A simple question on setContentType

Hi All,I'm a newbie to Java servlet,just wonder a very simple question:
For the method
response.setContentType("text/html"),what's the
meaning of the left and right stuff of "/", I mean,can
I switch them? And also("image/gif").

What you see as the parameter of setContentType() is an Internet constant
known as a "MIME type". They describe the document that follows. Often
servlets are sending an HTML document, so the content type for that is
"text/html". If you're sending a GIF file, then you use "image/gif", and if
you're sending an Adobe PDF document you use "application/pdf". There's a
big list of these, partially set by a standards committee, which you can
find somewhere on the Internet (but I forget where).

Can you switch the two halves? Sure, and you can try using the
"setTypeContent()" method too, but you won't get a useful result.

PC2

H. Ma <mahuiyuan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:3a96aae3@news.devx.com...
>
> Hi All,I'm a newbie to Java servlet,just wonder a very simple question:
> For the method
> response.setContentType("text/html"),what's the
> meaning of the left and right stuff of "/", I mean,can
> I switch them? And also("image/gif").
>
>

Thanks a lot for your answer. So,you mean, the right one to the '/' is what
the servlet sends, and what about the left one? why is it 'text' to 'html'?
Why it should be 'image' upon 'gif'? Thanks again.

No, you have to put both "parts" in the correct order. These codes were
designed by a standards organization so "WHY" is not a relevant question.
That's the way it is.

PC2

H Ma <mahuiyuan@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:3a99d2d4$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Thanks a lot for your answer. So,you mean, the right one to the '/' is
what
> the servlet sends, and what about the left one? why is it 'text' to
'html'?
> Why it should be 'image' upon 'gif'? Thanks again.