asked on

How to get operating system user made the request to java servlet from the servlet it self

I have a java application where i want to get the currrent operating system user that made the request to a java servlet

i want a way to get it from the servlet

Please respond ASAP such it is a critical issue for me

Thanks in advance

bloodredsun

>>I have a java application where i want to get the currrent operating system user that made the request to a java servlet

By definition, a servlet responds to a request over HTTP not the local operating system so it would imposiible to get " currrent operating system user" is you are tyring to get the id of a user on the local system.

What you can do is require the person to be authorized and you can then get their identity using the method HttpServletRequest.getUserPrincipal() which returns a java.security.Principal object containing the name of the current authenticated user.

Can you be more specific?

bloodredsun

In a servlet, the above can be done by:

      public void doGet( HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
            Principal myUserPricipal = request.getUserPrincipal() ;
            String name = myUserPricipal.getName() ;
      }

bloodredsun

Your other option would be to get HttpServletRequest.getRemoteUser() which returns the login of the user making this request, if the user has been authenticated, or null if the user has not been authenticated.

bloodredsun

If you wanted to find the OS being used by the user you can get it from the headers
e.g.

            Enumeration headerNames = request.getHeaderNames() ;
            while( headerNames.hasMoreElements()){
                  String strHeaderKey = (String)headerNames.nextElement() ;
                  out.println("HeaderName: " + strHeaderKey + "<br>");
                  out.println("HeaderValue: " + request.getHeader( strHeaderKey ) + "<br>");
            }

You need the one called "user-agent"

amr_swg

ASKER

Dear Sir

I tried both ways but it didn't work.

Please advice

bloodredsun

amr_swg ,

Please re-state your question as it's not very clear. What exactly are you trying to do?

for example...

are you trying to get the OS of the user?
are you trying to get the login name of the user for their local OS?
are you trying to get the login name of the user for your own web app?

amr_swg

ASKER

Dear sir

are you trying to get the login name of the user for their local OS (windows)

i want the user once login to the operating system ,if he tried to use our web application , it automatic detect it's name and open the application directly

This issue is very important for me to be done like that ,please advice

Thank you

amr_swg

ASKER

Any update please ,this issue is very citical for me

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

bloodredsun

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

gnoon

amr_swg,

You can use java script to get OS name of client and send it to the servlet.

<html>
<head>
<script>

</script>
</head>
<body onload="sendOSNameToServlet()">
</body>
</html>

gnoon

You can get the osname from the request in the servlet by this

public void doGet( HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
String osName = request.getParameter("osname");
}

bloodredsun

Do you not think it would be easier to get the OS name from the request header "user-agent"?

The user-agent header is sent with every request a so you don't need to go to the trouble of detecting it with JavaScript (which may be turned off) and then reading it.

And as the question has been restated as "get the login name of the user for their local OS (windows)" which means that he wants the login name not the OS, I'm not sure that your method will achieve this. It can't be acheived in JSP or JavaScript but it can be acheived in ActiveX which requires the user to have IE running and Active X enabled, both of which cannot be guaranteed.

----------
if(typeof window.ActiveXObject != "undefined") {
var ws = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Network");
alert("Username: " + ws.UserName);
}
-----------

gnoon

bloodredsun,

Yes, my way can't get the login name of the user that stored in the os.

>i want the user once login to the operating system ,if he tried to use our web application , it automatic detect it's name and open the application directly

My understand is, "it's name" means "operating system's name".

amr_swg,

You said that:
>I have a java application where i want to get the currrent operating system user that made the request to a java servlet

Did you mean that your system consists of 2 applications: java application and web application ... ?
The java app. is running on the client, and you want the java app. to get some informations of the client and send them to the servlet on your server.
Do I miss understand something?

Can you please explain more detail of what you're trying to do again, scene by scene (if posible)?

Regards,
G noon

TimYates

I think he wants a "unified login"*

ie: by logging into the windows machine, that login information will be passed to and checked by the webserver...

Which I don't think is possible :-(

(* I may be wrong)

Sorry for butting in ;-)

bloodredsun

Hi Tim,

I think you're right, he wants the ability to do a "single-sign on" which can't be done.

>>If you are trying to get the windows login of the user as they access your web application, the answer is you can't.

But the wording of the question is a bit ambivalent...

TimYates

true... I just couldn't bear to see you both putting so much effort in ;-)

Tim

bloodredsun

>>I just couldn't bear to see you both putting so much effort in

LOL

TimYates

;-)

bloodredsun

Agreed