Alden Hosting offers

private JVM (Java Virtual Machine), Java Server Pages (JSP),

Servlets, and Servlets Manager with our Web Hosting Plans WEB 4 PLAN and WEB 5 PLAN .
BUYING TIP: Before choosing another JSP/Servlets web host - make sure they fully understand JSP/Servlets hosting and can support your Java web app technical inquiries.

Make sure it's not a VPS package - why? VPS is a Virtual Private Server, it's not like getting your own Tomcat server - who is going to support your Java web application on VPS, definitely not the web host - so beware of this! If you have any questions and/or concerns, please email us at support@AldenHosting.com .

Before you choose a Java web hosting provider you should ask yourself "Why is it that only few companies offer Java hosting?" The answer to this common question is simple - hosting Java web applications (i.e. JSP and Servlets hosting) is a complicated task that requires Java expertise in and out. Anyone can offer ASP.NET and/or PHP web hosting but only a few can offer quality Java (JSP/Servlets) hosting.

At Alden Hosting we eat and breathe Java! We are the industry leader in providing affordable, quality and efficient Java web hosting in the shared hosting marketplace. All our sites run on our Java hosing platform configured for optimum performance using Tomcat 5.5.X, MySQL 4.1.x, Apache 2.0.xx and web application frameworks such as Struts, Hibernate, Cocoon, Ant, etc.

We offer only one type of Java hosting - Private Tomcat. Hosting accounts on the Private Tomcat environment get their very own Tomcat server. You can start and re-start your entire Tomcat server yourself.

Great JSP web hosting can be found at Alden JSP Hosting.

Java Server Pages (JSP)
(JSP) A freely available specification for extending the Java Servlet API to generate dynamic web pages on a web server. The JSP specification was written by industry leaders as part of the Java development program.

JSP assists developers in creating HTML or XML pages that combine static (fixed) page templates with dynamic content. Separating the user interface from content generation allows page designers to change the page layout without having to rewrite program code. JSP was designed to be simpler than pure servlets or CGI scripting.

JSP uses XML-like tags and scripts written in Java to generate the page content. HTML or XML formatting tags are passed back to the client. Application logic can live on the server, e.g. in JavaBeans.

JSP is a cross-platform alternative to Microsoft's Active Server Pages, which only runs in IIS on Windows NT.

Applications written to the JSP specification can be run on compliant web servers, and web servers such as Apache, Netscape Enterprise Server, and Microsoft IIS that have had Java support added.

Java Server Pages (JSP)

Great JSP web site hosting can be found at Alden JSP Web Site Hosting.


JSP or JavaServer Pages, known to some as the Java Scripting Preprocessor, is a Java technology that allows developers to dynamically generate HTML, XML or some other type of web page. The technology allows Java code and certain pre-defined actions to be embedded into static content.

The JSP syntax adds additional XML tags, called JSP actions, to be used to invoke built-in functionality. Additionally, the technology allows for the creation of JSP tag libraries that act as extensions to the standard HTML or XML tags. Tag libraries provide a platform independent way of extending the capabilities of a web server.


JSPs are compiled into Servlets by a JSP compiler. A JSP compiler may generate a servlet in Java code that is then compiled by the Java compiler, or it may generate byte code for the servlet directly. In either case, it is helpful to understand how the JSP compiler transforms the page into a Java servlet. For an example, see the following input, and its resulting generated Java servlet.


JSP and Servlets

Architecturally speaking, you can view JSP as a high-level abstraction of servlets that is implemented as an extension of the Servlet 2.1 API.

JSP Syntax A JavaServer Page may be broken down into the following pieces:


* static data such as HTML
* JSP directives such as the include directive
* JSP scripting elements and variables
* JSP actions
* custom tags


Static data

Static data is written out to the HTTP response exactly as it appears in the input file. Thus a valid JSP input would be a normal HTML page with no embedded java or actions. In that case, the same data would be sent in the response each and every time by the web server. Of course, the point of JSP is to allow dynamic data to be inserted into the static content.

JSP directives

JSP directives control how the JSP compiler generates the servlet. The following directives are available:


* include The include directive informs the JSP compiler to include a complete file into the current file. It is as if the contents of the included file were pasted directly into the original file. This functionality is similar to the one provided by the C preprocessor.
<%@ include file="somefile.ext" %>
* page There are several options to the page directive.
o import results in a java import statement being inserted into the resulting file
o contentType specifies the content that is generated. This should be used if HTML is not used or if the character set is not the default character set.
o errorPage indicates the page that will be shown if an exception occurs while processing the HTTP request.
o isErrorPage if set to true, it indicates that this is the error page.
o isThreadSafe indicates if the resulting servlet is thread safe.
+ <%@ page import="java.util.*" %> //example import
+ <%@ page contentType="text/html" %> //example contentType
+ <%@ page isErrorPage=false %> //example for non error page
+ <%@ page isThreadSafe=true %> //example for a thread safe JSP
+ Note: Only the "import" page directive can be used multiple times in the same JSP.

Java Server Pages (JSP)

Great JSP web site hosting can be found at Alden JSP Web Site Hosting.


JSP or JavaServer Pages, known to some as the Java Scripting Preprocessor, is a Java technology that allows developers to dynamically generate HTML, XML or some other type of web page. The technology allows Java code and certain pre-defined actions to be embedded into static content.

The JSP syntax adds additional XML tags, called JSP actions, to be used to invoke built-in functionality. Additionally, the technology allows for the creation of JSP tag libraries that act as extensions to the standard HTML or XML tags. Tag libraries provide a platform independent way of extending the capabilities of a web server.


JSPs are compiled into Servlets by a JSP compiler. A JSP compiler may generate a servlet in Java code that is then compiled by the Java compiler, or it may generate byte code for the servlet directly. In either case, it is helpful to understand how the JSP compiler transforms the page into a Java servlet. For an example, see the following input, and its resulting generated Java servlet.


JSP and Servlets

Architecturally speaking, you can view JSP as a high-level abstraction of servlets that is implemented as an extension of the Servlet 2.1 API.

JSP Syntax A JavaServer Page may be broken down into the following pieces:


* static data such as HTML
* JSP directives such as the include directive
* JSP scripting elements and variables
* JSP actions
* custom tags


Static data

Static data is written out to the HTTP response exactly as it appears in the input file. Thus a valid JSP input would be a normal HTML page with no embedded java or actions. In that case, the same data would be sent in the response each and every time by the web server. Of course, the point of JSP is to allow dynamic data to be inserted into the static content.

JSP directives

JSP directives control how the JSP compiler generates the servlet. The following directives are available:


* include The include directive informs the JSP compiler to include a complete file into the current file. It is as if the contents of the included file were pasted directly into the original file. This functionality is similar to the one provided by the C preprocessor.
<%@ include file="somefile.ext" %>
* page There are several options to the page directive.
o import results in a java import statement being inserted into the resulting file
o contentType specifies the content that is generated. This should be used if HTML is not used or if the character set is not the default character set.
o errorPage indicates the page that will be shown if an exception occurs while processing the HTTP request.
o isErrorPage if set to true, it indicates that this is the error page.
o isThreadSafe indicates if the resulting servlet is thread safe.
+ <%@ page import="java.util.*" %> //example import
+ <%@ page contentType="text/html" %> //example contentType
+ <%@ page isErrorPage=false %> //example for non error page
+ <%@ page isThreadSafe=true %> //example for a thread safe JSP
+ Note: Only the "import" page directive can be used multiple times in the same JSP.