Single servlets for B2B message routing

A system for routing requests from clients to a plurality of different business protocols, the system comprising:

• a server, executing on a computer, operable to receive requests from clients, process the requests using servlets executing on the server, and return responses to the clients;
• a lookup table on the server containing address information for routing requests from the clients;
• a business servlet executing on the server that is operable to receive the requests from the server, process the requests and route the requests using an internal API to one of other servlets executing on the server, and appropriate business protocol destinations;
• a plurality of servlets executing on the server, each operable to receive the requests from the server, process the requests, and to generate responses to be sent to the clients;
• a chain of filters on the server, including a first filter in the chain of filters corresponding to the business servlet, operable to receive a request forwarded from the server, and a filter corresponding to each one of the plurality of servlets executing on the server, wherein each filter is capable of determining, using the lookup table, whether the filter recognizes a destination URL associated with the request as belonging to one of the plurality of servlets;
• a default servlet, included in the plurality of servlets executing on the server, operable to process requests and generate error responses to the clients;
• wherein when a request is received at the server from a client, the server forwards the request to the chain of filters, and wherein if the first filter recognizes the destination URL in the request, the first filter routes the request to the business servlet, if the business servlet recognizes the destination URL in the request, then the business servlet routes the request using the internal API to one of the plurality of servlets or the appropriate business protocol destination executing on the server that can process a business protocol specified in the request to process the request, if the first filter does not recognize the destination URL in the request, the request is iteratively routed to the remaining filters of the plurality of filters until one of the remaining filters recognizes the destination URL in the request, then the request is routed by the recognizing filter to its corresponding servlet executing on the server which processes the request and generates a response to the client, wherein the response is sent by the server to the client;
• and
• if none of the filters recognizes the destination URL in the request, the request is routed to the default servlet by the last filter in the chain of filters and wherein the default servlet generates an error response to the client, wherein the error response is sent by the server to the client.

A method for routing requests from clients to a plurality of different business protocols, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a server, a request from a client which includes a destination uniform resource locator (URL), wherein the server is operable to receive requests from clients, process the requests using servlets executing on the server, and return responses to the clients, and wherein the server includes a forwarding application program interface (API), a business servlet executing on the server that is operable to receive the requests, process the requests and route the requests using an internal API to one of other servlets executing on the server, and appropriate business protocol destinations, a plurality of servlets executing on the server that are each operable to receive the requests from the server, process the requests, and generate responses to be sent to the clients, wherein the plurality of servlets includes a default servlet;
• forwarding the request from the server to an appropriate servlet executing on the server using the forwarding API based on the destination URL associated with the request to process the request, wherein if no appropriate servlet is identified then the request is forwarded to the default servlet;
• if the appropriate servlet is the business servlet, then if the business servlet recognizes a destination URL in the request, routing by the business servlet using the internal API, the request to one of the plurality of servlets or the appropriate business protocol destination executing on the server that can process a business protocol specified in the request to process the request and generate a response to the client;
• if the business servlet does not recognize the destination URL in the request, forwarding, by the business servlet, the request to one of the plurality of servlets executing on the server by looking up an appropriate servlet through the forwarding API, wherein the appropriate servlet processes the request and generates a response to the client, wherein the response is sent from the server to the client;
• and
• if the business servlet neither recognizes the destination URL in the request nor is able to find an appropriate servlet to which to forward the request, then routing, by the business servlet, the request to the default servlet, wherein the default servlet generates an error response to the client, and wherein the error response is sent from the server to the client.

A method for routing requests from clients to a plurality of different business protocols, the method comprising:

• receiving a request from a client at a server operable to receive requests from clients, process the requests using servlets executing on the server, and return responses to the clients, wherein the server includes
• a business servlet executing on the server that is operable to receive the requests from the server, process the requests and route the requests using an internal API to one of other servlets executing on the server, and appropriate business protocol destinations, a plurality of servlets, including a default servlet, executing on the server which are each operable to process requests from and generate responses to be sent to the clients, and wherein the plurality of servlets include a business servlet and a default servlet;
• forwarding the request from the server to a first filter of a chain of filters on the server;
• wherein the chain of filters includes the first filter corresponding to the business servlet, operable to receive the request from the server, and a filter corresponding to each one of the plurality of servlets executing on the server, wherein each filter in the chain of filters can determine, using a lookup table that contains address information for routing requests, whether the filter recognizes the destination URL as belonging to one of the plurality of servlets executing on the server;
• if the first filter recognizes the destination URL in the request, then routing the request to the business servlet;
• if the business servlet recognizes a business protocol specified in the request, then routing the request using the internal API to one of the plurality of servlets or the appropriate business protocol destination executing on the server that can process the business protocol specified in the request to process the request and to generate a response to the client;
• if the first filter does not recognize the destination URL in the request, then iteratively routing the request to the remaining filters until one of the filters recognizes the destination URL in the request, wherein the recognizing filter then routes the request to its corresponding servlet which processes the request and generates a response to the client, wherein the response is sent by the server to the client;
• and
• if none of the filters recognizes the destination URL in the request, routing the request to the default servlet by the last filter in the chain of filters, and wherein the default servlet generates an error response to the client, wherein the error response is sent by the server to the client.