Access HttpServletRequest anywhere - java

I used to have an Open Session In Conversation Filter based on cookies for a JSF 2 app. Now I want to build the same mechanism but technology-agnostic. Reusing some code, I have written this in a class that extends OncePerRequestFilter:
#Override
protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain filterChain)
throws ServletException, IOException {
UUID conversationId = lookupConversationOrCreateIfNecessary(request,
response);
log.debug("Binding conversation '{}' to request '{}'", conversationId,
request);
bindConversation(conversationId, request);
try {
filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
} finally {
log.debug("Unbinding conversation '{}' from request '{}'",
conversationId, request);
unbindConversation(conversationId, request);
}
}
Now, when I reach bindConversation(conversationId, request) I just add a request attribute which points to the conversationId which is mapped to a Hibernate Session.
Anyways, in JSF I can access the current request by using FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getExternalContext().getRequest() and implemented a CurrentSessionContext using this. But in plain servlets how can I access the current request programmatically?
Note: I have been reading the OncePerRequestFilter javadocs and I found this:
As of Servlet 3.0, a filter may be invoked as part of a REQUEST or
ASYNC dispatches that occur in separate threads. A filter can be
configured in web.xml whether it should be involved in async
dispatches. However, in some cases servlet containers assume different
default configuration. Therefore sub-classes can override the method
shouldNotFilterAsyncDispatch() to declare statically if they [sic] shouuld
indeed be invoked, once, during both types of dispatches in order to
provide thread initialization, logging, security, and so on. This
mechanism complements and does not replace the need to configure a
filter in web.xml with dispatcher types.
So, would it be dangerous to use a ThreadLocal to achieve what I want?

As you mention in your question: using a ThreadLocal seems a good option. I don't see why it would be unsafe as soon as you use your filter for both REQUEST and ASYNC.
EDIT
#Override
protected void doFilterInternal(HttpServletRequest request,
HttpServletResponse response, FilterChain filterChain)
throws ServletException, IOException {
UUID conversationId = lookupConversationOrCreateIfNecessary(request,
response);
log.debug("Binding conversation '{}' to request '{}'", conversationId,
request);
ConversationHolder.setId(conversationId);
bindConversation(conversationId, request);
try {
filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
} finally {
log.debug("Unbinding conversation '{}' from request '{}'",
conversationId, request);
ConversationHolder.clear();
unbindConversation(conversationId, request);
}
}
#Override
protected boolean shouldNotFilter(HttpServletRequest request) throws ServletException {
return false; //to be sure both REQUEST and ASYNC are filtered
}
And the ConversationHolder
public class ConversationHolder extends ThreadLocal<UUID>{
private static ConversationHolder INSTANCE = new ConversationHolder();
public static void setId(UUID conversationId){
INSTANCE.set(conversationId);
}
public static UUID getId(){
return INSTANCE.get();
}
public static void clear(){
INSTANCE.remove();
}
}
Since conversationId is a local variable it won't be shared between request.
Since ConversationHolder is a ThreadLocal, the value you get from it during doFilter(...) will be correct. (except if you create new Thread by hand during your request processing, but it is not a recommended design)

Related

How to access a spring-mvc flash redirectAttribute in the filter chain before the DispatcherServlet is invoked?

