ZetCode

Java RequestDispatcher

last modified January 27, 2024

Java RequestDispatcher tutorial shows how to use Java RequestDispatcher to dispatch requests to resources.

RequestDispatcher

RequestDispatcher receives requests from the client and sends them to a resource (such as a servlet, HTML file, JSP file, FreeMarker or Thymeleaf template) on the server.

RequestDispatcher methods

RequestDispatcher has two methods:

The difference between the two methods is that the forward method will close the output stream after it has been invoked, whereas the include method leaves the output stream open. The include method takes the content from another resource and includes it in the servlet. The forward method sends the request to another resource.

Getting RequestDispatcher

RequestDispatcher can be obtained from a request object or from a servlet context. 

RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher("greet.jsp");
dispatcher.forward(request, response);

We can get the RequestDispatcher from the request object with the getRequestDispatcher method. 

RequestDispatcher dispatcher = getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/greet.jsp");
dispatcher.forward(request, response);

Here we get the RequestDispatcher from the servlet context. In this case, the path must begin with a slash character.

Java RequestDispatcher Forward to JSP

The following example sends a request from the client to a JSP page.

index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Start Page</title>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
    </head>
    <body>
        <form action="MyServlet">

            <label>Enter your name:
                <input type="text" name="name">
            </label>
            
            <button type="submit">Submit</button>

        </form>
    </body>
</html>

In the home page we have a simple form: it takes a value from the user and sends it as a request parameter to MyServlet.

MyServlet.java
package com.zetcode.web;

import java.io.IOException;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet(name = "MyServlet", urlPatterns = {"/MyServlet"})
public class MyServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");

        request.getRequestDispatcher("greet.jsp").forward(request, response);
    }
}

In the MyServlet, we forward to the greet.jsp page using the RequestDispatcher.

greet.jsp
<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <title>JSP Page</title>
    </head>
    <body>
        <p>Hello ${param.name}!</p>
    </body>
</html>

In the greet.jsp page, we display the name parameter, which was set by the user in the form.

Java RequestDispatcher Forward to Servlet

The following example sends a request from the client to a servlet, which forwards the processing to another servlet.

index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Start Page</title>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
    </head>
    <body>
        <p>
            <a href="MyServlet">Call servlet</a>
        </p>
    </body>
</html>

The home page contains a link that calls MyServlet.

MyServlet.java
package com.zetcode.web;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.time.Instant;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet(name = "MyServlet", urlPatterns = {"/MyServlet"})
public class MyServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");

        request.setAttribute("now", Instant.now());
        
        request.getRequestDispatcher("AnotherServlet").forward(request, response);
    }
}

The request goes first to MyServlet. 

request.setAttribute("now", Instant.now());

We set an attribute to the request; it is the current time instant. 

request.getRequestDispatcher("AnotherServlet").forward(request, response);

The request, including the new attribute, is sent to AnotherServlet.

AnotherServlet.java
package com.zetcode.web;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.time.Instant;
import java.time.ZoneId;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
import java.time.format.FormatStyle;
import java.util.Locale;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet(name = "AnotherServlet", urlPatterns = {"/AnotherServlet"})
public class AnotherServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {

        response.setContentType("text/plain;charset=UTF-8");

        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();

        DateTimeFormatter formatter
                = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(FormatStyle.SHORT)
                        .withLocale(Locale.ENGLISH)
                        .withZone(ZoneId.of("UTC"));

        Instant now = (Instant) request.getAttribute("now");

        String output = formatter.format(now);
        out.println(output);
    }
}

AnotherServlet formats the instant object to a short English datetime format and prints it into the output stream. 

DateTimeFormatter formatter
        = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime(FormatStyle.SHORT)
                .withLocale(Locale.ENGLISH)
                .withZone(ZoneId.of("UTC"));

We format the datetime with DateTimeFormatter class. 

Instant now = (Instant) request.getAttribute("now");

We retrieve the attribute from the request with the getAttribute method. 

String output = formatter.format(now);
out.println(output);

The instant is formatted and printed into the output.

Java RequestDispatcher include

The next example includes output from another servlet into the calling servlet.

index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Start Page</title>
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
    </head>
    <body>
        <p>
            <a href="MyServlet">Call servlet</a>
        </p>
    </body>
</html>

The home page contains a link which calls MyServlet.

MyServlet.java
package com.zetcode.web;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet(name = "MyServlet", urlPatterns = {"/MyServlet"})
public class MyServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        
        response.setContentType("text/plain;charset=UTF-8");
        
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        out.println("Hello from MyServlet");
        
        request.getRequestDispatcher("AnotherServlet").include(request, response);
    }
}

MyServlet prints data to the output stream and forwards to AnotherServlet.

AnotherServlet.java
package com.zetcode.web;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;

@WebServlet(name = "AnotherServlet", urlPatterns = {"/AnotherServlet"})
public class AnotherServlet extends HttpServlet {

    @Override
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {
        
        response.setContentType("text/plain;charset=UTF-8");
        
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        
        out.println("Hello from AnotherServlet");
    }
}

AnotherServlet also prints data to the output stream. In the end, we have both messages written to the output stream and sent to the client.

Source

Java ReguestDispatcher

In this article we have covered the Java RequestDispatcher. We have covered RequestDispatcher's forward and include methods.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar and I am a passionate programmer with many years of programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. So far, I have written over 1400 articles and 8 e-books. I have over eight years of experience in teaching programming.

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