Multi-functional Servlet considered bad practice?

Question

Hi,
is it considered bad practice using doGet() for fetching say a blog entry and using doPost() for saving new entries or comments?
Such as:
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
     blog.getPost(id);
protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest req, HttpServletResponse resp) throws ServletException, IOException {
     Post post = new Post(title, msg, category, author);
     blog.save(post);
}I like to think that this is the reasoning or at least part of the reason why doGet and doPost are separate methods.
Thank you.
Regards,
Adam

Answer 1

Asham wrote:
Hi,
is it considered bad practice using doGet() for fetching say a blog entry and using doPost() for saving new entries or comments?Depends on current environment and requirements. In a small hobby application you can do so. In real business I wouldn't do so, it might bite in the future if you plan to extend that servlet with more logic.
I like to think that this is the reasoning or at least part of the reason why doGet and doPost are separate methods.No, it is not. The HTTP protocol specification (1) offers several request methods, GET, POST, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, etc. The HttpServlet API (2) offers overrideable methods for each of those request methods so that you can handle it using some Java logic. A "plain vanilla" request is always GET. A form submit can be either GET or POST -generally POST is preferred as it can transfer more data and does "hide" query parameters.
(1) http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html
(2) http://java.sun.com/javaee/5/docs/api/javax/servlet/http/HttpServlet.html