Servlet和JSP技术简述(英文翻译)

AnOverviewofServletandJSPTechnologyGildasAvoineandPhilippeOechslinEPFL,Lausanne,Switzerland1.1AServlet'sJobServletsareJavaprogramsthatrunonWeborapplicationservers,actingasamiddlelayerbetweenrequestscomingfromWebbrowsersorotherHTTPclientsanddatabasesorapplicationsontheHTTPserver.Theirjobistoperformthefollowingtasks,asillustratedinFigure1-1.Figure1-11．Readtheexplicitdatasentbytheclient.TheendusernormallyentersthisdatainanHTMLformonaWebpage.However,thedatacouldalsocomefromanappletoracustomHTTPclientprogram.2．ReadtheimplicitHTTPrequestdatasentbythebrowser.Figure1-1showsasinglearrowgoingfromtheclienttotheWebserver(thelayerwhereservletsandJSPexecute),buttherearereallytwovarietiesofdata:theexplicitdatathattheenduserentersinaformandthebehind-the-scenesHTTPinformation.Bothvarietiesarecritical.TheHTTPinformationincludescookies,informationaboutmediatypesandcompressionschemesthebrowserunderstands,andsoon.3．Generatetheresults.Thisprocessmayrequiretalkingtoadatabase,executinganRMIorEJBcall,invokingaWebservice,orcomputingtheresponsedirectly.Yourrealdatamaybeinarelationaldatabase.Fine.Butyourdatabaseprobablydoesn'tspeakHTTPorreturnresultsinHTML,sotheWebbrowsercan'ttalkdirectlytothedatabase.Evenifitcould,forsecurityreasons,youprobablywouldnotwantitto.Thesameargumentappliestomostotherapplications.YouneedtheWebmiddlelayertoextracttheincomingdatafromtheHTTPstream,talktotheapplication,andembedtheresultsinsideadocument.4．Sendtheexplicitdata(i.e.,thedocument)totheclient.Thisdocumentcanbesentinavarietyofformats,includingtext(HTMLorXML),binary(GIFimages),orevenacompressedformatlikegzipthatislayeredontopofsomeotherunderlyingformat.But,HTMLisbyfarthemostcommonformat,soanimportantservlet/JSPtaskistowraptheresultsinsideofHTML.5．SendtheimplicitHTTPresponsedata.Figure1-1showsasinglearrowgoingfromtheWebmiddlelayer(theservletorJSPpage)totheclient.But,therearereallytwovarietiesofdatasent:thedocumentitselfandthebehind-the-scenesHTTPinformation.Again,bothvarietiesarecriticaltoeffectivedevelopment.SendingHTTPresponsedatainvolvestellingthebrowserorotherclientwhattypeofdocumentisbeingreturned(e.g.,HTML),settingcookiesandcachingparameters,andothersuchtasks.1.2WhyBuildWebPagesDynamically?manyclientrequestscanbesatisfiedbyprebuiltdocuments,andtheserverwouldhandletheserequestswithoutinvokingservlets.Inmanycases,however,astaticresultisnotsufficient,andapageneedstobegeneratedforeachrequest.ThereareanumberofreasonswhyWebpagesneedtobebuilton-the-fly:1．TheWebpageisbasedondatasentbytheclient.Forinstance,theresultspagefromsearchenginesandorder-confirmationpagesatonlinestoresarespecifictoparticularuserrequests.Youdon'tknowwhattodisplayuntilyoureadthedatathattheusersubmits.Justrememberthattheusersubmitstwokindsofdata:explicit(i.e.,HTMLformdata)andimplicit(i.e.,HTTPrequestheaders).Eitherkindofinputcanbeusedtobuildtheoutputpage.Inparticular,itisquitecommontobuildauser-specificpagebasedonacookievalue.2．TheWebpageisderivedfromdatathatchangesfrequently.Ifthepagechangesforeveryrequest,thenyoucertainlyneedtobuildtheresponseatrequesttime.Ifitchangesonlyperiodically,however,youcoulddoittwoways:youcouldperiodicallybuildanewWebpageontheserver(independentlyofclientrequests),oryoucouldwaitandonlybuildthepagewhentheuserrequestsit.Therightapproachdependsonthesituation,butsometimesitismoreconvenienttodothelatter:waitfortheuserrequest.Forexample,aweatherreportornewsheadlinessitemightbuildthepagesdynamically,perhapsreturningapreviouslybuiltpageifthatpageisstilluptodate.3．TheWebpageusesinformationfromcorporatedatabasesorotherserver-sidesources.Iftheinformationisinadatabase,youneedserver-sideprocessingeveniftheclientisusingdynamicWebcontentsuchasanapplet.Imagineusinganappletbyitselfforasearchenginesite:Downloading50terabyteapplet,pleasewait!Obviously,thatissilly;youneedtotalktothedatabase.GoingfromtheclienttotheWebtiertothedatabase(athree-tierapproach)insteadoffromanappletdirectlytoadatabase(atwo-tierapproach)providesincreasedflexibilityandsecuritywithlittleornoperformancepenalty.Afterall,thedatabasecallisusuallytherate-limitingstep,sogoingthroughtheWebserverdoesnotslowthingsdown.Infact,athree-tierapproachisoftenfasterbecausethemiddletiercanperformcachingandconnectionpooling.Inprinciple,servletsarenotrestrictedtoWeborapplicationserversthathandleHTTPrequestsbutcanbeusedforothertypesofserversaswell.Forexample,servletscouldbeembeddedinFTPormailserverstoextendtheirfunctionality.And,aservletAPIforSIP(SessionInitiationProtocol)serverswasrecentlystandardized(see=116).Inpractice,however,thisuseofservletshasnotcaughton,andwe'llonlybediscussingHTTPservlets.1.3TheAdvantagesofServletsOverTraditionalCGIJavaservletsaremoreefficient,easiertouse,morepowerful,moreportable,safer,andcheaperthantraditionalCGIandmanyalternativeCGI-liketechnologies.1．EfficientWithtraditionalCGI,anewprocessisstartedforeachHTTPrequest.IftheCGIprogramitselfisrelativelyshort,theoverheadofstartingtheprocesscandominatetheexecutiontime.Withservlets,theJavavirtualmachinestaysrunningandhandlese