Applets & Servlets

31 October 2002- Group Meeting

Nelson Young
University of Alberta
Overview
 This presentation will provide an overview of the basics of
applets and servlets as well as their roles in web development
and enrichment. The presentation will answer the following
questions:
 What is an applet?
 How do applets work?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of applets?
 What is a servlet?
 How do servlets work?
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of servlets?
 Is there a relationship between applets and servlets?

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What is an applet?
 An applet is a Java program that is
embedded and ran in some other Java
interpreter program such as
 a Java technology-enabled browser
 Sun’s applet viewer program called

appletviewer

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Java Interpreter Programs

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How do applets works?
Step 1
 Download and install
Sun’s Java Software
Development Kit (SDK)
to allow compilation
and interpretation of
compiled class files
 Write the Java source
code for the applet in
any text editor.

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How do applets work?
Step 2
 Compile the
source code to
obtain the
necessary
bytecodes known
as “.class” for
interpreting

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 How do applets work?
Step 3

Server

Web page
age
p
HTML controls eb client
W
http
server We
image bp
age

applet

client

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 How do applets work?
Step 4

JVM
http
server

client

Adventure.class

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Applet Example:
Applet0.html

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Applet Example: (Cont’d)
Applet0.java

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Applet Example: (Cont’d)

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Applet's Attributes
Attribute Explanation Example
Code Name of class file Code=“applet0.clas
s”
Width Width of applet Width=300
height Height of applet Height=60
Codebase Applet’s Directory Codebase=“/applet
s”
alt Alternate text if Alt=“menu applet”
applet not available

name Name of the applet Name=“appletExa

m”
Align(top,left,right,bottom) Justify the applet with Align=“right”
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text
What are the
disadvantages of applets?
 Applets can’t run any local
executable programs
 Applets can’t with any host other
than the originating server
 Applets can’t read/write to local
computer’s file system

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What are the
disadvantages of applets?
(Cont’d)
 Applets can’t find any information
about the local computer
 All java-created pop-up windows
carry a warning message
 Stability depends on stability of the
client’s web server
 Performance directly depend on
client’s machine

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What are the advantages
of applets?
 Automatically integrated with HTML; hence,
resolved virtually all installation issues.
 Can be accessed from various platforms and
various java-enabled web browsers.
 Can provide dynamic, graphics capabilities
and visualizations
 Implemented in Java, an easy-to-learn OO
programming language

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What are the advantages
of applets? (Cont’d)
 Alternative to HTML GUI design
 Safe! Because of the security built into
the core Java language and the applet
structure, you don’t have to worry about
bad code causing damage to someone’s
system
 Can be launched as a standalone web
application independent of the host web
server
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What is a servlet?
 A servlet is a Java program that
executes in a special secure
environment, such as
 Inside servlet-support web servers
 Standalone servlet containers

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What is a servlet? (Cont’d)
 Commonly run inside a web server,
servlets are dynamically loaded to
extend the functionality of the
server
 Functionally, servlets is an
alternative to CGI scripts for
creating dynamic web content

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Common Servlet
Containers
 iPlanet (Netscape) Web Server Enterprise
Edition
 Zeus Web Server
 World Wide Web Consortium’s Jigsaw Server
 Sun’s Java Web Server
 Apache’s Web Server via JServ module
 Apache’s Tomcat Server

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How do servlets works?
Step 1
 Download and install
Sun’s Java Software
Development Kit
(SDK) to allow
compilation and
interpretation of
compiled class files
 Download and install
servlet-support server

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How do servlets work?
Step 2
 Write the Java source
code for the applet in
any text editor.
 Compile the source
code to obtain the
necessary bytecodes
known as “.class” for
interpreting

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How do servlets work?
Step 3
 Start the servlet
engine to allow
servlets to be
dispatched

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 How do servlets work?
Scenario 1: Web Server with built-in servlet support
Server
Apache’
s Web Port 80
JServ Module
Server
via
JServ
Web page client

HTML controls
System Resources
image

applet

client

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 How do servlets work?
Scenario 2: Standalone Servlet Container
Server

Apache’s
Static Web page Tomcat Any Port
Server

Web page client

HTML
controls
image System Resources

applet

client
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 Servlet Life Cycle
Java Servlet-based Web Server

Main Process

Request for Servlet1

JVM

thr
e ad

Request for Servlet2 thre Servlet1

ad

thre Servlet2
ad

Request for Servlet1

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Servlet Example 1:
HelloWorld.java

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Servlet Example 1:
Servlet Output

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Servlet Example 2:
HelloWWW.java

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Servlet Example 2:
Servlet Output

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What are the advantages
of servlets?
 Portability
 Portable across operating systems and across
web servers
 Power
 Harness the full power of the core Java APIs:
networking and URL access, multithreading,
image manipulation, data compression, JDBC,
object serialization, internationalization

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What are the advantages
of servlets? (Cont’d)
 Efficiency & Endurance
 Memory resident, so invocation highly efficient
—no process to spawn or interpreter to invoke
 Safety
 Support safe programming since inherit Java’s
strong type safety, exception-handling
mechanism

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What are the advantages
of servlets? (Cont’d)
 Elegance
 Code is clean, object-oriented, modular,
and simple (i.e.. Session tracking, cookie)
 Integration
 Tightly integrated with the server—
translate file paths, perform logging, check
authorization, and MIME type mapping

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What are the
disadvantages of servlets?
 Developers MUST know JAVA
 Web Administrator will need to learn how
to install and maintain Java Servlets
 Tedious uses of out.println() statements
 Can be remedied by using Java Server Page
(JSP)

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JSP Example: JSP Code

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JSP Example: JSP Output

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Is there a relationship
between applets and
servlets?
 Technically, NO!
 Thought to be applet that runs on the server
side - without a face
 Effective in building client/server or other
networked applications
 GelScape: image manipulation by applet (front-
end), image storage by servlet (back-end)
 LIMS: GUI design by applet (front-end),
information bridge by servlet (middle), Database
storage by JDBC (backend) --- “3 Tiers Application
Design”

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 Applet-Servlet Mechanism
Applet

Image Manipulation
10101010101010
10110101011010
10101010011111
11111111111111
11111000

Servlet 101010
Serialize

Text File

101010

101010

Database

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 Applet/Servlet Model
Server Any Port

Web page Port 80

Servlet Engine Any Port
HTML controls
Browser
image Applet

applet

System Resources

client

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 Applet/Servlet Example:
GelScape
Servlet-support Server

www.gelscape.org:8080/servlet/saveImage

Http Servlet Servlet Params

Text File

image
Http Post or Get
Message from applet
Applet

Object Serialization
www.gelscape.org:8080/servlet/saveImage

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Summary
 Applets bring life to the traditional HTML
pages
 Servlets create dynamic web pages
 Both, either working together hand-to-
hand or not, enhance web development
by extending server functionality and at
the same time, enrich our web
experience with interactivity

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