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Packaging Web Components

You add web components to a J2EE application in a package called a web application archive (WAR), which is a JAR similar to the package used for Java class libraries. A WAR usually contains other resources besides web components, including:

• Server-side utility classes
• Static web resources (HTML, image, and sound files, and so on)
• Client-side classes (applets and utility classes)

A WAR has a specific hierarchical directory structure. The top-level directory of a WAR is the document root of the application. The document root is where JSP pages, client-side classes and archives, and static web resources are stored. The document root contains a subdirectory called WEB-INF, which contains the following files and directories:

• web.xml - the web application deployment descriptor
• Tag library descriptor files (see Tag Library Descriptors).
• classes - a directory that contains server-side classes: servlet, utility classes, and JavaBeans components.
• lib - a directory that contains JAR archives of libraries (tag libraries and any utility libraries called by server-side classes).

When you add files to a WAR, deploytool automatically packages them in the correct directory.

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Note: The J2EE SDK version 1.3 beta deploytool packages client-side classes and archives in the WEB-INF subdirectory instead of the document root. As a consequence, the tutorial example that includes an applet (discussed in The Example JSP Pages) uses a WAR created by the ant make tool.

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Creating a WAR

When you add the first web component to a J2EE application, deploytool automatically creates a new WAR to contain the component. A later section describes how to add a web component.

You can also manually create a WAR with the JAR tool distributed with the J2SE. If you arrange your application development directory in the structure required by the WAR format, it is straightforward to create a web application archive file in the required format. You simply execute

jar cvf archiveName.war .  

in the top-level directory of the application. Note that in order to use this method, you must also manually create a deployment descriptor in the correct format.

Adding a WAR to a J2EE Application

If you manually create a WAR or you obtain a WAR from another party, you can easily add it to an existing J2EE application as follows:

1. Select a J2EE application.
2. Select File->Add Web WAR to Application or click the Add Web WAR to Application button.
3. Navigate to the directory containing the WAR, select the WAR, and click Add Web WAR.

See The Example JSP Pages for an example.

Adding a Web Component to a WAR

The following procedure describes how to add the web components in the hello1 application to a WAR. Although the web component wizard solicits WAR and component-level configuration information when you add the component, this chapter describes how to add the component and provide configuration information at a later time using application, WAR, and web component inspectors:

1. Go to examples/src and build the example by running ant hello1 (see How to Build and Run the Examples).
2. Create a J2EE application called hello1.
   1. Select File->New Application or the New Application button.
   2. Enter hello1.ear in the Application File Name field.
   3. Click OK.
3. Add the greeting web component and all the of the hello2 application content.
   1. Invoke the web component wizard by selecting File->New Web Component or clicking the New Web Component button.
   2. In the combo box labelled Create New WAR File in Application select the hello1 application. Enter hello1 in the field labeled WAR Display Name.
   3. Click Add to add the content files.
   4. In the Edit Contents dialog, navigate to examples/build/web/hello1. Select GreetingServlet.class, ResponseServlet.class, and duke.waving.gif, and click Add. Click OK.
   5. Click Next.
   6. Select the servlet radio button.
   7. Click Next.
   8. Select GreetingServlet from the Servlet Class combo box.
   9. Type greeting in the Web Component Name field.
   10. Click Next and then click Finish.
4. Add the response web component.
   1. Invoke the web component wizard by selecting File->New Web Component or clicking the New Web Component button.
   2. In the combo box labelled Add to Existing WAR File select the hello1 WAR.
   3. Click Next.
   4. Select the servlet radio button.
   5. Click Next.
   6. Select ResponseServlet from the Servlet Class combo box.
   7. Type response in the Web Component Name field.
   8. Click Next and then click Finish.

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