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Chapter 10. Applet-Servlet Communication

Contents:

Communication Options
Daytime Server
Chat Server

This chapter demonstrates several techniques by which applets can communicate with servlets. We're going to come at the topic from a slightly different angle than you might expect. Instead of assuming you have an applet and a servlet that need to communicate, we're going assume you have an applet that needs to talk to some entity on the server and explore why sometimes that entity should be a servlet.

To get the ball rolling, let's think about applets that need to communicate with the server. There are a number of good examples. Take a look at the administration applet that manages the Java Web Server. Think about how it works--it executes on the client, but it configures the server. To do this, the applet and the server need to be in near constant communication. As another example, take a look at one of the popular chat applets. One client says something, and all the rest see it. How does that work? They certainly don't communicate applet to applet. Instead, each applet posts its messages to a central server, and the server takes care of updating the other clients. Finally, imagine an applet that tracks the price of a set of stocks and offers continuous updates. How does the applet know the current stock prices, and, more importantly, how does it know when they change? The answer is that it talks with its server.

10.1. Communication Options

Our interest in stock trading has risen along with the Dow, so let's continue with this hypothetical stock tracking applet. We should warn you right now that this example will remain hypothetical. We'll use it solely as a reference point for discussing the issues involved in applet-server communication. But don't worry, there's plenty of code later in the chapter that demonstrates the techniques discussed here, just in somewhat simpler examples.

This stock tracking applet of ours needs to get a stock feed from some server machine. Assuming it's a normal, untrusted applet, there's just one choice: the machine from which it was downloaded. Any attempt to connect to another machine results in a SecurityException, so let's assume the applet gets a stock feed from the server machine from which it was downloaded.[1] The question remains: how can the applet and the server communicate?

[1] You may be wondering how the server machine itself got the stock feed. For the purposes of this example, it's magic.

10.1.1. HTTP and Raw Socket Connections

Before JDK 1.1 and servlets, there were two options for applet-server communication:

Each of these approaches has advantages and disadvantages. Having an applet make an HTTP connection to a CGI program works well for these reasons:

But the HTTP connection to a CGI program also has some problems:

An applet and server can also communicate by having the applet establish a socket connection to a non-HTTP server process. This provides the following advantages over the HTTP-based approach:

But a socket connection also has disadvantages versus the HTTP-based approach:

The standard historical approach has been for applets to use HTTP to connect to CGI programs on the server. It's easy, and it works for all types of browsers, even browsers running behind firewalls. The use of raw socket connections has generally been reserved for those situations where it's absolutely necessary, such as when the applet and server require bidirectional communication. And, even in those cases, it's often possible to use HTTP connections to simulate bidirectional communication in order to pass through firewalls, as we'll see in a later example.

10.1.2. Servlets and Object Serialization

The recent introduction of Java servlets and object serialization has given new life to these traditional applet-server communication techniques. Servlets are starting to replace slow-starting CGI programs, improving the performance of HTTP-based applet-server communication and making frequent applet-server communication feasible. While it's true in the general case that the applet and the servlet still have to take time to reestablish their connection for each request and response, the applet no longer has to wait as the server launches a CGI program to handle each of its repeated requests.

Java object serialization has simplified the issues involved with formatting responses. With both applets and servlets written in Java, it's only natural that they should communicate by exchanging Java objects. For example, when our hypothetical stock tracking applet asks our stock feed servlet the daily high value for Sun stock, it can receive the response as a serialized StockPrice object. From this, it can get the daily high value as a float and the time of the high value as a Date. It's convenient, and it provides easy type safety. But beware, object serialization works only with applets running inside browsers that support JDK 1.1 or later.

10.1.3. JDBC, RMI, and a Little CORBA

JDK 1.1 includes two additional features that have an impact on applet-server communication: JDBC and RMI. The JDBC (Java database connectivity) API, discussed in Chapter 9, "Database Connectivity", allows a Java program to connect to a relational database on the same machine or on another machine. Java applets written to JDK 1.1 can use JDBC to communicate with a database on the server. This special-purpose communication doesn't generally require applet-servlet communication. However, it is often helpful for an applet (especially one written to JDK 1.0) to forgo connecting straight to the database (or to a pass-through proxy on the web server) and instead connect to a servlet that handles the database communication on the applet's behalf (as explained in the sidebar "Servlets in the Middle Tier" in Chapter 9, "Database Connectivity"). For example, an applet that wants to look up a person's address can connect to a servlet using HTTP, pass the name of the person using HTTP parameters, and then receive the address as either a specially formatted string or a serialized object. This use of applet-servlet communication tends to piggy-back on existing protocols like HTTP, so we aren't going to cover it in any more detail here.

The RMI (Remote Method Invocation) API allows an applet to invoke the methods of a Java object executing on the server machine, and, in some cases, it also allows the object on the server machine to invoke the methods of the applet. The advantages of RMI for applet-server communication are compelling:

The disadvantages of RMI are equally concerning:

For a more information on RMI programming, see Java Network Programming, by Elliotte Rusty Harold (O'Reilly) and Java Distributed Computing, by Jim Farley (O'Reilly).

CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) is a technology similar to RMI that enables communication between distributed objects written in various languages. With CORBA and its IIOP (Internet Inter-ORB Protocol) communication protocol, a C++ client can communicate with a Java servlet. Demonstrating this ability extends beyond the scope of this book. For more information, see http://www.acl.lanl.gov/ and http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/idl.

10.1.4. The Hybrid Approach

Now that we've examined all the options, the question remains: how should our stock tracking applet communicate with its stock feed server? The answer is: it depends.

If we can guarantee that all our potential clients support it, RMI's elegance and power make it an ideal choice. But currently that's like assuming all your friends enjoy your Star Trek jokes. It can be true if you carefully choose your friends (or your clients), but it's generally not the case in the real world.

When RMI isn't available, the bidirectional capabilities of the non-HTTP socket connection make it look fairly attractive. Unfortunately, that bidirectional communication becomes nonexistent communication when the applet ends up on the far side of a firewall.

There's always the old workhorse, HTTP communication. It's straightforward to implement and works on every Java-enabled client. And if you can guarantee that the client supports JDK 1.1 (and this is easier to guarantee than that the client support RMI), you can use object serialization.

Perhaps the best solution is to use every solution, with servlets. Servlets make it possible to combine the HTTP, non-HTTP, and RMI applet-server communication techniques, supporting them all with a single servlet. That's right: one servlet, multiple access protocols. Why would anyone want to do this? Well, it's a handy technique when an applet wants to communicate using RMI or a non-HTTP protocol but needs to fallback to HTTP when necessary (such as when it finds itself behind a firewall). By using the same servlet to handle every client, the core server logic and the server state can be collected in one place. When you control your environment, of course, you can drop one or more of these protocols. But isn't it nice to know you don't have to?



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