BotDetect CAPTCHA Options: Application Config Settings Code Example

The Java Captcha options: Application config settings code example shows how to configure Captcha challenges by overriding Captcha library defaults in application configuration files.

First Time Here?

Check the BotDetect Developer Crash Course for key integration steps.

BotDetect allows user-defined customization of many Captcha options through <context-param> deployment descriptor in the WEB-INF/web.xml file.

Captcha settings from this configuration file will apply to all Captcha challenges shown on forms in the applications, and will act as defaults with which all Captcha objects will be created. This makes configuration file settings the simplest and most convenient way of Captcha customization for most use cases.

The WEB-INF/web.xml file used in this code example contains detailed descriptions and explanations of the many customizable Captcha options exposed by the BotDetect Java Captcha configuration API.

Download the BotDetect Java CAPTCHA Library and run this example

Within this page, the root folder of the extracted archive is referred as the <BDC-DIR>.

This example is in the <BDC-DIR>/examples/t_api-captcha~conf_via-web.xml/ folder; and contains the following files:

Running Example

This example's war file (in BotDetect download package) already embeds all dependencies.

In case you are making this example from scratch in your IDE, you need to ensure botdetect.jar and botdetect-servlet.jar are in the classpath.

index.jsp

<%@page import="com.captcha.botdetect.web.servlet.Captcha"%>
<%@page import="com.captcha.botdetect.web.CaptchaUrls"%>
<%@page trimDirectiveWhitespaces="true"%>
<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  <title>BotDetect Java CAPTCHA Options: Application Config Settings Code Example</title>
  <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="stylesheet.css" />
</head>
<body>
  <form method="post" action="" class="column" id="form1">

    <h1>BotDetect Java CAPTCHA Options: <br /> Application Config Settings Code Example</h1>

    <fieldset>
      <legend>Java CAPTCHA validation</legend>
      <label for="captchaCode">Retype the characters from the picture:</label>

      <% 
        // Adding BotDetect Captcha to the page
        Captcha captcha = Captcha.load(request, "appConfigCustomizedCaptcha");
        captcha.setUserInputID("captchaCode");
        String captchaHtml = captcha.getHtml();
        out.write(captchaHtml);
      %>

      <div class="validationDiv">
        <input name="captchaCode" type="text" id="captchaCode" />
        <input type="submit" name="ValidateCaptchaButton" id="validateCaptchaButton" value="Validate" />

        <% 
          // when the form is submitted
          if ("POST".equalsIgnoreCase(request.getMethod())) {
            // validate the Captcha to check we're not dealing with a bot
            boolean isHuman = captcha.validate(request.getParameter("captchaCode"));
            if (isHuman) {
              // Captcha validation passed, perform protected action
              out.print("<span class=\"correct\">Correct code</span>");
            } else {
              // Captcha validation failed, show error message
              out.print("<span class=\"incorrect\">Incorrect code</span>");
            }
          }
        %>
      </div>
    </fieldset>
  </form>
</body>
</html>

Although adding Captcha to a form follows standard procedure we used this example to show how to "manually" insert Html markup for BotDetect stylesheet and client script into page and how to prevent Captcha object to automatically render these markups.

web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
        http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">
  <session-config>
    <session-timeout>
      30
    </session-timeout>
  </session-config>
  
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>BotDetect Captcha</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>com.captcha.botdetect.web.servlet.CaptchaServlet</servlet-class>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>BotDetect Captcha</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/botdetectcaptcha</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
  