I have the following controller:
#Controller
#RequestMapping("/my-account")
public class AccountController {
#RequestMapping(value = "/foo/post",
method = RequestMethod.POST)
public String doPost(final RedirectAttributes redirectAttributes) {
redirectAttributes.addFlashAttribute("flashAttribute", "flashAttributeValue");
return "redirect:/my-account/foo/get";
}
#RequestMapping(value = "/foo/get",
method = RequestMethod.GET)
public void doGet(final HttpServletRequest request, final Model model) {
System.out.println("in request: " + RequestContextUtils.getInputFlashMap(request).get("flashAttribute"));
System.out.println("in model: " + model.asMap().get("flashAttribute"));
}
}
I would also like to access the flash attribute flashAttribute during the invocation of a filter in the filter chain that finally invokes springs default DispatcherServlet which in turn invokes AccountController.
public class FlashAttributeBasedFilter extends OncePerRequestFilter {
#Override
protected void doFilterInternal(final HttpServletRequest request, final HttpServletResponse response, final FilterChain filterChain)
throws ServletException, IOException {
String flashAttribute = // how to access the redirectAttribute flashAttribute here?
// do something with flashAttribute ...
filterChain.doFilter(request, response);
}
The DispatcherServlet uses a org.springframework.web.servlet.FlashMapManager that handles these flash attributes, but it doesn't provide read-only access so I think I would be messing something up if I would use it in the filter. And also the FlashMapManager instance is kept in the dispatcher servlet privately.
Does anybody have an idea how I can make the redirect attribute accessible in the filter chain for the GET request succeeding the POST?
Considering that all these methods return null into my filter (I don't understand why):
RequestContextUtils.getFlashMapManager(httpRequest)
RequestContextUtils.getInputFlashMap(httpRequest)
RequestContextUtils.getOutputFlashMap(httpRequest)
I used a drastic solution: read directly the into the session (where flash attributes are stored).
CopyOnWriteArrayList<FlashMap> what = (CopyOnWriteArrayList<FlashMap>) httpRequest.getSession().getAttribute("org.springframework.web.servlet.support.SessionFlashMapManager.FLASH_MAPS");
if (what != null) {
FlashMap flashMap = what.get(0);
[read flashMap as you read a HashMap]
}
I know, this code is super ugly but at the moment I don't find another solution.
Had the same problem, following works for me.
FlashMap flashMap = new SessionFlashMapManager().retrieveAndUpdate(request, null);
flashMap.get("parameter");

How can I get HttpServletRequest from ServletContext?

Is it possible to get HttpServletRequest from the ServletContext?
Is it possible to get HttpServletRequest from the ServletContext?
No.
The ServletContext represents the application. The application can cover many sessions and requests. But you can't get the "currently running" request or session via the ServletContext. Detail on how servlets and scopes work can be found in this related answer: How do servlets work? Instantiation, sessions, shared variables and multithreading.
You're unfortunately not clear on the concrete functional requirement where you need this solution. You apparently have a ServletContext at hands somehow in an instance of the class of interest, but not a HttpServletRequest. It's hard to propose an answer showing the right way how to grab the HttpServletRequest in an instance of such class anyway. Decent MVC frameworks like JSF and Spring MVC have ways to grab the HttpServletRequest associated with the current thread in any class you want.
In case you're not using a MVC framework and thus can't use its facilities, then you can achieve this manually by storing the request (and response) as a ThreadLocal<T> in the current thread via a servlet filter.
Here's a kickoff example how such a thread local context class can look like:
public final class YourContext implements AutoCloseable {
private static ThreadLocal<YourContext> instance = new ThreadLocal<>();
private HttpServletRequest request;
private HttpServletResponse response;
private YourContext(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
this.request = request;
this.response = response;
}
public static YourContext create(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
YourContext context = new YourContext(request, response);
instance.set(context);
return context;
}
public static YourContext getCurrentInstance() {
return instance.get();
}
#Override
public void close() {
instance.remove();
}
// ... (add methods here which return/delegate the request/response).
}
You can create (and close!!) it in a servlet filter as below.
#Override
public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain chain) throws ServletException, IOException {
HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) req;
HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) res;
try (YourContext context = YourContext.create(request, response)) {
chain.doFilter(request, response);
}
}
Do note that closing is very important. Otherwise the thread will get polluted after it has done its job and will be recycled for a different request or even a completely different purpose. In case you aren't on Java 7 yet and thus can't use try-with-resources statement as above, then use a try-finally block.
Then, in any artifact which is invoked by the same thread/request (i.e. other filters, any servlets, any beans/classes (in)directly invoked by those artifacts, etc), you can obtain the HttpServletRequest associated with the current thread as below:
YourContext context = YourContext.getCurrentInstance();
HttpServletRequest request = context.getRequest();
// ...
Or, better create a delegate method, depending on whatever you'd like to do with the current request, such as obtaining the request locale:
YourContext context = YourContext.getCurrentInstance();
Locale requestLocale = context.getRequestLocale();
// ...
As a real world example, Java EE's MVC framework JSF offers exactly this possibility via FacesContext.
FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance();
Locale requestLocale = context.getExternalContext().getRequestLocale();
// ...

