Hello,
I have a request to clarify/modify Section 3.7 of the proposed final draft of the Servlet 2.3 specification dated October 20, 2000.
I think this javax.servlet.context.tempdir could be extremely useful and am glad to see its addition. One thing I dont understand is why this is a "Temporary Working Directory" versus a "Working Directory". Specifically, being a "temporary" directory implies it's lifespan cannot be guaranteed. I think this directory could be much more useful, if its lifetime could be guaranteed as long as the Web application is installed.
One way I think this could be used is for storing permanent user configuration and files for the life of the web application's installation. For Example, allowing an admin user to set Database connection parameters via a Admin servlet. These parameters could be stored in an XML file inside this working directory. Also, if the user wanted to upload his/her own Images, then they could also be saved inside this directory. There is no need for any developer/admin to have prior knowledge of the exact location of these files on their system. This is the responsibility of the application container to provide this environment.
I think the specification needs to specify that the this directory NOT be deleted or cleaned out upon container startup and/or shutdown. In conjunction, the name of javax.servlet.context.tempdir be modified to javax.servlet.context.workingdir.
Just my 2 cents....
Jason Hoffman
Software Developer
KUIT, Inc.
Ph 214-373-5227
Cell 214-676-4376
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