  <!-- Number of characters in randomly generated Captcha codes 
    (answers to Captcha challenges).
    The default value is random (4-6 characters).
    Valid user Captcha code length setting values are integers larger 
    than 0 and smaller than 16.
    It is recommended to always randomize Captcha code length since it 
    significantly increases Captcha security vs. automated analysis.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_codeLength</param-name>
    <param-value>3-5</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Character types used to generate random Captcha codes. 
    The default value is ALPHANUMERIC.
    Valid user Captcha code style setting values are string of
    CodeStyle names (ALPHA, NUMERIC, ALPHANUMERIC)
    Since entropy of the Captcha challenge depends on character set size to 
    the power of Captcha code length, alpha codes should be slightly longer 
    than alphanumeric ones (while numeric Captcha codes should be significantly
    longer) to achieve an appropriate level of Captcha security. 
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_codeStyle</param-name>
    <param-value>ALPHA</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Strings that should never occur in randomly generated Captcha codes. Can be 
    both single characters (allows Captcha character set customization) and 
    sequences of two or more characters (useful for swear words filtering, avoiding
    particular hard-to-read sequences etc.).
    The default value is empty (Captcha code filtering is optional).
    Valid user disallowed Captcha code substring setting values are lists of 
    arbitrary strings, in CSV format. Whitespace is ignored, and disallowed 
    substrings are not case-sensitive (because Captcha codes are case-insensitive 
    as well). 
    The character set used for Captcha code generation is automatically chosen 
    based on Captcha locale. Since each character needs to have its pronunciation 
    recorded and available to BotDetect code, expanding that default character set 
    to include new characters is not supported (it would break Captcha sound 
    functionality). However, if a particular character is found hard to read, 
    it can easily be excluded from randomly generated Captcha codes. Furthermore, 
    offensive or otherwise undesirable words and character sequences can be banned.
    Since Captcha codes are generally short, it doesn't make sense to use an 
    actual dictionary of words, but simple short sequences that cover multiple 
    disallowed values. E.g. to prevent the random generator from using both 'man',
    'manners' and 'mannequin' in Captcha codes, it's enough to ban the 'man' 
    sequence.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_disallowedCodeSubstrings</param-name>
    <param-value>d,e,f,g,h,i,j,k,l,m,n,o,p,q,r,s,t,u,v,w,x,y,z,aa,bb,cc,abc,bca,cab</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- The time period after random Captcha code generation during which Captcha 
    challenges based on it can be solved: when it expires, even correct inputs 
    will be considered as invalid submissions.
    The default value is 1200 seconds (20 minutes).
    Valid user Captcha code timeout setting values are integers larger than 30 
    and smaller than 7200 (i.e. between half a minute and 2 hours). 
    Reducing the Captcha code timeout is an optional security improvement that
    narrows the window of opportunity for attacks based on reusing the Captcha 
    challenge on another site controlled by the attacker, proxying it to human 
    solvers, or similar attempts to bypass the Captcha protection. However, to 
    meet usability criteria, users filling out the form should always be given 
    reasonably enough time to solve the Captcha challenge. Since Captcha codes 
    are stored in Session state by default, please note that if the configured 
    code timeout is longer than the active Session timeout, Captcha validation 
    will still fail if the user Session expires due to inactivity.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_codeTimeout</param-name>
    <param-value>600</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Application configuration switch to use if you want to run automated tests 
    that need to be able to submit a Captcha-protected form in QA environments.
    The default value is false.
    Valid user Captcha test mode setting values are booleans.
    When test mode is enabled, it makes the Captcha challenge trivially solvable 
    (always using "TEST" as the solution instead of a random sequence of 
    characters). Be careful NEVER to enable this on production websites by 
    mistake, since it will allow bots to trivially bypass the Captcha, but will 
    still provide an obstacle for human users. Because of the serious security 
    implications if the Captcha test mode setting is misapplied, it can only be 
    enabled globally for the whole application (individual forms and Captcha 
    object instances can't change it), and will display a warning in generated 
    Captcha container markup.
    This setting is only supported in paid versions of BotDetect.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_testModeEnabled</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- The BotDetect drawing algorithm used to render Captcha codes in image Captcha 
    challenges.
    The default value is random (an image style is chosen from all available 
    values for each Captcha image generated).
    Valid user Captcha image style setting values are CSV strings 
    of names of ImageStyle enumeration members (case-insensitive, separator whitespace is ignored).
    Please note that some image styles are restricted to 
    paid versions of BotDetect, and will be ignored in free version 
    implementations.
    It's best to randomize the Captcha image style, since randomly choosing a 
    style for each Captcha image generated provides the highest level of Captcha 
    security against automated OCR analysis.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_imageStyle</param-name>
    <param-value>CHIPPED,FINGERPRINTS,GRAFFITI,BUBBLES</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Size of Captcha image challenges generated.
