Writing to a Temporary File

Writing to a Temporary File

The javax.servlet.context.tempdir attribute maps to a temporary directory where short-lived working files can be stored. Each context receives a different temporary directory. For the previous example, the directory is server_root/work/localhost_8080. Example 4-4 shows how to write to a temporary file in the temporary directory.

Example 4-4. Creating a Temporary File in a Temporary Directory

public void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse res)
                      throws ServletException, IOException {
  // The directory is given as a File object
  File dir = (File) getServletContext()
                    .getAttribute("javax.servlet.context.tempdir");

  // Construct a temp file in the temp dir (JDK 1.2 method)
  File f = File.createTempFile("xxx", ".tmp", dir);

  // Prepare to write to the file
  FileOutputStream fout = new FileOutputStream(f);

  // ...
}

First, this servlet locates its temporary directory. Then, it uses the createTempFile( ) method to create a temporary file in that directory with an xxx prefix and .tmp suffix. Finally, it constructs a FileOutputStream to write to the temporary file. Files that must persist between server restarts should not be placed in the temporary directory.

4.2.3 Locking a Servlet to a Server