VelocityServlet is a subproject of Velocity. Its goals is to create a standalone Velocity servlet that can be used for template rendering in Web applications.

Intended audience of this subproject are Web application developers that plan on adding Velocity as a view layer technology to their Servlet-based web application framework. VelocityServlet offers the following key features:

• VelocityViewServlet provides is a standalone Java servlet that renders Velocity templates. Its class name is org.apache.velocity.tools.view.servlet.VelocityViewServlet. It can be invoked either directly from Web clients or from other servlets by forwarding request for template rendering to it. Its usage is similar to the JSPServlet for rendering JSP pages.
• VelocityViewServlet makes ServletRequest attributes, HttpSession attributes and ServletContext attributes automatically available to the template designer through the Velocity context. It is not necessary to explicitely populate the Velocity context.
• VelocityViewServlet offers toolbox support. It is possible to define a set of view tools (view helpers) that are made available to the template designer automatically through the Velcity context.
• Velocity log output can be redirected to the log infrastructure of the Web application. By default, the log is directed to the logging facility provided by the Servlet API.

Using VelocityViewServlet, it becomes possible to write Web applications that are independent of a particular view technology. This opens a straightforward migration path between JSP pages and Velocity templates as the view layer technology in Web applications.

A typical application case for VelocityViewServlet is to use it in conjunction with a Servlet-based web application framework. VelocityStruts is a Velocity subproject that brings Velocity to the Struts world and is the first application that takes advantage of VelocityViewServlet.

To be added

• Examples
• Configuration of Servlet
• Configuration of Toolbox
• Javadoc