use servlet to redirect image request from <img src>

the question also meant to ask how the servlet should be written to pass up an image

ok, which mime type should I declare?

That would depend on the type of image

you mean depends on whether it is png, jpg, or gif? those are the types I have.

Yes it would be

response.getContentType("image/png");

etc

Oops setContentType of course

I was able to trap the image requests by setting the right url pattern, and the images do show up. but they seem to ignore the width setting.

the html is
'<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="images/logo.jpg"  width=120>

is there any reason using the method you provided that the image would ignore the width setting in the html?

scratch that. not a problem.

:-)

there really is a problem.

compared to calling up the image directory (without servlet), the html
'<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="images/logo.jpg"  width=120> would allocated a block 1024 wide, but the image stays at original width of 64, and the whole layout looks nice. but using the servlet, the image gets stretched to the full 120 in width and look down right ugly.

I am looking to have the same effect as when images are loaded directly. is there a way to get the servlet to do the same?

It's a totally different approach: in the one case, the browser scales the image based on html instructions, in the other it simply renders what it gets. Two ways to deal with this:

a. scale the image before serving it
b. use css to scale it (external stylesheet)

But hang on - i've just remembered - you're using an image tag at the mo. Are you putting the required size in there?

I don't get you. what is mo?
in both cases the html is exactly as I have shown.
<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="images/logo.jpg"  width=120>

but in one case, I intercepted with the servlet, in the other case, it uses the default server response.

>><img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="images/logo.jpg"  width=120>

That's not a servlet url is it?

The html should be something like

<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="/imageServlet?image=log.jpg"  width="120" height="120">

I did not follow that part of your suggestion, because I know I can trap the image loading by its url anyhow. doing it this way, I don't interfere with loading of platform related images, only my application specific images.

but the question is unrelated to the src attribute, it is now focusing on the width specification. why is there this differences in response to the width attribute when using  the servlet approach. do you know?

I'm confused. You just posted some code that is clearly referencing a static file (images/logo.jpg). Are you saying there's a problem with that in itself?

obviously you are missing one point i am making. I used the url-patterns like

/images to pick up my image requests for images and redirect those request to my servlet. so even though it looks like a static image request, it is actually a dynamic one.

other static images which does not sit in /images directly still get served up statically. does this clarify what I am doing?

the key question is not how I am triggering the servlet, but the fact that static images do not seem to be stretched according to the width attribute, but the dynamic ones do. is that the behavior you would expect? if possible, I would like them to behave identically.

>>so even though it looks like a static image request, it is actually a dynamic one.

OK, i think i've got you now - some are static, some are dynamic, i.e. you will sometimes use the code i gave you and other times return a static img when the path pattern is not /images/* ?

is correct. now what about the width question?

>>now what about the width question?

Let's try to sort it out. Can you give me the full image tag for a dynamic one and the full image tag for a static one that behaves badly?

nothing to see there

<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="images/logo.jpg"  width=120>   // static
<img id="TopLogo_logo_jpg_id" src="img/logo.jpg"  width=120>   // dynamic

dynamic ones use /imgs directory path.

You need to define the height as well and quote all attributes