Head First Java 2nd ed Question

[Jim Moffat]

Two questions:

(1) Page 629, the "KathyServlet" example,

I am getting an error on the line

out.println("
make another phrase
");

The error says

C:\Java Stuff>javac PhraseOMaticServlet.java
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: illegal escape character
out.println("
make another phrase</<br /> p>");
^
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: ')' expected
out.println("
make another phrase</<br /> p>");
^
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: unclosed string literal
out.println("
make another phrase</<br /> p>");

^
3 errors

Question 2:

I am running Orion and the book on pp. 625-626 implies that you can put a servlet on an anchor

This is the most amazing servlet

But apparaently html won't come up.What should the anchor reference look like using Orion?

[Bert Bates]

let's slide this over to the Servlets forum

[Bear Bibeault]

Actually, I'm going to re-slide this over to Java in General (beginner) as it's not a Servlet issue per se.

[Bear Bibeault]

You can't embed a linefeed into a string literal.

The code should be:

out.println("<a href=\"KathyServlet\">make another phrase</a>");

with the string literal all on one line.

[Jim Moffat]

Thanks.

[Bear Bibeault]

It could also be:

out.println(
 

"<a href=\"KathyServlet\">make another phrase</a>");

or any such variation, but you can't have the opening quote on one line, and the rest of the string literal on another.

[Jim Moffat]

Here's a direct cut-and-paste from my code:

out.println("<P><a href=\"servlet\PhraseOMaticServlet">make another phrase</a></p>");

The only think different it appears is that the code from the book has the paragraph tags.

Here's what I get when I try to compile it:

C:\Java Stuff>javac PhraseOMaticServlet.java
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: illegal escape character
out.println("<P><a href=\"servlet\PhraseOMaticServlet">make another phrase</a></
p>");
                                  ^
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: ')' expected
out.println("<P><a href=\"servlet\PhraseOMaticServlet">make another phrase</a></
p>");
                                                            ^
PhraseOMaticServlet.java:19: unclosed string literal
out.println("<P><a href=\"servlet\PhraseOMaticServlet">make another phrase</a></
p>");
 
  ^
3 errors

[ September 18, 2006: Message edited by: Jim Moffat ]

[Keith Lynn]

Within the String, if you want to use \ as an actual character, you must precede it with another \, because \ is the escape symbol. The compiler is telling you in this case that it doesn't recognize the escape sequences like \P.

[Gail Mikels]

Also - need to escape the quote at the end of the path:

out.println("<P><a href=\"servlet\\PhraseOMaticServlet\">make another phrase</a></p>");

[Bear Bibeault]

There's no backslash in the sample code.

The problem is that one of the quotes is not properly escaped.

[Jim Moffat]

Ahhh....that's not in the book! Thanks.

Now, as to my other question

This code is in the book

<a href="servlets/MyServletA">Text</a>

But the broswer won't bring up the HTML document. I am running Orion, so how should I code the link to the servlet class? The Cattle Drive code page showed the URL using "servlet/classname" and that didn't work either. So it is possible to link a servlet like that? The Head First book was not too clear on this.

[Bear Bibeault]

That's a different question which you should ask in a new post, and in the Servlets forum.