Java Servlet Filter tutorial example using Eclipse & Tomcat

[ad name=”AD_INBETWEEN_POST”]Servlet Filters are the latest components that are added in Servlet 2.3 specifications. These filters are used basically for intercepting and modifying requests and response from server.  Consider a scenario where you want to check session from the every users request and if it is valid then only you want to let the user access the page. You can acheive this by checking sessions on all the servlet pages (or JSP pages) which users queries or you can do this by using Filter. Let us create a Servlet Filter that just prints the clients ip address and date time. This is just to log users who are accessing the application. We we use Eclipse for developing our application and Apache Tomcat for deploying and running our application.

Step 1: Create dynamic web project in Eclipse.

Starts eclipse and create a new dynamic web project with name ServletFilterProject. Select Target runtime environment. I have selected Apache Tomcat v6.0, you can select any Tomcat version that you have installed. Click on Finish.

Step 2: Create package & Servlet Filter class.

Create a package for Servlet Filters in your source folder of Project. I have created a package net.viralpatel.servlet.filters. Inside the package, create a Java class file called LogFilter.java.

Step 3: Writting Servlet Filter class code.

Modify the LogFilter class and add following code into it.
package net.viralpatel.servlet.filters; import java.io.IOException; import java.util.Date; import javax.servlet.Filter; import javax.servlet.FilterChain; import javax.servlet.FilterConfig; import javax.servlet.ServletException; import javax.servlet.ServletRequest; import javax.servlet.ServletResponse; import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest; public class LogFilter implements Filter { public void doFilter(ServletRequest req, ServletResponse res, FilterChain chain) throws IOException, ServletException { HttpServletRequest request = (HttpServletRequest) req; //Get the IP address of client machine. String ipAddress = request.getRemoteAddr(); //Log the IP address and current timestamp. System.out.println("IP "+ipAddress + ", Time " + new Date().toString()); chain.doFilter(req, res); } public void init(FilterConfig config) throws ServletException { //Get init parameter String testParam = config.getInitParameter("test-param"); //Print the init parameter System.out.println("Test Param: " + testParam); } public void destroy() { //add code to release any resource } }
Code language: Java (java)
In this filter example, we have implemented an interface javax.servlet.Filter and override its methods init, doFilter and destroy. The init() method is used to initialize any code that is used by Filter. Also note that, init() method will get an object of FilterConfig which contains different Filter level information as well as init parameters which is passed from Web.xml (Deployment descriptor). The doFilter() method will do the actual logging of information. You can modify this method and add your code which can modify request/session/response, add any attribute in request etc. The destroy() method is called by the container when it wants to garbage collect the filter. This is usually done when filter is not used for long time and server wants to allocate memory for other applications.

Step 4: Create Servlet Filter Mapping in Web.xml

Open web.xml file from WEB-INF directory of your Project and add following entry for filter tag.
<filter> <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name> <filter-class> net.viralpatel.servlet.filters.LogFilter </filter-class> <init-param> <param-name>test-param</param-name> <param-value>This parameter is for testing.</param-value> </init-param> </filter> <filter-mapping> <filter-name>LogFilter</filter-name> <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern> </filter-mapping>
Code language: HTML, XML (xml)
In this entry, we have added LogFilter class in Web xml and mapped it with URL /*. Hence any request from client will generated a call to this filter. Also we have passed a parameter test-param. This is just to show how to pass and retrieve a parameter in servlet filter.

Step 5: Execute the web application

We are done with the coding part of Servlet Filter example. Now execute the project by Run -> Run As -> Run on server (shortcut Alt+Shift+X, R). Check the console you will see the output that we print using System.out. Change the code in the way you want your filter to work. Let me know your comments and suggestions. :)
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82 Comments

  1. dlogan says:

    Thanks for this guide! It made it VERY easy to get a quick servlet filter up and running to play around!

  2. benjamin says:

    Thanks for a simple yet illustratice explaination

  3. German says:

    Excelent!!! it’s very usefull.
    thanks…

  4. Russell Bateman says:

    Uh, for the neophyte, what if after setting up this project, entering the code, etc. the launch (http://localhost:8080/ServletFilterProject/) produces only a 404? (Eclipse 3.3.2, WST 2.0.2)

  5. Hi Russell,
    I am not sure about the error, but it seems that something is wrong hence your browser is not able to get anything (resource not found!!). Can you try running http://localhost:8080 and check what is coming? Also check if your context root is properly set.

