ServletResponse (Servlet API Documentation)

Defines an object to assist a servlet in sending a response to the client. The servlet container creates a ServletResponse object and passes it as an argument to the servlet's service method.

To send binary data in a MIME body response, use the ServletOutputStream returned by ServletResponse. To send character data, use the PrintWriter object returned by ServletResponse. To mix binary and text data, for example, to create a multipart response, use a ServletOutputStream and manage the character sections manually.

The charset for the MIME body response can be specified explicitly using the ServletResponse and ServletResponse methods, or implicitly using the ServletResponse method. Explicit specifications take precedence over implicit specifications. If no charset is specified, ISO-8859-1 will be used. The setCharacterEncoding, setContentType, or setLocale method must be called before getWriter and before committing the response for the character encoding to be used.

See the Internet RFCs such as RFC 2045 for more information on MIME. Protocols such as SMTP and HTTP define profiles of MIME, and those standards are still evolving.

Version: $Version$

Author: Various

Method Summary
void	flushBuffer() Forces any content in the buffer to be written to the client.
int	getBufferSize() Returns the actual buffer size used for the response.
String	getCharacterEncoding() Returns the name of the character encoding (MIME charset) used for the body sent in this response.
String	getContentType() Returns the content type used for the MIME body sent in this response.
Locale	getLocale() Returns the locale specified for this response using the ServletResponse method.
ServletOutputStream	getOutputStream() Returns a ServletOutputStream suitable for writing binary data in the response.
PrintWriter	getWriter() Returns a `PrintWriter` object that can send character text to the client.
boolean	isCommitted() Returns a boolean indicating if the response has been committed.
void	reset() Clears any data that exists in the buffer as well as the status code and headers.
void	resetBuffer() Clears the content of the underlying buffer in the response without clearing headers or status code.
void	setBufferSize(int size) Sets the preferred buffer size for the body of the response.
void	setCharacterEncoding(String charset) Sets the character encoding (MIME charset) of the response being sent to the client, for example, to UTF-8.
void	setContentLength(int len) Sets the length of the content body in the response In HTTP servlets, this method sets the HTTP Content-Length header.
void	setContentType(String type) Sets the content type of the response being sent to the client, if the response has not been committed yet.
void	setLocale(Locale loc) Sets the locale of the response, if the response has not been committed yet.

See Also: #setLocale

setContentLength

Sets the length of the content body in the response In HTTP servlets, this method sets the HTTP Content-Length header.

Parameters: len an integer specifying the length of the content being returned to the client; sets the Content-Length header

setContentType

Sets the content type of the response being sent to the client, if the response has not been committed yet. The given content type may include a character encoding specification, for example, text/html;charset=UTF-8. The response's character encoding is only set from the given content type if this method is called before getWriter is called.

This method may be called repeatedly to change content type and character encoding. This method has no effect if called after the response has been committed. It does not set the response's character encoding if it is called after getWriter has been called or after the response has been committed.

Containers must communicate the content type and the character encoding used for the servlet response's writer to the client if the protocol provides a way for doing so. In the case of HTTP, the Content-Type header is used.

Parameters: type a String specifying the MIME type of the content

setLocale

Sets the locale of the response, if the response has not been committed yet. It also sets the response's character encoding appropriately for the locale, if the character encoding has not been explicitly set using ServletResponse or ServletResponse, getWriter hasn't been called yet, and the response hasn't been committed yet. If the deployment descriptor contains a locale-encoding-mapping-list element, and that element provides a mapping for the given locale, that mapping is used. Otherwise, the mapping from locale to character encoding is container dependent.

This method may be called repeatedly to change locale and character encoding. The method has no effect if called after the response has been committed. It does not set the response's character encoding if it is called after ServletResponse has been called with a charset specification, after ServletResponse has been called, after getWriter has been called, or after the response has been committed.

Containers must communicate the locale and the character encoding used for the servlet response's writer to the client if the protocol provides a way for doing so. In the case of HTTP, the locale is communicated via the Content-Language header, the character encoding as part of the Content-Type header for text media types. Note that the character encoding cannot be communicated via HTTP headers if the servlet does not specify a content type; however, it is still used to encode text written via the servlet response's writer.

Parameters: loc the locale of the response

Interface ServletResponse

Method Detail

flushBuffer

getBufferSize

getCharacterEncoding

getContentType

getLocale

getOutputStream

getWriter

isCommitted

reset

resetBuffer

setBufferSize

setCharacterEncoding

setContentLength

setContentType

setLocale