Servlet to send RTF

[ken monroe]

Hello!
I've got a JSP/HTML form page that can e-mail a letter, update a database record or print a letter on preformatted letterhead, depending on which button the user selects. The preformatted letterhead is from a Word template.

I generated RTF text from the Word template and placed some dynamic variables in it. Now I want to send the completed RTF, which is 273 kb because of the letterhead image, to the user's browser and have Word open it. I'm using the code shown below. My question is - how to I get the RTF text into the "theMessage" variable? Or do I use something besides a string var?

Thx

public class sendRTF extends HttpServlet {   
public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
  throws ServletException, IOException {
    String fileName = "letter.xml";
    String theMessage = "";
    
    ServletOutputStream stream = null;
    BufferedInputStream buf = null;
    
    try{
      stream = response.getOutputStream();
      File rtf = new File("/" + fileName);
      response.setContentType("text/rtf");
      response.addHeader("Content-Disposition","attachment; filename="+filename);
      response.setContentLength((int) rtf.length());
      
      stream.write(theMessage);
    }catch (IOException ioe) {
      throw new ServletException(ioe.getMessage());      
    }finally {
      if(stream != null)
        stream.close();      
    }//end finally    
  }//end doGet
  
    public void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
  throws ServletException, IOException {
    doGet(request,response);
  }//end doPost  
}  

[Bear Bibeault]

Seems like a simple matter of reading the file off disk and writing it to the response's output stream.

Is that what you are having issue with?
[ July 13, 2005: Message edited by: Bear Bibeault ]

[ken monroe]

Well, parts of the RTF are generated dynamically (address, signature block etc.) based on session variables so I was just going to stick them in the appropriate spot in the RTF text and assign the whole mess to a string and send that to the browser.

If I go with a file, I've got to generate the same RTF, then write it to a file, then read it back in (as a stream I guess) and send it. At the moment, my Web form calls a JSP page that contains the code below, so when param.prntLetter is sent, I though I send processing to the servlet...?

Thx

<c:when test="${not empty param.prntLetter}">
  <%@ page contentType="application/msword;charset=utf-8" %>
  <% response.setHeader("Content-Disposition","attachment; filename=" + "Letter.xml" ); %>
  <%--GET THE CURRENT DATE FOR THE LETTERHEAD--%>
  <jsp:useBean id="now" class="java.util.Date" />
  <%@ include file="/personnel/faculty/rtfLetter.rtf" %>
  </c:when>
  <%--EMAIL THE FORM LETTER--%>
  <c:when test="${not empty param.emailLetter}">
    <%@ include file="/personnel/faculty/emailLetter.inc" %>
  </c:when>
  <%--EMAIL THE STUDENT NOTES--%>
  <c:when test="${not empty param.emailStudentNotes}">
    <%@ include file="/personnel/faculty/studentNotes.inc" %>
  </c:when>
  <c:when test="${not empty param.updtRecord}"> UPDATE STUDENT RECORD
    <%--<%@ include file="/personnel/faculty/updtRecord.inc" %>--%>
  </c:when>
  <c :-o	 therwise>Ooops! You escaped the CASE logic.</c :-o	 therwise>
  </c:choose>