  6. Balveer says:

    thank you viral,
    it is ery easy and helpful for me.

  7. @balveer: you welcome. feel free to bookmark this site or registered your email to get articles via email :)

  8. Rob says:

    Thanks, this was quite useful. I think I know what problem Russell was encountering:
    The package is set to \"net.viralpatel.servlet.filters\" but in the mapping it\’s trying to find the class \"net.viralpatel.servlet.filter.LogFilter\". If you go into web.xml and add an s to \"filter\" so that it says \"net.viralpatel.filters.LogFilter\" then you should actually get a printout in the console. Otherwise it\’ll throw class not found exception.

  9. TechGirl says:

    It’s so nice to find simple blogs that are easy to understand. Nice job, Viral. I will be looking through the remainder of your blogs in hopes to learn more techniques.

  10. @TechGirl, thanks for the comment… feel free to go through articles and also comment or send suggestions if you have any.

  11. Namrata says:

    I am unable to find any such option on menu bar.
    i have options file->new->project,package class,interface,enum,annotations,source folder,folder,file,untitled text file,junit test case but there is no option from where i can make jsp/servlet file

  12. Hi Namrata,
    Can you tell me the version of Eclipse you using? Also you must use J2EE perspective while working in this web application.

  13. Siddhesh says:

    I did exactly what you said,but i got the following error-
    HTTP Status 404
    description :The requested resource () is not available.

  14. Sandeep says:

    Very Useful Example………………………….

  15. shyamshara prajapati says:

    Thanks Viral, I know you are a Pro.

    • @Shyamshara – Thanks for the comment

  16. Brian says:

    Remember that a Filter is an interface component, and not a Servlet, so in order for it to render output to the browser, you will want to map it to a Servlet. The reason you will get a requested resource is not available 404, is because there is either no welcome-file-list setup, or you don’t have a servlet mapped to the filter. Viral, this is a great example, but I’m pretty sure you did not post your web.xml in its entirety.

  17. George says:

    Hi Viral,
    Similar to what Russell Bateman wrote on 27 April, 2009, 21:28, I get the following along with HTTP Status 404 from Eclipse console:

    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester endElement
    WARNING: No rules found matching ‘Server/Service/Engine/Host/Content’.
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
    WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property ‘source’ to ‘org.eclipse.jst.j2ee.server:ADCDemo’ did not find a matching property.
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.SetPropertiesRule begin
    WARNING: [SetPropertiesRule]{Server/Service/Engine/Host/Context} Setting property ‘source’ to ‘org.eclipse.jst.jee.server:ServletFilterProject’ did not find a matching property.
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.AprLifecycleListener init
    INFO: The APR based Apache Tomcat Native library which allows optimal performance in production environments was not found on the java.library.path: C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin;.;C:\WINDOWS\Sun\Java\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:/Program Files/Java/jre6/bin/client;C:/Program Files/Java/jre6/bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 6.0;C:\Program Files\Java\jre6;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_16
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol init
    INFO: Initializing Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina load
    INFO: Initialization processed in 270 ms
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService start
    INFO: Starting service Catalina
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:20 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine start
    INFO: Starting Servlet Engine: Apache Tomcat/6.0.18
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext filterStart
    SEVERE: Exception starting filter LogFilter
    java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: net.viralpatel.servlet.filter.LogFilter
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1387)
    at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1233)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.getFilter(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:249)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.setFilterDef(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:397)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterConfig.(ApplicationFilterConfig.java:108)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.filterStart(StandardContext.java:3709)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4363)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:719)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:516)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:578)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:288)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:413)
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
    SEVERE: Error filterStart
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext start
    SEVERE: Context [/ServletFilterProject] startup failed due to previous errors
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol start
    INFO: Starting Coyote HTTP/1.1 on http-8080
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.jk.common.ChannelSocket init
    INFO: JK: ajp13 listening on /0.0.0.0:8009
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.jk.server.JkMain start
    INFO: Jk running ID=0 time=0/16 config=null
    Jan 22, 2010 12:27:21 PM org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina start
    INFO: Server startup in 213 ms

    Any help?
    Thanks

  18. Hi George, There was a type error in my web.xml. I have updated the code. Here is the change.

    
    	        net.viralpatel.servlet.filters.LogFilter
    
    

    I have changed net.viralpatel.servlet.filter.LogFilter to net.viralpatel.servlet.filters.LogFilter.

