org.springframework.web.context
Class ContextLoaderServlet

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+--org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderServlet

public class ContextLoaderServlet

extends HttpServlet

Bootstrap servlet to start up Spring's root WebApplicationContext. Simply delegates to ContextLoader.

This servlet should have a lower load-on-startup value in web.xml than any servlets that access the root web application context.

Note that this class has been deprecated for containers implementing Servlet API 2.4 or higher in favour of ContextLoaderListener.
According to Servlet 2.4, listeners must be initialized before load-on-startup servlets. Many Servlet 2.3 containers already enforce this behaviour. If you use such a container, this servlet can be replaced with ContextLoaderListener. Else or if working with a Servlet 2.2 container, stick with this servlet.

Servlet 2.3 containers known to work with listeners are:

• Apache Tomcat 4.x
• Jetty 4.x
• Resin 2.1.8+
• Orion 2.0.2+

Servlet 2.3 containers known not to work with listeners are:

• BEA WebLogic up to 8.1
• IBM WebSphere 5.x
• Oracle OC4J 9.0.3

So unfortunately, the only context initialization option that is compatible with all Servlet 2.3 containers is this servlet.

Note that a startup failure of this servlet will not stop the rest of the web application from starting, in contrast to a listener failure. This can lead to peculiar side effects if other servlets get started that depend on initialization of the root web application context.

Author:

Juergen Hoeller, Darren Davison

See Also: ContextLoader, ContextLoaderListener, Log4jConfigServlet

public void destroy()

Close the root web application context.

public void doService(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
                throws java.io.IOException

This should never even be called since no mapping to this servlet should ever be created in web.xml. That's why a correctly invoked Servlet 2.3 listener is much more appropriate for initialization work ;-)

public String getServletInfo()

public void init()
           throws ServletException

Initialize the root web application context.

Association Links

to Class org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoader