Download FAQ History |  | API Search Feedback

> ## Initializing a Servlet

> After the Web container loads and instantiates the servlet class and before it delivers requests from clients, the Web container initializes the servlet. You can customize this process to allow the servlet to read persistent configuration data, initialize resources, and perform any other one-time activities by overriding the `init` method of the `Servlet` interface. A servlet that cannot complete its initialization process should throw `UnavailableException`.

> All the servlets that access the bookstore database (`BookStoreServlet`, `CatalogServlet`, `BookDetailsServlet`, and `ShowCartServlet)` initialize a variable in their `init` method that points to the database helper object created by the Web context listener:

>     public class CatalogServlet extends HttpServlet {
>       private BookDB bookDB;
>       public void init() throws ServletException {
>         bookDB = (BookDB)getServletContext().
>           getAttribute("bookDB");
>         if (bookDB == null) throw new
>           UnavailableException("Couldn't get database.");
>       }
>     }

Download FAQ History |  | API Search Feedback

All of the material in The Java(TM) Web Services Tutorial is copyright-protected and may not be published in other works without express written permission from Sun Microsystems.