    The default value is 250 x 50 pixels.
    Valid user Captcha image size setting values are integers: widths can be 
    between 20 and 500 pixels and heights between 20 and 200 pixels.
    To keep Captcha images reasonably readable, their width:height ratio 
    should be approximately the same as the average Captcha code length.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_imageWidth</param-name>
    <param-value>200</param-value>
  </context-param>
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_imageHeight</param-name>
    <param-value>50</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Image format in which Captcha images will be generated and sent to the client.
    The default value is JPEG
    Valid user Captcha image format setting values are name of
    ImageFormat enumeration constant (JPEG, PNG, GIF).
    Please note that some Captcha image styles will result in low-quality 
    (pixelated) images when the image format is set to Gif, due to randomized 
    color schemes and use of color gradients. When switching image formats, 
    please take care to check the impact on Captcha image readability.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_imageFormat</param-name>
    <param-value>PNG</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- BotDetect allows Captcha image color scheme customization though two color 
    points: a custom dark color and a custom light color. 
    The default values are empty (Captcha color customization is optional).
    Valid user Captcha custom dark / light color setting values are Html colors, 
    so you can use both predefined color names and custom color hex values.
    Since many Captcha drawing styles randomize the actual color used, the 
    user-defined values are used as randomization starting points instead of 
    absolute values. Furthermore, since some drawing styles use light text on 
    a dark background, while other draw dark text on a light background, text 
    and background colors are not set directly, but are referred to as simply 
    the "dark" and the "light" color. This allows you to randomize the image 
    drawing style, for example, and still keep a consistent color scheme 
    adjusted to your website design.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_customDarkColor</param-name>
    <param-value>#483d8b</param-value>
  </context-param>
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_customLightColor</param-name>
    <param-value>#87cefa</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Application configuration setting that allows centralized temporary 
    disabling of individual BotDetect image styles if there is ever an urgent 
    issue that requires it. 
    The default value is empty (image style disabling is an optional feature 
    meant for short-term use during exceptional situations).
    Valid user disabled image styles setting values are CSV strings of ImageStyle 
    enumeration constant names (case-insensitive, separator whitespace is ignored).
    BotDetect image styles used on user forms can be configured in different ways 
    (a single static value, a randomized value, a dynamic value that adapts to 
    visitor behavior) and can apply to all Captcha instances in an application 
    or be specific to a particular Captcha challenge placed on a single form. If 
    an urgent issue is ever discovered in a BotDetect image style implementation 
    (e.g. a bug causing it to throw errors in certain circumstances, or a 
    weakness allowing some forms of automated analysis to bypass it, or a 
    memory leak etc.), users should be able to deactivate the problematic 
    ImageStyle while they're waiting for issue resolution. This BotDetect 
    setting acts as a centralized application configuration switch which allows 
    such image style deactivation, without requiring users to examine and 
    possibly modify all of their source code that might be affected. It also 
    makes it much easier to revert the change later when the issue gets fixed.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_disabledImageStyles</param-name>
    <param-value>CHIPPED,LEGO,WAVE</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <!--Is Captcha sound enabled.
    The default value is true.
    Valid user Captcha sound enabled setting values are booleans.
    Captcha sound can be disabled entirely (for example if you are using the 
    free version of BotDetect, which only supports demo sound that is not 
    actually accessible to human visitors) by setting this property to false. 
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundEnabled</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- The BotDetect audio generation algorithm used to pronounce Captcha codes in 
    sound Captcha challenges.
    The default value is random (a sound style is chosen from all available 
    values for each Captcha sound generated).
    Valid user Captcha sound style setting values are CSV strings of
    SoundStyle enumeration constant names (case-insensitive, separator whitespace is ignored).
    Please note that some sound styles are restricted 
    to paid versions of BotDetect, and will be ignored in free version 
    implementations.
    It's best to randomize the Captcha sound style, since randomly choosing a 
    style for each Captcha sound generated provides the highest level of Captcha 
    security against automated audio analysis and voice recognition.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundStyle</param-name>
    <param-value>DISPATCH,RED_ALERT,SYNTH</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <!-- Audio format in which Captcha sounds will be generated and sent to the client.
    The default value is WAV_PCM_16BIT_8KHZ_MONO
    Valid user Captcha sound format setting values are name of the  
    SoundFormat enumeration constant (WAV_PCM_16BIT_8KHZ_MONO, WAV_PCM_8BIT_8KHZ_MONO).
    Using 8 bit sound instead of default 16 bits per example lowers the WAV file 
    download size, but reduces sound quality.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundFormat</param-name>
    <param-value>WAV_PCM_16BIT_8KHZ_MONO</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- How will multiple consecutive requests for audio Captcha with the same 
