What is 'service' method in HttpServlet class?

Question

Below is a simple servlet written for learning.

package com.example.tutorial;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

import javax.servlet.ServletException;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest;
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse;


public class ServletExample extends HttpServlet {
    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    protected void service(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        out.println("Hello Java!");
    }

}

When a browser hits this URI: http://localhost:8081/ServletsJSPExample/servletexample,

By analyzing the request header of http packet, it shows GET request sent from the browser. But, In my servlet, I do not have GET request to process.

So,

When does service method gets invoked?

Why does service method receives this GET request?

Answer 1

HttpServlet implements Servlet whose service method javadoc states

Called by the servlet container to allow the servlet to respond to a request.

This is the entry point of all Servlet handling. The Servlet container instantiates your Servlet class and invokes this method on the generated instance if it determines that your Servlet should handle a request.

HttpServlet is an abstract class which implements this method by delegating to the appropriate doGet, doPost, doXyz methods, depending on the HTTP method used in the request.

@Override
public void service(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res)
    throws ServletException, IOException
{
    HttpServletRequest  request;
    HttpServletResponse response;

    if (!(req instanceof HttpServletRequest &&
            res instanceof HttpServletResponse)) {
        throw new ServletException("non-HTTP request or response");
    }

    request = (HttpServletRequest) req;
    response = (HttpServletResponse) res;

    service(request, response);
}
[...]
protected void service(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp)
    throws ServletException, IOException
{
    String method = req.getMethod();

    if (method.equals(METHOD_GET)) {
        long lastModified = getLastModified(req);
        if (lastModified == -1) {
            // servlet doesn't support if-modified-since, no reason
            // to go through further expensive logic
            doGet(req, resp);
        } else {
            long ifModifiedSince = req.getDateHeader(HEADER_IFMODSINCE);
            if (ifModifiedSince < lastModified) {
                // If the servlet mod time is later, call doGet()
                // Round down to the nearest second for a proper compare
                // A ifModifiedSince of -1 will always be less
                maybeSetLastModified(resp, lastModified);
                doGet(req, resp);
            } else {
                resp.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_MODIFIED);
            }
        }

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_HEAD)) {
        long lastModified = getLastModified(req);
        maybeSetLastModified(resp, lastModified);
        doHead(req, resp);

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_POST)) {
        doPost(req, resp);

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_PUT)) {
        doPut(req, resp);

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_DELETE)) {
        doDelete(req, resp);

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_OPTIONS)) {
        doOptions(req,resp);

    } else if (method.equals(METHOD_TRACE)) {
        doTrace(req,resp);

    } else {
        //
        // Note that this means NO servlet supports whatever
        // method was requested, anywhere on this server.
        //

        String errMsg = lStrings.getString("http.method_not_implemented");
        Object[] errArgs = new Object[1];
        errArgs[0] = method;
        errMsg = MessageFormat.format(errMsg, errArgs);

        resp.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, errMsg);
    }
}

If you override the service method from HttpServlet, you lose that behavior and revert back to a single handling of all Servlet requests.