Java Servlet & JSP Cookbook

Web applications can sometimes show a number of errors that you don't want users to see. If a user who expects to be served an information-rich page is instead greeted with an ugly and incomprehensible announcement of an "HTTP Status 500" in her web browser, you can bet this visit to the site will be her last! All web sites handle unexpected HTTP status codes (such as the "404 Not Found" or "403 Forbidden") with a friendly and informative error message, but you'll want to hide these messages from your users. Tools to handle both Java runtime exceptions and these unanticipated HTTP status codes are available to developers, and the recipes in this chapter show you how to use them effectively.