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JSP : Form Processing and Filters

Form Processing in JSP must have come across many situations when you need to pass some information from your browser to the web server and ultimately to your backend program. The browser uses two methods to pass this information to the web server. These methods are the GET Method and the POST Method.

The Methods in Form Processing

Let us now discuss the methods in Form Processing.

GET method

The GET method sends the encoded user information appended to the page request. The page and the encoded information are separated by the ? character as follows −

http://www.test.com/hello?key1=value1&key2=value2

The GET method is the default method to pass information from the browser to the web server and it produces a long string that appears in your browser's Location:box. It is recommended that the GET method is better not used. if you have password or other sensitive information to pass to the server.

The GET method has size limitation: only 1024 characters can be in a request string.

This information is passed using QUERY_STRING header and will be accessible through QUERY_STRING environment variable which can be handled using getQueryString() and getParameter() methods of request object.

POST method

A generally more reliable method of passing information to a backend program is the POST method.

This method packages the information in exactly the same way as the GET method, but instead of sending it as a text string after a ? in the URL it sends it as a separate message. This message comes to the backend program in the form of the standard input which you can parse and use for your processing.

JSP handles this type of requests using getParameter() method to read simple parameters and getInputStream() method to read binary data stream coming from the client.

Reading Form Data using JSP

JSP handles form data parsing automatically using the following methods depending on the situation −

  • getParameter() − You call request.getParameter() method to get the value of a form parameter.

  • getParameterValues() − Call this method if the parameter appears more than once and returns multiple values, for example checkbox.

  • getParameterNames() − Call this method if you want a complete list of all parameters in the current request.

  • getInputStream() − Call this method to read binary data stream coming from the client.

GET Method Example Using URL

The following URL will pass two values to HelloForm program using the GET method.

http://localhost:8080/main.jsp?first_name=ZARA&last_name=ALI

Below is the main.jsp JSP program to handle input given by web browser. We are going to use the getParameter() method which makes it very easy to access the passed information −

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Using GET Method to Read Form Data</title>
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <h1>Using GET Method to Read Form Data</h1>
      <ul>
         <li><p><b>First Name:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("first_name")%>
         </p></li>
         <li><p><b>Last  Name:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("last_name")%>
         </p></li>
      </ul>
   
   </body>
</html>

Now type http://localhost:8080/main.jsp?first_name=ZARA&last_name=ALI in your browser's Location:box. This will generate the following result −

Using GET Method to Read Form Data

  • First Name: ZARA

  • Last Name: ALI

GET Method Example Using Form

Following is an example that passes two values using the HTML FORM and the submit button. We are going to use the same JSP main.jsp to handle this input.

<html>
   <body>
      
      <form action = "main.jsp" method = "GET">
         First Name: <input type = "text" name = "first_name">
         <br />
         Last Name: <input type = "text" name = "last_name" />
         <input type = "submit" value = "Submit" />
      </form>
      
   </body>
</html>

Keep this HTML in a file Hello.htm and put it in <Tomcat-installation-directory>/webapps/ROOT directory. When you would access http://localhost:8080/Hello.htm, you will receive the following output.

First Name: 
Last Name:  
< p>Try to enter the First Name and the Last Name and then click the submit button to see the result on your local machine where tomcat is running. Based on the input provided, it will generate similar result as mentioned in the above example.

POST Method Example Using Form

Let us do a little modification in the above JSP to handle both the GET and the POST method. Below is the main.jsp JSP program to handle the input given by web browser using the GET or the POST methods.

Infact there is no change in the above JSP because the only way of passing parameters is changed and no binary data is being passed to the JSP program. File handling related concepts will be explained in separate chapter where we need to read the binary data stream.

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Using GET and POST Method to Read Form Data</title>
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <center>
      <h1>Using POST Method to Read Form Data</h1>
      
      <ul>
         <li><p><b>First Name:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("first_name")%>
         </p></li>
         <li><p><b>Last  Name:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("last_name")%>
         </p></li>
      </ul>
   
   </body>
</html>

Following is the content of the Hello.htm file −

<html>
   <body>
      
      <form action = "main.jsp" method = "POST">
         First Name: <input type = "text" name = "first_name">
         <br />
         Last Name: <input type = "text" name = "last_name" />
         <input type = "submit" value = "Submit" />
      </form>
      
   </body>
</html>

Let us now keep main.jsp and hello.htm in <Tomcat-installationdirectory>/webapps/ROOT directory. When you access http://localhost:8080/Hello.htm, you will receive the following output.

