Servlet Deployment

WAR File Structure

A WAR (Web Application Archive) file is a ZIP file with a .war extension that packages a Java web application for deployment. It follows a standard directory structure:

myapp.war
├── index.jsp                    ← Public web resources
├── about.html
├── css/
│   └── style.css
├── js/
│   └── app.js
├── images/
└── WEB-INF/                     ← Protected directory (not accessible by clients)
    ├── web.xml                  ← Deployment descriptor
    ├── classes/                 ← Compiled .class files
    │   └── com/example/
    │       ├── HelloServlet.class
    │       └── UserDAO.class
    ├── lib/                     ← JAR dependencies
    │   ├── mysql-connector.jar
    │   └── jstl.jar
    └── views/                   ← Protected JSP views
        ├── login.jsp
        └── dashboard.jsp

Complete web.xml Configuration

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee
         http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_4_0.xsd"
         version="4.0">

    <display-name>My Servlet Application</display-name>
    <description>A sample servlet web application</description>

    <!-- Context-wide init parameters -->
    <context-param>
        <param-name>appName</param-name>
        <param-value>MyApp</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <!-- Servlet declarations -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>com.example.HelloServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>greeting</param-name>
            <param-value>Hello</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>HelloServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/hello</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <!-- Filter -->
    <filter>
        <filter-name>LoggingFilter</filter-name>
        <filter-class>com.example.filters.LoggingFilter</filter-class>
    </filter>
    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>LoggingFilter</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>

    <!-- Session configuration -->
    <session-config>
        <session-timeout>30</session-timeout>
        <cookie-config>
            <http-only>true</http-only>
            <secure>true</secure>
        </cookie-config>
    </session-config>

    <!-- Welcome files -->
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>

    <!-- Error pages -->
    <error-page>
        <error-code>404</error-code>
        <location>/WEB-INF/views/error-404.jsp</location>
    </error-page>
    <error-page>
        <exception-type>java.lang.Exception</exception-type>
        <location>/WEB-INF/views/error-500.jsp</location>
    </error-page>

</web-app>

Maven WAR Plugin and Deployment

Maven WAR Plugin Configuration

<build>
    <finalName>myapp</finalName>
    <plugins>
        <!-- Maven WAR Plugin -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
            <artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>3.3.2</version>
            <configuration>
                <warName>myapp</warName>
                <failOnMissingWebXml>false</failOnMissingWebXml>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>

        <!-- Tomcat Maven Plugin (for development) -->
        <plugin>
            <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
            <artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
            <version>2.2</version>
            <configuration>
                <port>8080</port>
                <path>/myapp</path>
            </configuration>
        </plugin>
    </plugins>
</build>

<!-- Build: mvn clean package -->
<!-- Run with Tomcat plugin: mvn tomcat7:run -->
<!-- Deploy: copy target/myapp.war to TOMCAT_HOME/webapps/ -->

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Servlet Deployment

WAR File Structure

Maven WAR Plugin and Deployment

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