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= Servlet support

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

There is also a `GroovyServlet`.

This feature 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 it does not have a class wrapper.

[source,groovy]
----
include::../test/servlet/GroovyServletTest.groovy[tags=example,indent=0]
----

Or, do the same thing using MarkupBuilder:

[source,groovy]
----
include::../test/servlet/GroovyServletTest.groovy[tags=example_markup_builder,indent=0]
----

== Implicit variables

The following variables are ready for use in Groovlets:

[options="header",cols="1,1,1a"]
|============================================
|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`.

== Setting up groovlets

Add the following to your `web.xml`:
[source,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 tomcat you could edit `tomcat/conf/server.xml` like this:
[source,xml]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Context path="/groovy" docBase="c:/groovy-servlet"/>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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