets are Java classes which service HTTP requests and implement the [Link]
interface. Web application developers typically write servlets that extend
[Link], an abstract class that implements the Servlet interface and is
specially designed to handle HTTP requests.
Sample Code
Following is the sample source code structure of a servlet example to show Hello World −
// Import required java libraries
import [Link].*;
import [Link].*;
import [Link].*;
// Extend HttpServlet class
public class HelloWorld extends HttpServlet {
private String message;
public void init() throws ServletException {
// Do required initialization
message = "Hello World";
}
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse re
throws ServletException, IOException {
// Set response content type
[Link]("text/html");
// Actual logic goes here.
PrintWriter out = [Link]();
[Link]("<h1>" + message + "</h1>");
}
public void destroy() {
// do nothing.
}
}
Compiling a Servlet
Let us create a file with name [Link] with the code shown above. Place this file at
C:\ServletDevel (in Windows) or at /usr/ServletDevel (in Unix). This path location must be added
to CLASSPATH before proceeding further.
Assuming your environment is setup properly, go in ServletDevel directory and compile
[Link] as follows −
$ javac [Link]
If the servlet depends on any other libraries, you have to include those JAR files on your
CLASSPATH as well. I have included only [Link] JAR file because I'm not using any other
library in Hello World program.
This command line uses the built-in javac compiler that comes with the Sun Microsystems Java
Software Development Kit (JDK). For this command to work properly, you have to include the
location of the Java SDK that you are using in the PATH environment variable.
If everything goes fine, above compilation would produce [Link] file in the same
directory. Next section would explain how a compiled servlet would be deployed in production.
Servlet Deployment
By default, a servlet application is located at the path <Tomcat-
installationdirectory>/webapps/ROOT and the class file would reside in <Tomcat-
installationdirectory>/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes.
If you have a fully qualified class name of [Link], then this servlet class must be
located in WEB-INF/classes/com/myorg/[Link].
For now, let us copy [Link] into <Tomcat-installationdirectory>/webapps/ROOT/WEB-
INF/classes and create following entries in [Link] file located in <Tomcat-installation-
directory>/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/
<servlet>
<servlet-name>HelloWorld</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>HelloWorld</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>HelloWorld</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/HelloWorld</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
Above entries to be created inside <web-app>...</web-app> tags available in [Link] file. There
could be various entries in this table already available, but never mind.
You are almost done, now let us start tomcat server using <Tomcat-
installationdirectory>\bin\[Link] (on Windows) or <Tomcat-
installationdirectory>/bin/[Link] (on Linux/Solaris etc.) and finally type
[Link] in the browser's address box. If everything goes fine, you would
get the following result