    • venkat says:

      Hi,

      How does the tomcat servlet initialization code know the classpath for net.viralpatel.servlet.filters.LogFilter? I am getting a class loader error, even thought the class is under web/app/WEB-INF/classes directory.

      Thanks,

  19. George says:

    Hi Viral,
    Yes! Silly of me that I was doing Cut n Paste the code. If I was to type I would have noticed the small typo (Missing s in filter(s)).
    Amazing but always true – the devil is in the details…LOL

    Then as Brian wrote on 19 December, 2009, 10:43:
    “Remember that a Filter is an interface component, and not a Servlet, so in order for it to render output to the browser, you will want to map it to a Servlet.” it still has a reason to tgrow a 404.
    But as it prints in the console it’s OK for now.

    I will try writting some code now to build some experience as I am new to Http Sessions and have to learn, so I later come up with more constructive questions..

    Thanks for the quick reply (and the correction to the listing..)
    George

  20. Ghada says:

    Nice article.Thanks

  21. Hao Nhien says:

    Hi Viral,
    What a good job u’ve done. I have something to ask you. This example is ok when I run the first time, but when I run the second time, I didn’t get the IP as well as the time. I guess the problem because of there’s nothing in destroy method, and we need to put something there to run example again, is that right? (when I close my eclipse and open again and run the example again, then it’s ok). Thank you very much for your article and look forward to hearing from your answer. Thanks a lot

  22. Paras Jotangiya says:

    Hi Viral ,
    First of i am thanking you to give nice example. And I want to ask one questions .
    where r u from?? Gujarat??

  23. suresh says:

    String str = request.getParameter(“firstname”);

    if i m including these line in Servlet Filter then it is not catching the parameter
    but, if i m using these
    String str = req.getRemoteAddr();

    then its catching IP address…….these is correct…but wat abut request.getparameter(“firstname”)

    Note: I m not talking abut servlet file……i m talking abut servlet filter.

    Please suggest me sum help soon..

  24. venugopal says:

    it’s a great work !!!

    Thanks for ever

  25. William says:

    Hi Viral,

    Great article my friend, very simple and explanatory. I’m glad I’ve found such good material on this filter subject.
    Keep up the good job!

  26. Usha says:

    Thank you very much for posting this.helped very much

  27. JoeSwenson says:

    Very new to all this… I get the 404 error as mentioned. “The requested resource (/ServletFilterProject/WEB-INF/web.xml) is not available.” Does anyone have the web.xml showing how to map the filter to a servlet, or is this not the problem.

    HERE IS MY WEB.XML

    ServletFilterProject

    index.html
    index.htm
    index.jsp
    default.html
    default.htm
    default.jsp

    LogFilter

    com.documentum.servlet.filters.LogFilter

    test-param
    This parameter is for testing.

    LogFilter
    /*

    I’m also using the Helios release of Eclipse

    Thanks,
    Joe

  28. Ahamed Kabeer says:

    Viral, You are cool and your articles were excellent….You are sharing what you know to others and eager to help others, thats makes you special man…

  29. kasi says:

    can u please guide me how can i itegrate developed web screens using filters….i need to integrate screens . what is is the processs please give details ,how can i star for that…..

  30. Sunil Rana says:

    Simply good…

  31. harish says:

    404 error, in web.xml i have mentioned wel come page list …any solution ?

  32. manish says:

    Nice and simple to understand ! Thanks

  33. max says:

    nice tut!,but we can make this logic using servlets itself i guess.So,wats the main diff b/w filters and servlets?

  34. thanks for the nice example…. good one to get servlet filter running

  35. kaviyazhagan.k says:

    sir
    i am doing project about grammer check for open soures.so how do i use the daniel package in java.pls give me a simple example.

    Thanks

  36. dhrupal says:

    thanx for steping

  37. Naresh says:

    Simply, Effective, Understandable.
    Thanks Viral.

  38. Gunjan says:

    Thnx a lot !
    It’s good to share the ideas!

  39. rajesh says:

    thanx for good ex

  40. Manish says:

    Thanks For This Article On Servelet Filters..

  41. AARTHI says:

    thanks 4 this example

  42. Robin says:

    really great piece of information thanks!

  43. Prabhakar says:

    Thanks .. it really helped. :)

    Now , i want to restrict access to my servlet / resource based on user IP address …
    Can you help me out ???

  44. tranphu1426 says:

    i use Netbeans 7.2 and Apache Tomcat 7.0.27, i’m done sample article, It no error, but it not include Servlet Filter . Can u help me, please?