    Captcha code ("sound regeneration") be handled by BotDetect - a tradeoff 
    of security, usability, and storage requirements.
    The default value is LIMITED.
    Valid user Captcha sound regeneration mode setting values are name of
    SoundRegenerationMode enumeration constant (NONE, LIMITED, UNLIMITED)
    BotDetect defaults to limited sound regeneration as the most reasonable 
    overall trade-off. At user discretion, higher security and usability can be 
    achieved by disabling sound regeneration at the cost of significant amounts 
    of server-side storage space. Unlimited sound regeneration is not recommended 
    due to low security, but is left as an option for backwards-compatibility.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundRegenerationMode</param-name>
    <param-value>NONE</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Application configuration setting controlling the file system location 
    of BotDetect sound resources required for Captcha audio.
    The default value is the WEB-INF\BotDetectSounds subfolder in your Java 
    application folder.
    Valid user Captcha sound packages folder setting values are absolute file system paths 
    (starting with a drive identifier e,g, "C:\"), network paths (starting with "\\"),
    or relative paths to the WEB-INF folder(starting with "WEB-INF\"))
    You should also always ensure that the web server worker process running your Java application has permissions to read from the custom folder path.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundPackagesFolder</param-name>
    <param-value>WEB-INF\BotDetectSounds</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Application configuration setting that controls whether BotDetect disables 
    (greys-out and prevents clicks on) the Captcha sound icon and displays a 
    warning tooltip when the sound package file containing character 
    pronunciations for the currently set Captcha locale can not be found.
    The default value is true (display a warning when the required .bdsp file 
    cannot be found).
    Valid user warn about missing sound packages setting values are booleans.
    Warnings about missing sound packages help during development and deployment, 
    so you don't mistakenly forget to download and copy the needed files. 
    However, this warning is not meant for (and should never be seen by) site 
    visitors. So if you didn't copy a particular sound package because you 
    intentionally don't want to support audio Captcha sounds in that language, 
    you can disable the warning (and the sound icon for such locales).
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_warnAboutMissingSoundPackages</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <!-- Application configuration setting that allows centralized temporary 
    disabling of individual BotDetect sound styles if there is ever an urgent 
    issue that requires it. 
    The default value is empty (sound style disabling is an optional feature 
    meant for short-term use during exceptional situations).
    Valid user disabled sound styles setting values are CSV strings of SoundStyle 
    enumeration constant names (case-insensitive, separator whitespace is ignored).
    BotDetect sound styles used on user forms can be configured in different ways 
    (a single static value, a randomized value, a dynamic value that adapts to 
    visitor behavior) and can apply to all Captcha instances in an application 
    or be specific to a particular Captcha challenge placed on a single form. If 
    an urgent issue is ever discovered in a BotDetect sound style implementation 
    (e.g. a bug causing it to throw errors in certain circumstances, or a 
    weakness allowing some forms of automated analysis to bypass it, or a 
    memory leak etc.), users should be able to deactivate the problematic 
    SoundStyle while they're waiting for issue resolution. This BotDetect 
    setting acts as a centralized application configuration switch which allows 
    such sound style deactivation, without requiring users to examine and 
    possibly modify all of their source code that might be affected. It also 
    makes it much easier to revert the change later when the issue gets fixed.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_disabledSoundStyles</param-name>
    <param-value>RED_ALERT,HIVE_MIND</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Captcha locale string, determining the exact character set used for random 
    Captcha code generation and the pronunciation language used for sound 
    Captcha generation.
    The default value is en-US.
    Valid user Captcha locale setting values are composed of ISO language codes 
    (for example en, ru, cmn, ...), charset codes (for example ja-Hira uses 
    Japanese Hiragana characters, while ja-Kana uses Japanese Katakana characters) 
    and country codes (for example en-US and en-GB differ in the pronunciation 
    used).
    Check the BotDetect localization page to find the list of currently supported 
    locales, and download the pronunciation resources required for Captcha sounds.
    If you use a right-to-left locale setting like Arabic or Hebrew, you should 
    also set the appropriate text direction on the textbox element used for 
    Captcha code retyping (dir="rtl").
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_locale</param-name>
    <param-value>en-US</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- The alternative text of the Captcha image Html element.
    The default value is Retype the CAPTCHA code from the image.
    Valid user Captcha image tooltip setting values are arbitrary strings.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_imageTooltip</param-name>
    <param-value>Custom Captcha image tooltip</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Tooltip of the Captcha sound icon.
    The default value is "Speak the CAPTCHA code".
    Valid user Captcha sound tooltip setting values are arbitrary strings.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundTooltip</param-name>
    <param-value>Custom Captcha sound icon tooltip</param-value>
  </context-param>


