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on top of some other underlying format. But, HTML is by far the most mon format, so an important servlet/JSP task is to wrap the results inside of HTML. 5. Send the implicit HTTP response data. Figure 11 shows a single arrow going from the Web middle layer (the servlet or JSP page) to the client. But, there are really two varieties of data sent: the document itself and the behindthescenes HTTP information. Again, both varieties are critical to effective development. Sending HTTP response data involves telling the browser or other client what type of document is being returned (., HTML), setting cookies and caching parameters, and other such tasks. Why Build Web Pages Dynamically? many client requests can be satisfied by prebuilt documents, and the server would handle these requests without invoking servlets. In many cases, however, a static result is not sufficient, and a page needs to be generated for each request. There are a number of reasons why Web pages need to be built onthefly: 1. The Web page is based on data sent by the client. For instance, the results page from search engines and orderconfirmation pages at online stores are specific to particular user requests. You don39。t know what to display until you read the data that the user submits. Just remember that the user submits two kinds of data: explicit (., HTML form data) and implicit (., HTTP request headers). Either kind of input can be used to build the output page. In particular, it is quite mon to build a userspecific page based on a cookie value. 2. The Web page is derived from data that changes frequently. 8 If the page changes for every request, then you certainly need to build the response at request time. If it changes only periodically, however, you could do it two ways: you could periodically build a new Web page on the server (independently of client requests), or you could wait and only build the page when the user requests it. The right approach depends on the situation, but sometimes it is more convenient to do the latter: wait for the user request. For example, a weather report or news headlines site might build the pages dynamically, perhaps returning a previously built page if that page is still up to date. 3. The Web page uses information from corporate databases or other serverside sources. If the information is in a database, you need serverside processing even if the client is using dynamic Web content such as an applet. Imagine using an applet by itself for a search engine site: Downloading 50 terabyte applet, please wait! Obviously, that is silly。 you need to talk to the database. Going from the client to the Web tier to the database (a threetier approach) instead of from an applet directly to a database (a twotier approach) provides increased flexibility and security with little or no performance penalty. After all, the database call is usually the ratelimiting step, so going through the Web server does not slow things down. In fact, a threetier approach is often faster because the middle tier can perform caching and connection pooling. In principle, servlets are not restricted to Web or application servers that handle HTTP requests but can be used for other types of servers as well. For example, servlets could be embedded in FTP or mail servers to extend their functionality. And, a servlet API for SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) servers was recently standardized (see In practice, however, this use of servlets has not caught on, and we39。ll only be discussing HTTP servlets. The Advantages of Servlets Over Traditional CGI Java servlets are more efficient, easier to use, more powerful, more portable, safer, and cheaper than traditional CGI and many alternative CGIlike technologies. 1. Efficient With traditional CGI, a new process is star