How can I handle/restrict user-access to servlets & jsp's?

I'm currently writing a little dynamic web-application in Java.
The application is supposed to be an event-platform where you can create a user-account, log in, and then you can see all open events (in a later iteration, users can create/participate in those events).
Right now, the structure of the web-app could be (simplified) described like this:
Register-Servlet -> Register.jsp
|
V
Login-Servlet -> Login.jsp
|
V
Main-page-Servlet -> Main.jsp
So right now, a user could go to Login.jsp, his login-information would be sent to the Login-Servlet, which would validate it and then send it to the Main-Page-Servlet.
The Main-Page-Servlet then (after validating login again) gets all current events from a database, attaches it to the request, and forwards it to the Main.jsp, which displays it for the user to see.
Now, if a user wants to access the Main.jsp directly (without coming from the Main-Page-Servlet), it obviously can not display the available events. The workaround I'm using currently is doing a null-check to see if the events are there, and if not, redirect to the Main-Page-Servlet.
It bothers me to solve my problem like that, as I don't think that's the best practice and I think it will just create a lot of other problems the bigger my application gets.
My first thought about this was, that it might be useful if I could simply "hide" all .jsp's from the user, so the user would be landing on servlets only and could not access the .jsp's in a different way.
Is there a way to do that? Or, if not, what would be the best practice solution if I would be writing a professional enterprise-level application?
This can be handled in a Filter and there are great explanation and example in StackOverflow Servlet-Filter wiki.
Adapting the code there for your problem (note the addition and usage of the needsAuthentication method):
#WebFilter("/*")
public class LoginFilter implements Filter {
#Override
public void init(FilterConfig config)
throws ServletException {
// If you have any <init-param> in web.xml, then you could get them
// here by config.getInitParameter("name") and assign it as field.
}
#Override
public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain chain)
throws IOException, ServletException {
HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) req;
HttpServletResponse response = (HttpServletResponse) res;
HttpSession session = request.getSession(false);
String requestPath = httpServletRequest.getRequestURI();
if (needsAuthentication(requestPath) ||
session == null ||
session.getAttribute("user") == null) { // change "user" for the session attribute you have defined
response.sendRedirect(request.getContextPath() + "/login"); // No logged-in user found, so redirect to login page.
} else {
chain.doFilter(req, res); // Logged-in user found, so just continue request.
}
}
#Override
public void destroy() {
// If you have assigned any expensive resources as field of
// this Filter class, then you could clean/close them here.
}
//basic validation of pages that do not require authentication
private boolean needsAuthentication(String url) {
String[] validNonAuthenticationUrls =
{ "Login.jsp", "Register.jsp" };
for(String validUrl : validNonAuthenticationUrls) {
if (url.endsWith(validUrl)) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
}
I would recommend to move all the pages that require authentication inside a folder like app and then change the web filter to
#WebFilter("/app/*")
In this way, you can remove the needsAuthentication method from the filter.
There're several ways to do it such as servlet filter as above. I saw in some projects they use a simpler mechanism to do it by creating a common action (servlet). So instead of extends HttpServlet, all servlet will be extended the common action. And you can implement a lot of common stuffs such as authentication, validations, permissions...
Here's common action example:
public class CommonServlet extends HttpServlet {
................
................
protected boolean validate(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
response.setContentType("text/html; charset=UTF-8");
request.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8");
String email = (String) request.getSession().getAttribute("email");
Object salaryGroup = request.getSession().getAttribute("SALARY_GROUP");
if (email == null || email.equals("")) {
request.setAttribute("err", "You have not logged in");
request.getRequestDispatcher("/login.jsp").forward(request, response);
return false;
}
................
................
}
public void setRoleAndValidate(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response, String role)
throws ServletException, IOException {
if (!validate(request, response)) {
return;
}
setRoleCode(role);
}
................
................
}
Your action servlet will be as below:
#WebServlet("/employeeManager")
public class EmployeeManager extends CommonServlet {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws
ServletException, IOException {
request.setCharacterEncoding("UTF-8");
setRoleAndValidate(request, response, Permission.EMPLOYEE_LIST.toString());
String action = request.getParameter("action");
.....
Here's the simple implementation

Differences between ServletResponse and HttpServletResponseWrapper?