  <!-- Tooltip of the Captcha reload icon.
    The default value is "Change the CAPTCHA code".
    Valid user Captcha reload tooltip setting values are arbitrary strings.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_reloadTooltip</param-name>
    <param-value>Custom Captcha reload icon tooltip</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <!-- Text or tooltip of the Captcha help link, depending on help link mode.
    The default value depends on the width of the Captcha image.
    Valid user Captcha help link setting values are strings at least 4 characters 
    long.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_helpLinkText</param-name>
    <param-value>Custom Captcha help link text</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Url of the localized Captcha help page the help link points to.
    The default value depends on Captcha locale.
    Valid user Captcha help link url setting values are absolute or relative Urls.
    This setting is only supported in paid versions of BotDetect.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_helpLinkUrl</param-name>
    <param-value>custom-captcha-help-page.html</param-value>
  </context-param>
  

  <!-- Is Captcha reloading (changing the Captcha code because the current one is 
    too hard to read) enabled.
    The default value is true.
    Valid user Captcha reload enabled setting values are booleans.
    Requesting a new Captcha challenge on the current form requires client-side 
    scripting, so the reload icon is only shown in browsers that have JavaScript 
    enabled. When JavaScript is disabled or unsupported, the visitor can still 
    get a different Captcha challenge by reloading the form.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_reloadEnabled</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Default BotDetect Captcha icons are 22x22 pixels large, but there is also a 
    smaller set of 17x17 px icons used when the default ones are too large. 
    This settings allows you to control which icon set will be used.
    The default value is true when the Captcha image height is < 50px, and false 
    otherwise.
    Valid user use small Captcha icons setting values are booleans: setting this 
    value to true will force BotDetect to use small built-in icons, while false 
    will disable automatic switching to small icons depending on image height.
    This setting only applies to default BotDetect icons, and should not be used 
    in combination with user-defined icons
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_useSmallIcons</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- BotDetect displays the Captcha sound and reload icon one below the other by 
    default, and switches to displaying them one beside the other when Captcha 
    images are small enough. This setting allows you to control which BotDetect 
    icon layout will be used.
    The default value is true when the Captcha image height is <40px, and false 
    otherwise.
    Valid user use horizontal Captcha icons setting values are booleans: setting 
    this value to true will force BotDetect to use a horizontal icon layout, 
    while false will disable automatic switching to horizontal icons depending 
    on image height.
    This setting only applies to default BotDetect icons, and should not be used 
    in combination with user-defined icons.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_useHorizontalIcons</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Url of the optional custom Captcha sound icon that will be used instead of 
    the default one.
    The default value is 'botdetectcaptcha?get=sound-icon'.
    Valid user Captcha sound icon setting values are absolute or relative Urls.
    When specifying a custom Captcha sound icon, you should make sure its 
    filename includes "icon", and also provide a disabled variation of the icon 
    that will be shown during sound playback (to prevent the user from clicking 
    the icon multiple times). The disabled sound icon variant should be the same 
    size and have a filename based on the active one ("icon" replaced with 
    "disabled-icon").
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundIconUrl</param-name>
    <param-value>/custom-sound-icon.gif</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Url of the optional custom Captcha reload icon that will be used instead of 
    the default one.
    The default value is 'botdetectcaptcha?get=reload-icon'.
    Valid user Captcha reload icon setting values are absolute or relative Urls.
    When specifying a custom Captcha reload icon, you should make sure its 
    filename includes "icon", and also provide a disabled variation of the icon 
    that will be shown while the browser is waiting to fetch a new Captcha 
    challenge from the server (to prevent the user from clicking the icon
    multiple times). The disabled reload icon variant should be the same size 
    and have a filename based on the active one ("icon" replaced with 
    "disabled-icon").
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_reloadIconUrl</param-name>
    <param-value></param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Custom width of the Captcha icons div element.
    The default value depends on Captcha image height, since BotDetect will 
    automatically determine default icon size and position to match it.
    Valid user Captcha icons div width setting values are positive integers.
    If your custom Captcha icons are not of the same size as the default 
    BotDetect ones (22x22 px), the UseHorizontalIcons setting won't be able to 
