# Servlet support

version 5.1.2

The `groovy-servlet` module supports the following features:

- A `GroovyServlet` class let you use Groovy scripts as Servlets (called Groovylets).

- A `TemplateServlet` class which supports running Groovy’s template engines to generate servlet content. A typical use case is to write Groovy Server Pages (GSPs) which are similar to Java Server Pages (JSPs) but embed Groovy code rather than Java code.

- An `AbstractHttpServlet` class for defining traditional Servlets.

- Helper classes like `ServletBinding` and `ServletCategory` which let you access some of the features offered by the `groovy-servlet` module in additional contexts.

From Groovy 5, `groovy-servlet` supports Jakarta EE Servlet specifications. Javax EE servlet specifications are supported in version before Groovy 5 or with Groovy 5 by using the `javax` classifier when specifying your dependency.

## 1. Groovlets

You can write (Java) Servlets in Groovy (called Groovlets).

This is supported by the `GroovyServlet` class. It will automatically compile your `.groovy` source files, turn them into bytecode, load the Class and cache it until you change the source file.

Here’s a simple example to show you the kind of things you can do from a Groovlet.

Notice the use of implicit variables to access the `session`, `output` and `request`. Also notice that this is more like a script as the code isn’t wrapped with a class definition.

    if (!session) {
      session = request.getSession(true)
    }

    if (!session.counter) {
      session.counter = 1
    }

    println """
    <html>
        <head>
            <title>Groovy Servlet</title>
        </head>
        <body>
            <p>
    Hello, ${request.remoteHost}: ${session.counter}! ${new Date()}
            </p>
        </body>
    </html>
    """
    session.counter = session.counter + 1

Or, do the same thing using MarkupBuilder:

    if (!session) {
        session = request.getSession(true)
    }

    if (!session.counter) {
        session.counter = 1
    }

    html.html { // html is implicitly bound to new MarkupBuilder(out)
      head {
          title('Groovy Servlet')
      }
      body {
        p("Hello, ${request.remoteHost}: ${session.counter}! ${new Date()}")
      }
    }
    session.counter = session.counter + 1

## 2. Implicit variables

The following variables are ready for use in Groovlets:

variable name | bound to | note
--- | --- | ---
request | ServletRequest | -
response | ServletResponse | -
context | ServletContext | -
application | ServletContext | -
session | getSession(false) | can be null! see <1>
params |  | a Map object
headers |  | a Map object
out | response.getWriter() | see <2>
sout | response.getOutputStream() | see <2>
html | new MarkupBuilder(out) | see <2>
json | new StreamingJsonBuilder(out) | see <2>

1. The session variable is only set, if there was already a session object. See the `if (session == null)` checks in the examples above.

2. These variables cannot be re-assigned inside a `Groovlet`. They are bound on first access, allowing to e.g. calling methods on the `response` object before using `out`.

## 3. Setting up Groovlets

The traditional configuration approach for declaring new servlets is to add them to your Servlet engine configuration, e.g. you might add the following to your `web.xml`:

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Groovy</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>groovy.servlet.GroovyServlet</servlet-class>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Groovy</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>*.groovy</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

Then put the required groovy jar files into `WEB-INF/lib`.

Now put the .groovy files in, say, the root directory (i.e. where you would put your html files). The `GroovyServlet` takes care of compiling the .groovy files.

So for example using Apache Tomcat you could edit `tomcat/conf/server.xml` like this:

    <Context path="/groovy" docBase="/path_to_servlet_base"/>

Then access it with http://localhost:8080/groovy/hello.groovy

Some Servlet engines let you define Servlets programmatically, e.g. here is how you might use Jetty with Groovlets enabled:

    import groovy.servlet.GroovyServlet
    import org.eclipse.jetty.server.Server
    import org.eclipse.jetty.ee9.servlet.ServletContextHandler

    var server = new Server(8080)
    var handler = new ServletContextHandler(server, '/', ServletContextHandler.SESSIONS)
    handler.baseResourceAsString = 'path_to_servlet_base'
    handler.addServlet(GroovyServlet, '*.groovy')
    server.start()
    server.join()