I am new to servlet and reading some text about filters and wrappers. I can understand filters but got confused about wrappers. In the book, the author gives an example:
In case no wrapper:
public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response,
FilterChain chain)
throws IOException, ServletException {
String name = request.getParameter("name").trim();
try {
chain.doFilter(request, response);
PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
if (name.length() == 0) {
out.println("Some message");
out.println("</body>");
out.println("</html>");
out.close();
}
} catch (Throwable t) {
}
}
In case of wrapper:
public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response,
FilterChain chain)
throws IOException, ServletException {
String name = request.getParameter("name").trim();
HttpServletResponse httpRes = (HttpServletResponse) response;
HttpServletResponseWrapper resWrapper = new HttpServletResponseWrapper(httpRes);
try {
chain.doFilter(request, response);
PrintWriter out = resWrapper.getWriter(); // why dont we just use response.getWriter();
if (name.length() == 0) {
out.println("<h3>Some message");
out.println("</body>");
out.println("</html>");
out.close();
}
} catch (Throwable t) {
}
}
Why we need HttpServletResponseWrapper while we can do the same thing with ServletResponse in case 1? Can anyone give me a clear example that we MUST use HttpServletResponseWrapper instead of ServletResponse? I have tried to google but found no luck.
BalusC's answer is good, but it might be a little overwhelming if you're just starting out.
Put simply: SerlvetResponse and its extension, HttpServletResponse, are interfaces telling you what methods are available to call to do the things you need. In the normal course of working with Filters, Servlets, et al., you'll use HttpServletResponse often to tell your app how to respond to requests.
HttpServletResponseWrapper is one particular implementation of HttpServletResponse which gives you a convenient way to wrap an existing response with some logic of your own without having to write a whole new implementation of the interface. It has a lot of methods, so this is really nice. As a trivial example, suppose you wanted to disallow calls to response.flushBuffer(). This code, using HttpServletResponseWrapper, will do that:
class DisallowFlushResponseWrapper extends HttpServletResponseWrapper {
public DisallowFlushResponseWrapper(HttpServletResponse response) {
super(response);
}
#Override
public void flushBuffer() {
throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Don't call this!");
}
}
The typical way to use such a wrapper would be to create a filter like this:
class DisallowFlushFilter implements Filter {
public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response,
FilterChain chain) {
if (response instanceof HttpServletResponse) {
HttpServletResponse newResponse =
new DisallowFlushResponseWrapper((HttpServletResponse) response);
chain.doFilter(request, newResponse);
}
...
}
...
}
Note that we wrap the response coming into the filter with an instance of our own wrapper. Then we hand the wrapper down to the next item in the filter chain. Thus anything that comes after this filter will get an exception if it calls flushBuffer() because it will be calling it on our wrapper. The wrapper, due to its default behavior, will delegate any other call to the wrapped response, which is the real one, so everything except calls to that one method will work normally.
That's really a stupid example which does not show the benefit of request/response wrapper. Actually, the whole filter example is poor. Emitting HTML should be done by a JSP or at highest a servlet (but also that is still poor). Go through our filters wiki page to get some ideas about what a filter can be used for.
A response wrapper is useful if you want to modify the response's behaviour or just want to collect information about the response while it is been used in the request-response chain. The modified behaviour takes then place whenever some servlet or JSP calls a certain method on the response. If you have overriden it in your wrapper class, then this one will be called instead. You could alter the behaviour or collect information there.
Here on Stackoverflow you can find some concrete examples of useful HttpServletResponseWrapper implementations.
How to insert response size and time into the page itself, at least partially?
MD5 Signing a HttpServletResponse
How to configure Tomcat to not encode the session id into the URL when HttpServletResponse.encodeURL() is invoked
How to add response headers based on Content-type; getting Content-type before the response is committed
How is annotations support in jsp implemented in sitebricks?
Capture and log the response body
Log only http servlet response headers
How to include a JSP page in a Facelets page?
Capture generated dynamic content at server side