    control the icon layout correctly. You can control whether your custom icons 
    will be displayed one beneath the other or one beside the other by setting 
    an appropriate icons div width: setting it to at least twice the icon width 
    + 8px of padding will result in horizontal icon layout, while smaller values 
    will result in vertical icon layout.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_iconsDivWidth</param-name>
    <param-value>25</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Will Captcha markup include a link to a Captcha help page providing Captcha 
    instructions and explanations for form users.
    The default value is true.
    Valid user help link enabled setting values are booleans.
    This setting is only supported in paid versions of BotDetect.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_helpLinkEnabled</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- How will the Captcha help link be displayed.
    The default value is TEXT.
    Valid user Captcha help link mode setting values are name of HelpLinkMode enumeration members ("IMAGE" or "TEXT").
    When using the Image help link mode, Captcha image is wrapped in a link, and 
    clicking it opens the help page in a new browser tab. This mode takes less 
    space, but can lead to accidental clicks (particularly by mobile visitors).
    When using the Text help link mode, Captcha image height is automatically 
    reduced by 10 px and a text link to the Captcha help page is inserted below 
    it. If this makes the Captcha images less readable, you can compensate by 
    increasing the Captcha image height.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_helpLinkMode</param-name>
    <param-value>TEXT</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- User-defined CSS classes that will be added to the BotDetect CAPTCHA 
    container <div>.
    The default value is empty.
    Valid user additional Css classes setting values are strings containing 
    desired class names in standard space-delimited CSS class format.
    CSS style declarations for these custom classes must be defined in a user 
    stylesheet added to the page.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_additionalCssClasses</param-name>
    <param-value>class1 class2 class3</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- User-defined CSS style declarations that will be added as inline style 
    of the BotDetect CAPTCHA container <div>.
    The default value is empty.
    Valid user additional Css style setting values are strings containing 
    desired CSS style declarations in standard semicolon-delimited CSS style format.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_additionalInlineCss</param-name>
    <param-value>border: 4px solid #fff; background-color: #f8f8f8;</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Should the BotDetect JavaScript client-side script code be included by the 
    generated Captcha container markup. 
    The default value is true.
    Valid user add script include setting values are booleans.
    This setting will usually only be set to false if you have multiple Captcha 
    instances on the same form and only want the first one's markup to include 
    the required BotDetect client-side code. Another possible use is when you 
    manually add the necessary <script> include to page <head>, possibly combined 
    with other JavaScript code and minified to reduce the number of Http requests 
    made by the page.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_addScriptInclude</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Should user Captcha code input be automatically uppercased on the fly.
    The default value is true.
    Valid user auto uppercase input setting values are booleans.
    Since Captcha validation is not and should not be case-sensitive (it would 
    hinder human visitors more than bots, and how would case differences be 
    communicated through audio Captcha in all supported pronunciation languages?), 
    automatically uppercasing user input is a small usability improvement that 
    helps communicate the case-insensitivity of the Captcha challenge to users.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_autoUppercaseInput</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Should the Captcha code input textbox automatically be assigned focus on 
    all Captcha sound and Captcha reload icon clicks, allowing the users to 
    more easily type in the code as they hear it or as the new image loads. 
    The default value is true.
    Valid user Captcha auto focus input setting values are booleans.
    Automatic input element focusing is not triggered by auto-reloading of 
    expired Captcha challenges, since the user might be filling out another 
    field on the form when the auto-reload starts and shouldn't be distracted.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_autoFocusInput</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Should the Captcha user input textbox automatically be cleared on all 
    reload icon clicks and auto-reloads of expired Captcha codes.
    The default value is true.
    Valid user auto clear input setting values are booleans.
    Automatic input clearing is a small usability improvement: since any 
    previous user input will be invalidated by Captcha reloading, it helps so 
    users don't have to delete the previous input themselves.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_autoClearInput</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>

