Question

Here is my try-catch block:

try {
    return dbConnection.createStatement();
} catch(SQLException sqle) {
    // TODO SQL Exception
    System.out.println(sqle.getMessage());
}

Is it correct to use System.out object in Servlets?

What is the easiest way for debugging purposes?

I wanted the message to be printed in the error page generated by the server, eg: HTTP Status 500.

Answer 1

It is not correct to use System.out in the servlet. One option is to simply forward to an error page using your RequestDispatcher:

  RequestDispatcher rd = getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/error.jsp");
  rd.forward(request, response);

In addition you can store the exception object in the request scope before forwarding to the error page so that the error is customized.

 try {
   return dbConnection.createStatement();
 }   catch(SQLException sqle) {
    // TODO SQL Exception
    request.setAttribute("ex", sqle);
    RequestDispatcher rd = getServletContext().getRequestDispatcher("/error.jsp");
    rd.forward(request, response);
  }

Then on error.jsp you can take that exception and print out some details.