Why do I get error when compiling java servlet?

Question

I have created a java servlet named TestingServlet and get error when I try to compile file. I have set the classpath for servlet-api.jar and also tried including classpath when compiling:

javac -cp "C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 10.0\lib\servlet-api.jar" TestingServlet.java

Code is :

import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class TestingServlet extends HttpServlet {

 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, 
  HttpServletResponse response) 
  throws ServletException, IOException {
  
  PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
  out.println("<HTML>");
  out.println("<HEAD>");
  out.println("<TITLE>Servlet Testing</TITLE>");
  out.println("</HEAD>");
  out.println("<BODY>");
  out.println("Welcome to the Servlet Testing Center");
  out.println("</BODY>");
  out.println("</HTML>");
 }
}

Error is:

TestingServlet.java:6: error: cannot find symbol
public class TestingServlet extends HttpServlet {
                                    ^
  symbol: class HttpServlet
TestingServlet.java:8: error: cannot find symbol
 public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
                   ^
  symbol:   class HttpServletRequest
  location: class TestingServlet
TestingServlet.java:9: error: cannot find symbol
  HttpServletResponse response)
  ^
  symbol:   class HttpServletResponse
  location: class TestingServlet
TestingServlet.java:10: error: cannot find symbol
  throws ServletException, IOException {
         ^
  symbol:   class ServletException
  location: class TestingServlet
TestingServlet.java:1: error: package javax.servlet does not exist
import javax.servlet.*;
^
TestingServlet.java:2: error: package javax.servlet.http does not exist
import javax.servlet.http.*;
^
6 errors

the stacktrace seems to explain it pretty well. It can't find those packages and classes you are trying to use. Make sure they are on your classpath — Stultuske, Apr 12 '22 at 07:27

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '22 at 07:30

Tomcat 10 Servlet API uses the new jakarta namespace, so the package names changed, as explained in the Tomcat 10 page:

Users of Tomcat 10 onwards should be aware that, as a result of the move from Java EE to Jakarta EE as part of the transfer of Java EE to the Eclipse Foundation, the primary package for all implemented APIs has changed from javax.* to jakarta.*.

So in your case

import jakarta.servlet.*
import jakarta.servlet.http.*

Why do I get error when compiling java servlet?

1 Answers1