  <!-- Should Captcha challenges automatically be reloaded when the Captcha code 
    expires (controlled by the CodeTimeout property).
    The default value is true.
    Valid user auto reload expired Captchas setting values are booleans.
    Automatic reloading of expired Captcha codes allows you to have a short 
    Captcha code timeout (e.g. 2 minutes) to narrow the window of opportunity 
    for Captcha reusing on other sites or human-solver-powered bots, and actual 
    visitors can still fill out your form at their own pace and without rushing 
    (since the Captcha image will be reloaded automatically when it is no longer 
    valid).
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_autoReloadExpiredCaptchas</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Time period in seconds after which automatic reloading of expired Captcha 
    challenges will cease.
    The default value is 7200 seconds (2 hours).
    Valid user auto reload timeout setting values are positive integers.
    This timeout prevents indefinite extension of the visitor Session, when the 
    user leaves the form open in a background browser tab over the weekend for 
    example.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_autoReloadTimeout</param-name>
    <param-value>3600</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Starting delay (in milliseconds) of Captcha audio JavaScript playback.
    The default value is 0 (no delay).
    Valid user Captcha sound start delay setting values are positive integers.
    An initial delay before browser sound playback can be useful for improving 
    usability of the Captcha audio for blind people using JAWS or similar screen 
    readers. Such assistive technology will read the label associated with the 
    Captcha code textbox and start sound playback simultaneously when the sound 
    icon is activated (since Captcha sound playing automatically focuses the 
    Captcha code textbox by default). Setting this delay to e.g. 2000 (2 seconds) 
    will give the user time to hear both the pronounced label and the Captcha 
    sound clearly.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_soundStartDelay</param-name>
    <param-value>1000</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Should BotDetect also add a remote JavaScript include 
    (remote.captcha.com/include.js) loaded from the captcha.com server (which is 
    currently used only for stats, but is planned to develop into additional 
    Captcha functionality).
    The default value is true.
    Valid user remote script enabled setting values are booleans.
    This setting is only supported in paid versions of BotDetct.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_remoteScriptEnabled</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  
  <!-- Path of the CaptchaServlet used for processing Captcha image, sound 
    and Ajax validation requests, as well as accessing all BotDetect public 
    resources (Captcha icons, layout stylesheet, client-script include).
    The default value is "/botdetectcaptcha".
    Valid user CaptchaServlet request path setting values are path strings, 
    which must also be used in application registration of the CaptchaServlet.
  -->
  <context-param>
    <param-name>BDC_servletRequestPath</param-name>
    <param-value>/botdetectcaptcha</param-value>
  </context-param>
</web-app>

The example WEB-INF/web.xml file shows and explains most Captcha configuration settings available.


Please Note

BotDetect Java Captcha Library v4.0.Beta3.7 is an in-progress port of BotDetect 4 Captcha, and we need you to guide our efforts towards a polished product. Please let us know if you encounter any bugs, implementation issues, or a usage scenario you would like to discuss.