Avoiding the endless loop in JSP servlet mapping

I've got this issue, recently I read about the REST arquitecture and it makes a perfect sense, so I'd like to achieve a RESTful web application.
Now, I'm following the Front Controller pattern that means that all of the URL mappings go to the controller.java servlet, I map the by specific URLs, not by using the /* wildcard,
the controller implements the four HTTP methods POST,GET,PUT,DELETE, each method calls the controllers service method and there I determine based on the HttpServletRequest and pathInfo the action to execute.
Controller.java
#Override
protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
throws ServletException, IOException {
IAction action;
View view;
try {
action = ActionFactory.produceAction(req);
view = action.execute(req, resp);
switch (view.getDispatchMethod()) {
case REDIRECT:
resp.sendRedirect(resp.encodeURL(view.getResource()));
break;
case FORWARD:
req.getRequestDispatcher(view.getResource()).forward(req, resp);
break;
case INCLUDE:
req.getRequestDispatcher(view.getResource()).include(req,resp);
break;
default:
}
} catch (ActionFailedException uae) {
req.setAttribute("ActionName", "Action");
req.setAttribute("FailCause", uae.getMessage());
req.getRequestDispatcher(VIEW_FAIL.getResource()).forward(req, resp);
}
}
#Override
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
throws ServletException, IOException {
this.service(req, resp);
}
#Override
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
this.service(req, resp);
}
#Override
protected void doPut(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
this.service(req, resp);
}
#Override
protected void doDelete(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
this.service(req, resp);
}
I've run into a particular issue when loading a specific order by the URI /orders/*, it is mapped to the controller servlet, the the action is executed and I load the appropriate order the action returns a View.java class
//ommited accessors and mutators for brevety.
public class View {
public enum DispatchMethod {
INCLUDE, FORWARD, REDIRECT
}
private DispatchMethod dispatchMethod;
private String resource;
public View(DispatchMethod dispatchMethod, String resource) {
this.dispatchMethod = dispatchMethod;
this.resource = resource;
}
}
Then the request is dispatched according to the getDispatchMethod() of the returned view.
Now, here is where the loop gets triggered, I use the following URL, myapp/orders/78965 /orders/* gets mapped to controller.java the appropriate action is executed and the correct order is found by the pathInfo() the returned view is new View(View.DispatchMethod.FORWARD,"order_details.jsp") the problem is that with the three available dispatch methods REDIRECT,FORWARD and INCLUDE a request is re-triggered on the URL and so on and on and on I never reach the order_details.jsp that renders the data.
So, how would you avoid the looping, as I'd like to preserve the URI displaying the order number I use the forward method, also, I'd like to do it using servlets, I've heard of the UrlRewriteFilter maybe in the future, but right now, how would it be done using "Plain Vanilla" since I'm using the Front Controller pattern, will it be necessary to add an additional servlet in the /orders/ URI ?
Any help or insights is truly appreciated.
EDIT 1:
Pasted the source code of the controller, a very basic one, I have my suspicions that the way the service method calls all of the overriden do[Method] of the servlet is triggering the loop and that it may be solved by splittig them.
Implementing a RESTful HTTP interface in Java is a lot easier using a JAX-RS implementation like RESTEasy or Jersey.
Using a Front Controller to dispatch requests to the right resource is a good approach, it's exactly the approach taken by these JAX-RS frameworks. I fear you may be re-inventing the wheel here by writing a bespoke URL parsing and dispatching mechanism when this can be taken off-the-shelf.
JAX-RS is a lightweight way to expose resources. By using a couple of simple annotations you can expose a REST interface without any plumbing required. For example:
public class Order {
#GET
#Path("/orders/{orderId}")
#Produces("text/html")
public void getOrder(#Context HttpServletResponse response,
#Context HttpServletRequest request,
#PathParam("orderId") String orderId) throws ServletException, IOException {
// ... create view and add to request here
request.getRequestDispatcher("orders.jsp").forward(request, response);
}
}
You can see how simple it is to attach this class to a URL path (using the #Path annotation), and how easily you can parse values from the URL using #PathParam. Since you get all the plumbing/dispatching/parsing off-the-shelf, you can concentrate on the bits of your app that are specific to your domain (such as what an order contains).

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