send response to browser and continue processing in servlet.service()

[Wai-Yip Tung <wt...@cisco.com>]

Is there a way to send the response to browser and then continue some
lengthy processing in the Servlet.service() method? I'm using IE and I tried
these scenarios.

I tried SevletResponse.flushBuffer() which seems to have not effect.
I tried SevletResponse.getOutputStream().flush() which will send all output
to the browser. However, the browser's indicator keep on spinning.
I tried SevletResponse.getOutputStream().close() also but it also seems to
have no effect.

The indicator won't stop until I exit Servlet.service().

Because of my design, I can't just start a thread and exit. Is there anyway
I can tell Tomcat I want to remain in Servlet.service() for a while. All
output has been send and please close the socket?

Thanks for any help!

Wai-yip