BotDetect CAPTCHA Crash Course

On this page we demonstrate how easy it is to integrate BotDetect Captcha in your forms.

We'll use default BotDetect settings; to see how powerful and customizable BotDetect is, check the BotDetect features demo.

1. Include CAPTCHA Library File

Include botdetect.jar into your web application's library folder (application/WEB-INF/lib). This file is included in the BotDetectComponentJSF download web archive.
If you want to share the Captcha library among multiple applications copy it to your web container's (or domain's) library folder.

2. Show a CAPTCHA Challenge on the Form

On the very top of the source file for the web form you want to protect against bots, add:

<%@page import="botdetect.web.Captcha"%>

On the web form you want to protect against bots, add:

<% 
// Adding BotDetect Captcha to the page
Captcha captcha = Captcha.load(request, "exampleCaptcha"); 
captcha.renderCaptchaMarkup(pageContext.getServletContext(), 
    pageContext.getOut());
%>

<input id="captchaCodeTextBox" type="text" name="captchaCodeTextBox" />

3. Check User Input During Form Submission

When the form is submitted, the Captcha validation result must be checked:

<%
if("POST".equalsIgnoreCase(request.getMethod())){
  // validate the Captcha to check we're not dealing with a bot
  boolean isHuman = captcha.validate(request, 
      request.getParameter("captchaCodeTextBox"));
  if(isHuman){
    // TODO: Captcha validation passed, perform protected action
  } else {
    // TODO: Captcha validation failed, show error message
  }
}
%>

4. Configure your Application

Update your application configuration (web.xml) file.

<servlet-name>BotDetect Captcha</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>botdetect.web.http.CaptchaServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>BotDetect Captcha</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/botdetectcaptcha</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>