need the Web middle layer to extract the results inside a document.
This document can be sent in a variety of formats, including text (HTML or XML), binary
(GIF images), or even a compressed format like gzip that is layered on top of some other
underlying format. But, HTML is by far the most common format, so an important servlet/JSP
task is to wrap the results inside of HTML.
Figure 1-1 shows a single arrow going from the Web middle layer (the servlet or JSP page)
to the client. But, there are really two varieties of data sent: the document itself and the
behind-the-scenes HTTP information. Again, both varieties are critical to effective
development. Sending HTTP response data involves telling the browser or other client what
type of document is being returned (e.g., HTML), setting cookies and caching parameters, and
other such tasks.
many client requests can be satisfied by prebuilt documents, and the server would handle
these requests without invoking servlets. In many cases, however, a static result is not
sufficient, and a page needs to be generated for each request. There are a number of reasons
why Web pages need to be built on-the-fly:
For instance, the results page from search engines and order-confirmation pages at online
stores are specific to particular user requests. You don't know what to display until you read
the data that the user submits. Just remember that the user submits two kinds of data: explicit
(i.e., HTML form data) and implicit (i.e., HTTP request headers). Either kind of input can be
used to build the output page. In particular, it is quite common to build a user-specific page
based on a cookie value.
If the page changes for every request, then you certainly need to build the response at
request time. If it changes only periodically, however, you could do it two ways: you could
periodically build a new Web page on the server (independently of client requests), or you
could wait and only build the page when the user requests it. The right approach depends on
the situation, but sometimes it is more convenient to do the latter: wait for the user request.
For example, a weather report or news headlines site might build the pages dynamically,
perhaps returning a previously built page if that page is still up to date.
If the information is in a database, you need server-side processing even if the client is