COMMONS UPLOAD QUESTION "request.getParameter()" Newbie

[Ar...@aol.com]

I have been searching the Internet for a practical Java-based uploading 
solution that is standardized. I have found that there are many Java apps and tools 
that people have built for this purpose but I find that each have their short 
falls and must be customized to perform my tasks. My tasks are not 
complicated at all, but apparently there is no information on how to perform these task 
in the JavaDocs or even newsgroups. Here is what I am looking to do:

I need to input the fields from this for into my database which is perfectly 
normalized.  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
upload.jsp
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

    <FORM method="POST" action="add_output.jsp" encrypt="multipart/form-data" 
>
            AUTHOR <INPUT type="text" name="author" size="20" maxlength="50" 
value="">
            ARTICLE SHORT DESCRIPTION <INPUT type="text" 
name="shortDescription" size="30" maxlength="100" value="">
            ARTICLE LONG DESCRIPTION <INPUT type="text" 
name="longDescription" size="30" maxlength="120" value=""> *MAY BE NULL
            ARTICLE CONTENT <TEXTAREA name="articleContent" rows="20" 
cols="80"></TEXTAREA>
            <INPUT type="FILE" name="FILE1" size="50">
            <INPUT type="submit" value="Insert" onClick=""><INPUT 
type="Reset">
    </FORM>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the catch. I want to input the text fields directly in to their 
appropriate fields in the database but I want the file field to grab the file name 
and input that in the newly inputted row. I also need the file to uploaded to 
a file folder on my server. I know to pull the file name to input it in the 
database I need to use the getName() method. My problem is in the fact that I do 
not know which method I need to use to parse the other fields in my form. On 
my other forms for inputting info into my database I use JSP and I use the 
request.getParameter. As you know this does not work with the multipart 
encryption. In the JavaDocs it does not directly say which method should be called to 
parse this information. I chose commons specifically because it had a multipart 
parser in it. I also like the fact that it is somewhat standardized. I need 
to make sure that I do this right because I find that some many people on the 
Internet write bad code and I would perfer not to fall into that. I like to 
build most of my stuff in JSP and it is easy to change into servlets if I need 
to. I have tried a few other methods but I find them very sloppy. I tried the 
3-Step approach. Where you have a data input JSP which then goes to another JSP 
which parses the form and inputs the data into the database then calls the row 
that the data is in and places that info into a hidden field. Then that page 
displays the file input box for the user to select the file. Then once that 
form is submitted to the next JSP document it, in theory, is supposed to find 
the field in the database to insert the file name in the appropriate field and 
upload the document to a file on the server. I would appreciate it if you can 
steer me in the right direction or send me a snippet, or link to somewhere that 
documents this.

Thank you very much,
Matt Newman
Student @ LACC

artstar910@aol.com