Class Filter


  • public abstract class Filter
    extends Object
    A filter used to pre- and post-process incoming requests. Pre-processing occurs before the application's exchange handler is invoked, and post-processing occurs after the exchange handler returns. Filters are organised in chains, and are associated with HttpContext instances.

    Each Filter in the chain, invokes the next filter within its own doFilter() implementation. The final Filter in the chain invokes the applications exchange handler.

    Since:
    1.6
    • Constructor Detail

      • Filter

        protected Filter()
    • Method Detail

      • doFilter

        public abstract void doFilter​(HttpExchange exchange,
                                      Filter.Chain chain)
                               throws IOException
        Asks this filter to pre/post-process the given exchange. The filter can:
        • examine or modify the request headers
        • filter the request body or the response body, by creating suitable filter streams and calling HttpExchange.setStreams(InputStream,OutputStream)
        • set attribute Objects in the exchange, which other filters or the exchange handler can access.
        • decide to either
          1. invoke the next filter in the chain, by calling Filter.Chain.doFilter(HttpExchange)
          2. terminate the chain of invocation, by not calling Filter.Chain.doFilter(HttpExchange)
        • if option 1. above taken, then when doFilter() returns all subsequent filters in the Chain have been called, and the response headers can be examined or modified.
        • if option 2. above taken, then this Filter must use the HttpExchange to send back an appropriate response
        Parameters:
        exchange - the HttpExchange to be filtered.
        chain - the Chain which allows the next filter to be invoked.
        Throws:
        IOException - may be thrown by any filter module, and if caught, must be rethrown again.
        NullPointerException - if either exchange or chain are null
      • description

        public abstract String description()
        returns a short description of this Filter
        Returns:
        a string describing the Filter