Chapter 6. Sending Multimedia Content

Until now, every servlet we've written has returned a standard HTML page. The web consists of more than HTML, though, so in this chapter we'll look at some of the more interesting things a servlet can return. We begin with a look at why you'd want to return different MIME types and how to do it. The most common use of a different MIME type is for returning an image graphic generated by a servlet (or even by an applet embedded inside the servlet!). The chapter also explores when and how to send a compressed response and examines using multipart responses to implement server push.