Special Edition Using Java™ Server Pages and Servlets

Chapter 5. Saving Data Between Requests

In this chapter

• Storing Data in Hidden Form Variables

• Storing Data in a session Object

• How Sessions Work

• Forcing a New Session

• Handling Session Termination

• Handling Sessions Without Cookies

• Storing Application-Wide Data

Web programmers often need to keep track of data between user requests. Given what you already know about JSP, servlets, and HTML forms, you already have the ability to keep track of data between requests. You can store user data in hidden form variables.

Storing Data in Hidden Form Variables

Although not the most elegant solution, form variables are used by many applications to store user data. The idea is that every time the user submits a form, it contains some hidden variables that contain information ...