Chapter 5. Handling the Client Request: HTTP Request Headers

Topics in This Chapter

  • Reading HTTP request headers

  • Building a table of all the request headers

  • Understanding the various request headers

  • Reducing download times by compressing pages

  • Differentiating among types of browsers

  • Customizing pages according to how users got there

  • Accessing the standard CGI variables

One of the keys to creating effective servlets is understanding how to manipulate the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Thoroughly understanding this protocol is not an esoteric, theoretical concept, but rather a practical issue that can have an immediate impact on the performance and usability of your servlets. This section discusses the HTTP information that is sent from the browser ...

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