First Name: 
Last Name:  

Try to enter the First and the Last Name and then click the submit button to see the result on your local machine where tomcat is running.

Based on the input provided, you will receive similar results as in the above examples.

Passing Checkbox Data to JSP Program

Checkboxes are used when more than one option is required to be selected.

Following is an example HTML code, CheckBox.htm, for a form with two checkboxes.

<html>
   <body>
      
      <form action = "main.jsp" method = "POST" target = "_blank">
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "maths" checked = "checked" /> Maths
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "physics"  /> Physics
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "chemistry" checked = "checked" /> Chemistry
         <input type = "submit" value = "Select Subject" />
      </form>
      
   </body>
</html>

The above code will generate the following result −

 Maths  Physics  Chemistry 

Following is main.jsp JSP program to handle the input given by the web browser for the checkbox button.

<html>
   <head>
      <title>Reading Checkbox Data</title>
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <h1>Reading Checkbox Data</h1>
      
      <ul>
         <li><p><b>Maths Flag:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("maths")%>
         </p></li>
         <li><p><b>Physics Flag:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("physics")%>
         </p></li>
         <li><p><b>Chemistry Flag:</b>
            <%= request.getParameter("chemistry")%>
         </p></li>
      </ul>
   
   </body>
</html>

The above program will generate the following result −

Reading Checkbox Data


    

  • Maths Flag :: on
    • 

  • Physics Flag:: null
    • 

  • Chemistry Flag:: on
    •

Reading All Form Parameters

Following is a generic example which uses getParameterNames() method of HttpServletRequest to read all the available form parameters. This method returns an Enumeration that contains the parameter names in an unspecified order.

Once we have an Enumeration, we can loop down the Enumeration in the standard manner, using the hasMoreElements() method to determine when to stop and using the nextElement() method to get each parameter name.

<%@ page import = "java.io.*,java.util.*" %>

<html>
   <head>
      <title>HTTP Header Request Example</title>
   </head>

   <body>
      <center>
         <h2>HTTP Header Request Example</h2>
         <table width = "100%" border = "1" align = "center">
            <tr bgcolor = "#949494">
               <th>Param Name</th>
               <th>Param Value(s)</th>
            </tr>
            <%
               Enumeration paramNames = request.getParameterNames();
               while(paramNames.hasMoreElements()) {
                  String paramName = (String)paramNames.nextElement();
                  out.print("<tr><td>" + paramName + "</td>\n");
                  String paramValue = request.getHeader(paramName);
                  out.println("<td> " + paramValue + "</td></tr>\n");
               }
            %>
         </table>
      </center>
   
   </body>
</html>

Following is the content of the Hello.htm −

<html>
   <body>
      
      <form action = "main.jsp" method = "POST" target = "_blank">
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "maths" checked = "checked" /> Maths
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "physics"  /> Physics
         <input type = "checkbox" name = "chemistry" checked = "checked" /> Chem
         <input type = "submit" value = "Select Subject" />
      </form>
   
   </body>
</html>

Now try calling JSP using the above Hello.htm; this would generate a result something like as below based on the provided input −

Reading All Form Parameters

Param NameParam Value(s)
mathson
chemistryon

You can try the above JSP to read any other form's data which is having other objects like text box, radio button or dropdown, etc.


JSP - Filters

Servlet and JSP Filters are Java classes that can be used in Servlet and JSP Programming for the following purposes −

  • To intercept requests from a client before they access a resource at back end.

  • To manipulate responses from server before they are sent back to the client.

