Servlet filtering

Servlet filtering is an integral part of the Servlet 2.3 API. Servlet filtering provides a new type of object called a filter that can transform a request or modify a response.

You can chain filters together so that a group of filters can act on the input and output of a specified resource or group of resources.

Filters typically include logging filters, image conversion filters, encryption filters, and Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type filters (functionally equivalent to the servlet chaining). Although filters are not servlets, their lifecycle is very similar.

Filters are handled in the following manner...

 

See Also

Filter, FilterChain, FilterConfig classes for servlet filtering
Example: com.ibm.websphere.LoggingFilter.java
Webapplications: Resources for learning