File output format

[Ananth Ram]

Hi All,

I am trying to open a license file using Servlet in a new browser window. The file opens, but the format is not correct.

Example , input file is as below.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                       Version 3, 29 June 2007

 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

In the browser, the output is as below.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 3, 29 June 2007 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <http://fsf.org/>
 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Typically my code in the servlet is below.

protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
    throws ServletException, IOException {
        try {
            String file = request.getParameter("file");
            String fileName = getServletContext().getRealPath(file);
            String source = "";
            FileReader fr = new FileReader(fileName);
            for(int c = fr.read(); c != -1; c = fr.read()){
                source += (char)c;
            }
            response.getWriter().write(source);            
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }        
        response.setContentType("text/html;charset=UTF-8");
    } 

Am I missing something on formatting/contentType. Could someone help me out.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Thanks,
Ananth Ram

[Bear Bibeault]

If it's not HTML, why are you saying that it is?

The browser is trying to interpret it as HTML, in which whitespace, such as line-feeds, are ignored.

[Ananth Ram]

Thanks Bear,

So, do you mean I need to specify just text instead of "text/html", or any other options. Please let me know.

Thanks,
Ananth Ram

[Ananth Ram]

Also the file does not have an extension like txt/doc. It is plain. I tried setting to "text/plain", did not work.

Thanks,
Ananth Ram

[Bear Bibeault]

ItDoesntWorkIsUseless

[Ananth Ram]

The "text/plain" works fine.

protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
    throws ServletException, IOException {
        try {
            response.setContentType("text/plain");
            String file = request.getParameter("file");
            String fileName = getServletContext().getRealPath(file);
            String source = "";
            FileInputStream fstream = new FileInputStream(fileName);
            DataInputStream in = new DataInputStream(fstream);
            BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
            String sLine;
            PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
            while ((sLine = br.readLine()) != null) {
                out.println(sLine);
            }
            in.close();
            out.close();
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
}

Thanks for pointers.

Ananth Ram