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Background
Before describing how to organize your source code directories, it is useful to examine the runtime organization of a web application. Prior to the Servlet API Specification, version 2.2, there was little consistency between server platforms. However, servers that conform to the 2.2 (or later) specification are required to accept a Web Application Archive in a standard format, which is discussed further below. A web application is defined as a hierarchy of directories and files in a standard layout. Such a hierarchy can be accessed in its "unpacked" form, where each directory and file exists in the filesystem separately, or in a "packed" form known as a Web ARchive, or WAR file. The former format is more useful during development, while the latter is used when you distribute your application to be installed. The top-level directory of your web application hierarchy is also the document root of your application. Here, you will place the HTML files and JSP pages that comprise your application's user interface. When the system administrator deploys your application into a particular server, he or she assigns a context path to your application (a later section of this manual describes deployment on Tomcat). Thus, if the system administrator assigns your application to the context path `/catalog`, then a request URI referring to `/catalog/index.html` will retrieve the `index.html` file from your document root.
Standard Directory Layout
To facilitate creation of a Web Application Archive file in the required format, it is convenient to arrange the "executable" files of your web application (that is, the files that Tomcat actually uses when executing your app) in the same organization as required by the WAR format itself. To do this, you will end up with the following contents in your application's "document root" directory: *.html, *.jsp, etc. - The HTML and JSP pages, along with other files that must be visible to the client browser (such as JavaScript, stylesheet files, and images) for your application. In larger applications you may choose to divide these files into a subdirectory hierarchy, but for smaller apps, it is generally much simpler to maintain only a single directory for these files. /WEB-INF/web.xml - The Web Application Deployment Descriptor for your application. This is an XML file describing the servlets and other components that make up your application, along with any initialization parameters and container-managed security constraints that you want the server to enforce for you. This file is discussed in more detail in the following subsection. /WEB-INF/classes/ - This directory contains any Java class files (and associated resources) required for your application, including both servlet and non-servlet classes, that are not combined into JAR files. If your classes are organized into Java packages, you must reflect this in the directory hierarchy under `/WEB-INF/classes/`. For example, a Java class named `com.mycompany.mypackage.MyServlet` would need to be stored in a file named `/WEB-INF/classes/com/mycompany/mypackage/MyServlet.class`. /WEB-INF/lib/ - This directory contains JAR files that contain Java class files (and associated resources) required for your application, such as third party class libraries or JDBC drivers. When you install an application into Tomcat (or any other 2.2/2.3-compatible server), the classes in the `WEB-INF/classes/` directory, as well as all classes in JAR files found in the `WEB-INF/lib/` directory, are made visible to other classes within your particular web application. Thus, if you include all of the required library classes in one of these places (be sure to check licenses for redistribution rights for any third party libraries you utilize), you will simplify the installation of your web application -- no adjustment to the system class path (or installation of global library files in your server) will be necessary. Much of this information was extracted from Chapter 9 of the Servlet API Specification, version 2.3, which you should consult for more details.
Web Application Deployment Descriptor
The description below uses the variable name $CATALINA_HOME to refer to the directory into which you have installed Tomcat 4, and is the base directory against which most relative paths are resolved. However, if you have configured Tomcat 4 for multiple instances by setting a CATALINA_BASE directory, you should use $CATALINA_BASE instead of $CATALINA_HOME for each of these references. As mentioned above, the `/WEB-INF/web.xml` file contains the Web Application Deployment Descriptor for your application. As the filename extension implies, this file is an XML document, and defines everything about your application that a server needs to know (except the context path, which is assigned by the system administrator when the application is deployed). The complete syntax and semantics for the deployment descriptor is defined in Chapter 13 of the Servlet API Specification, version 2.3. Over time, it is expected that development tools will be provided that create and edit the deployment descriptor for you. In the meantime, to provide a starting point, a basic web.xml file is provided. This file includes comments that describe the purpose of each included element. NOTE - The Servlet Specification includes a Document Type Descriptor (DTD) for the web application deployment descriptor, and Tomcat 4 enforces the rules defined here when processing your application's `/WEB-INF/web.xml` file. In particular, you must enter your descriptor elements (such as `<filter>`, `<servlet>`, and `<servlet-mapping>` in the order defined by the DTD (see Section 13.3).
Deployment With Tomcat 4
In order to be executed, a web application must be deployed on a servlet container. This is true even during development. We will describe using Tomcat 4 to provide the execution environment. A web application can be deployed in Tomcat by one of the following approaches: Copy unpacked directory hierarchy into a subdirectory in directory `$CATALINA_HOME/webapps/`. Tomcat will assign a context path to your application based on the subdirectory name you choose. We will use this technique in the `build.xml` file that we construct, because it is the quickest and easiest approach during development. Be sure to restart Tomcat after installing or updating your application. Copy the web application archive file into directory `$CATALINA_HOME/webapps/`. When Tomcat is started, it will automatically expand the web application archive file into its unpacked form, and execute the application that way. This approach would typically be used to install an additional application, provided by a third party vendor or by your internal development staff, into an existing Tomcat installation. NOTE - If you use this approach, and wish to update your application later, you must both replace the web application archive file AND delete the expanded directory that Tomcat created, and then restart Tomcat, in order to reflect your changes. Use the Tomcat 4 "Manager" web application to deploy and undeploy web applications. Tomcat 4 includes a web application, deployed by default on context path `/manager`, that allows you to deploy and undeploy applications on a running Tomcat server without restarting it. See the administrator documentation (TODO: hyperlink) for more information on using the Manager web application. Add a `<Context>` entry in the `$CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml` configuration file. This approach is described briefly below, and allows you to position the document root of your web application at some point other than the `$CATALINA_HOME/webapps/` directory. You will need to restart Tomcat to have changes in this configuration file take effect. See the administrator documentation (TODO: hyperlink) for more information on configuring new Contexts in this way. Deploying your app on other servlet containers will be specific to each container, but all containers compatible with the Servlet API Specification (version 2.2 or later) are required to accept a web application archive file. Note that other containers are NOT required to accept an unpacked directory structure (as Tomcat does), but this feature is commonly available.
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