How do I access(read) dynamically generated reports with WebLogic WebServer

Question

Hello Everyone,
In our application we are generating reports (pdf format) at run time. How do
we read these files.....which directory should we store these files to... I am
using Weblogic 6.0.
These files have timestamp as part of their name so the names are not static.
Thanks in advance.
Ahsen

Answer 1

We ran into this also. If you read the J2EE specs carefully you will see
that your app is only guaranteed to have write-access to a single directory,
defined by the context attribute "javax.servlet.context.tempdir" -- I can
find the exact reference if you want.
Here is how to get this attribute:
File tempdir = (File) getServletContext()
.getAttribute("javax.servlet.context.tempdir");
log.debug("context temp dir = " + tempdir.getAbsolutePath());
Although this may seem horribly restrictive, it makes a lot of sense on a
secure system where applications are deployed by a specific user, and may
have at runtime minimal filesytem priviledges -- your app can't write
anywhere, at the exception of the context temp dir. I know this would be the
way I'd setup my container on a Unix system for example.
So, what's a developer to do? You can either bypass the issue and always
generate your content dynamically, with a servlet setting the appropriate
MIME type to the output, or write your reports to the context temp dir and
manually serve content from there.
Frankly I think the first option is by far the most simple, easier to
implement, and thus attractive; if it leads to a performance problem, you
can always solve that with a Web cache. Doing otherwise (caching the content
yourself) opens the door to many issues, that really shouldn't be your
problem as a Web application developer. Keep it simple!
--Renaud
"ahsen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:173_3bc31ee1$[email protected]..
>
Hello Everyone,
In our application we are generating reports (pdf format) at run time.How do
we read these files.....which directory should we store these files to...I am
using Weblogic 6.0.
These files have timestamp as part of their name so the names are notstatic.
>
Thanks in advance.
Ahsen