  45. Pooja says:

    Can u send the complete web.xml for this particular program….
    I’m getting 404 error

  46. Pooja says:

    Really easy to follow ur steps

  47. Pooja says:

    Can i get the reply pl

  48. erick says:

    Thanks a lot! very usefull !

  49. Sridhar says:

    Hi Viral,

    When I execute this for the first time, the IP and Time are printing. But when I run it from the second time onwards, the doFilter sysouts do not print. Please help.

  50. parteek says:

    thanku so much

  51. Anji says:

    Hi ,

    Please help me to solve the below problem ,

    SessionValidator
    com.tecnotree.filters.SessionValidator

    SessionValidator
    /ProjectMng/*

    SessionValidator Filter is not calling

    if i changed the /* then Filter is getting called
    Please let me konw why the filter is not calling for the /ProjectMng/*

  52. vaibhav says:

    Thanks a lot. I am a big fan of your’s

  53. I want to handle cache for my static domain. It only delivers *.js,*.css and images. I want to set expiry header for that. (i.e ; static.domain.com) i can set expiry header for (www.domain.com) . My application is in java and running on tomcat 7. do you have any idea about that?

  54. vara prasad says:

    Nice

  55. karmveer says:

    can i apply a single filter on a group of jsp using single mapping in web.xml .

  56. Thanks for the filter example. Simple but good starting point

  57. Lokesh says:

    Please explain what is the use of FilterChain and what chain.doFilter will do.

  58. Priyank says:

    Thank you. This worked :)

  59. Abhishek says:

    Hi Viral,
    Its Great…but got
    output like this..

    IP Adress=127.0.0.1
    IP 127.0.0.1, Time Mon Nov 11 12:57:07 IST 2013
    Test Param: This parameter for testing

    But Shows loop back address(i.e.127.0.0.1) instead of my PC’s IP address,
    plz provide solution.
    Thanks & Regards..

    • fgdf says:

      java.net.InetAddress.getLocalHost().getHostAddress();

  60. abcd says:

    hi,
    I have one question, is it possible to implement all the client side validations we do with javascript in filters ? Because at times, we do face issues with the javascript.

  61. vanitha says:

    i am not able to get it fully but okay!

  62. thank you for giving me solution. this is very helpfull to me . and i accept that i learn so much things from this site.

  63. Kieu Tien Cuong says:

    Thank you. Very clear tutorial. It help me saving a lot of time.

  64. Asmita says:

    please provide an appropriate example for netbeans ide also

  65. Lakshmikanth says:

    thanks!!. That was pretty much clear and gave me a break through in understanding ServletFilters

  66. borat says:

    Your code gives me a 404 error. I posted it at stackoverflow. Please help.
    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23859208/simple-servlet-filter-is-not-working-error-404

  67. harinath says:

    Hi ,
    i’m new to spring. i have to servlet filter in spring mvc. frame work. if you any sample source code , Please post here

  68. gs says:

    I am creating a project where I have a login screen, which is used for user to login into the
    Application.after login if iam trying to open the same page in next tab it has to show the already login page to that what code has to write

    • Justin says:

      Try with java script.

  69. gs says:

    can u give any suggetions for the above requirement

  70. mahesh says:

    thank you

  71. Seetesh says:

    Can we add more than 1 filter to a servlet or a jsp page

  72. abd Erahim says:

    a good tutorial,
    Viral Patel, if you don’t mind, this is a code snippet that illustrate a real world example of servlet filters, http://fivesnippets.blogspot.com/2014/08/servlet-filter-for-ddos-spam-etc.html

  73. Akila says:

    I FOUND
    HTTP Status 404 – /SampleWebApp/WEB-INF/classes/LogFilter.java

  74. I did this, but now eclipse can’t find main servlet :\

  75. Akki says:

    They say if it can’t be explained in simple words, you do not know the concept.
    Simple, easy and awesome.

  76. Shyam sunder says:

    How to implement custom filter using annotations ?

    @WebFilter(&quot;/*&quot;)
    @interface MySecurityFilter{
    }
    
    
    public HelloWorldContrller{
    
    	@MySecurityFilter
    	@RequestMapping(&quot;/hello&quot;)
    	public String getMessage(){
    		return &quot;&quot;;
    	}
    }
    
    
    
    
    
    

  77. PoonamT says:

    Hello there,
    The cod is not executing.
    It shows the error as-
    HTTP Status 403-/ServletFilterProject/
    type : Status report
    message: /ServletFilterProject/
    description: The requested resource is not available.

    Plz help :(

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