JSP for Absolute Dummies: JDBC connectivity in JSP

Using Java Server Pages, simulate a simple User Validation scenario in which the user name, password is stored in a database

Login Page

Successful Login

Design of the Application:

The whole application consists of 3-JSP pages and a database created in Java DB - 'user-validate' :

1. index.jsp - login page
2. validate.jsp - validating the credentials
3. user.jsp - User's page after succesfull login
4. user-validate
• Contains the table USERDATA which consists of the fields:
• name
• pass

Flow of control / Application Flow:

1. User enters credentials in the login page, hits the 'Submit' button
   
2. 'validate.jsp' is invoked via FORM action, GET method
3. The Username/Password is compared with values obtained from the database in 'validate.jsp'
4. On success, the 'user.jsp' page is invoked using tag else control returns back to 'index.jsp'

Software Used:

1. Sun JDK 1.6
   
2. Apache Tomcat 6.0.13
3. Java DB (shipped with NetBeans 6 Beta 1)
   
4. IDE
1. NetBeans 6 Beta 1

Source Code:

• NetBeans Project

Running the code:

1. Open the project in NetBeans 6 Beta 1 (or M10 onwards)
2. Add the 'Java DB libraries' (By choosing 'Add Library')
   
3. Start Java DB
4. Create a Database 'user-validate'
5. Connect to it (Right-click and..)
   
6. Create a table 'USERDATA', in the schema 'APP' with 2-columns - NAME, PASS, both VARCHAR
   
7. Insert into the table values - 'Amit', 'amit' using a simple SQL script
8. Observe the Database specific address, port and adjust the code in 'validate.jsp'
   
9. Build the project
   
10. Run it

If you are not aquainted with Java DB, refer this link.



Major Shortcomings:

• No Session management