There are various types of filters suggested by the specifications −

  • Authentication Filters
  • Data compression Filters
  • Encryption Filters
  • Filters that trigger resource access events
  • Image Conversion Filters
  • Logging and Auditing Filters
  • MIME-TYPE Chain Filters
  • Tokenizing Filters
  • XSL/T Filters That Transform XML Content

Filters are deployed in the deployment descriptor file web.xml and then map to either servlet or JSP names or URL patterns in your application's deployment descriptor. The deployment descriptor file web.xml can be found in <Tomcat-installation-directory>\conf directory.

When the JSP container starts up your web application, it creates an instance of each filter that you have declared in the deployment descriptor. The filters execute in the order that they are declared in the deployment descriptor.

Servlet Filter Methods

A filter is simply a Java class that implements the javax.servlet.Filter interface. The javax.servlet.Filter interface defines three methods −

S.No.Method & Description
1

public void doFilter (ServletRequest, ServletResponse, FilterChain)

This method is called by the container each time a request/response pair is passed through the chain due to a client request for a resource at the end of the chain.

2

public void init(FilterConfig filterConfig)

This method is called by the web container to indicate to a filter that it is being placed into service.

3

public void destroy()

This method is called by the web container to indicate to a filter that it is being taken out of service.

JSP Filter Example

Following example shows how to print the client’s IP address and the current date time, each time it would access any JSP file. This example will give you a basic understanding of the JSP Filter, but you can write more sophisticated filter applications using the same concept −

// Import required java libraries
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.util.*;
 
// Implements Filter class
public class LogFilter implements Filter  {
   public void  init(FilterConfig config) throws ServletException {
      // Get init parameter 
      String testParam = config.getInitParameter("test-param"); 
 
      //Print the init parameter 
      System.out.println("Test Param: " + testParam); 
   }
   public void  doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response, FilterChain chain) 
      throws java.io.IOException, ServletException {
      
      // Get the IP address of client machine.   
      String ipAddress = request.getRemoteAddr();
      
      // Log the IP address and current timestamp.
      System.out.println("IP "+ ipAddress + ", Time "+ new Date().toString());
      
      // Pass request back down the filter chain
      chain.doFilter(request,response);
   }
   public void destroy( ) {
      /* Called before the Filter instance is removed 
      from service by the web container*/
   }
}

Compile LogFilter.java in the usual way and put your LogFilter.class file in <Tomcat-installation-directory>/webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/classes.

JSP Filter Mapping in Web.xml

Filters are defined and then mapped to a URL or JSP file name, in much the same way as Servlet is defined and then mapped to a URL pattern in web.xml file. Create the following entry for filter tag in the deployment descriptor file web.xml

<filter>
   <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name>
   <filter-class>LogFilter</filter-class>
   
   <init-param>
      <param-name>test-param</param-name>
      <param-value>Initialization Paramter</param-value>
   </init-param>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

The above filter will apply to all the servlets and JSP because we specified /* in our configuration. You can specify a particular servlet or the JSP path if you want to apply filter on few servlets or JSP only.

Now try to call any servlet or JSP and you will see generated log in you web server log. You can use Log4J logger to log above log in a separate file.

Using Multiple Filters

Your web application may define several different filters with a specific purpose. Consider, you define two filters AuthenFilter and LogFilter. Rest of the process will remain as explained above except you need to create a different mapping as mentioned below −

<filter>
   <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name>
   <filter-class>LogFilter</filter-class>
   
   <init-param>
      <param-name>test-param</param-name>
      <param-value>Initialization Paramter</param-value>
   </init-param>
</filter>
 
<filter>
   <filter-name>AuthenFilter</filter-name>
   <filter-class>AuthenFilter</filter-class>
   <init-param>
      <param-name>test-param</param-name>
      <param-value>Initialization Paramter</param-value>
   </init-param>
</filter>
 
<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
 
<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>AuthenFilter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

Filters Application Order

The order of filter-mapping elements in web.xml determines the order in which the web container applies the filter to the servlet or JSP. To reverse the order of the filter, you just need to reverse the filter-mapping elements in the web.xml file.

For example, the above example will apply the LogFilter first and then it will apply AuthenFilter to any servlet or JSP; the following example will reverse the order −

<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>AuthenFilter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
 
<filter-mapping>
   <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name>
   <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>




Anurag Rana

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