How to create a Basic Jersey RESTful CRUD Example with Login/Authentication feature - rest

Question

okay so i have made the basic rest example and now i wanted to take it a step further by using authentication (user login) in my example.
I am only using Java Collection for my data. NO DATABASE !!
I am storeing the user data in a Map where email is the key to his password !!
But i am getting stuck at the basic authentication part where a form request is being posted to my rest -post method where it takes the values from the users...something like this:
#POST
#Produces(MediaType.TEXT_HTML)
#Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED,
public void newUser(
#FormParam("email") String email,
#FormParam("password") String password,#ContextHttpServletResponse servletResponse
) throws IOException {
// Form Processing algo
if(emailexists){
servletResponse.sendRedirect("http://localhost:8080/xxx/LoginFailed.html");
}
else{
servletResponse.sendRedirect("http://localhost:8080/xxx/UserHomPage.html");
}
}
Dont know what i am doing wrong ..
Also only Java Collections are to be used (like Lists,Map.etc).
Am i using the right technique here or anyone has got a better one at their disposel.
Any help would be appreciated !
I am on windows using apache tomcat 6..
AND A TOTAL NOOB AT THIS THING !!

Answer 1

To save persistent data (like usernames and passwords) without a database, you should consider saving the data in a text file server side and reading the data back into a map in your constructor.
However, the more data you have the more expensive this process is. If you have a large number of users you really should consider using databases, because they are more organized, more efficient, and far more easy to use.
#Path("myPath")
public class MyResource {
private static final String FILE_PATH="my/path/to/userdata.txt";
private HashMap<String, String> _userData;
public MyResource() {
try {
Scanner scanner = new Scanner(new File(FILE_PATH));
_userData = new HashMap<String, String>();
while(scanner.hasNext()) {
String[] line = scanner.nextLine().split(",");
_userData.put(line[0].trim(), line[1].trim());
}
} catch(IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
#POST
#Consumes(MediaType.APPLICATION_FORM_URLENCODED)
public Response addNewUser(#FormParam("email") String email,
#FormParam("password") String password)
throws IOException {
PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(new File(FILE_PATH));
int statusCode = 200;
// If that email already exists, don't print to file
if(_userData.containsKey(email))
statusCode = 400;
else
writer.println(email + "," + password);
writer.close();
return Response.status(statusCode);
}
}