Question

I need some suggestions. I have defined servlet mapping as

<servlet-mapping>
 <servlet-name>My Servlet</servlet-name>
 <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

However there are some static html files. So i have mapped them to the default servlet to serve the static html files

<servlet-mapping>
 <servlet-name>default</servlet-name>
 <url-pattern>*.html</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

However, i want the user to have access to them only when the user has logged in. The welcome page is Login.html. If the user tries to access any other static file and has not logged in i.e there is not session then i should redirect user to the login page. But with current mapping the user is able to access index.html file as the request is served by default servlet.

Please suggest .

Answer 1

Your intent is to have a front controller servlet, not to replace the default servlet. So you should actually not be mapping your front controller servlet on /.

You should map the controller servlet on a more specific URL pattern, such as /app/*. To keep URLs transparent, your best bet is to create a filter which determines the request URI and continues the chain on static content like HTML and dispatches the remnant to the controller servlet.

E.g.

String uri = request.getRequestURI();

if (uri.endsWith(".html")) {
    chain.doFilter(request, response);
} else {
    request.getRequestDispatcher("/app" + uri).forward(request, response);
}