Developing J2EE applications - IntelliJ IDEA in Action - page 400

application archive file (also known as an EAR file, or EAR ). The format of the
EAR file is part of the J2EE Platform Specification.
An EAR file defines a provider-independent way of combining EJB JAR s, WAR s,
and library JAR s into a single deployable package. This vendor neutrality is made
possible through standardized XML deployment descriptors (application.xml
and a number of application server-specific deployment descriptors, such as
weblogic-application.xml for the WebLogic application server) that control such
elements as web module context roots. Once created, the EAR file is deployed into
an application server, which reads the deployment descriptors and makes the
application available.

Creating a new J2EE application module
You need to introduce a J2EE application module to have a more convenient way
to deploy and run your application. The J2EE application module includes other
interconnected modules (like EJB , web, and other Java modules).
Start working with J2EE modules by creating one:

Select File | New Module from the main menu.

1

The first dialog in the New Module wizard appears and prompts you to
select the type of module to create. Click the J2EE Application Module
option, and then click Next .

2

The next dialog prompts you to select a module name. Enter ACMEJ2EEApp
as the module name. Click Next to continue.

3

The next dialog prompts you to select the application server for which
this J2EE application module is being written. Select WebLogic Server .
The created module is associated with the corresponding configuration
and can be deployed to the WebLogic application server. Click Next .

4

Define the paths to application module and WebLogic-specific deploy-
ment descriptors created for the module. Click Next .

5

In this step, define which of the existing web and/or EJB modules should
be included into the new J2EE application. Select the desired J2EE mod-
ules to be included in the created modules at build time in the Packag-
ing method column. To alter the Relative path and We b M o du l e
Context Root values for the included J2EE modules, click in the corre-
sponding column for the desired module.

6

Click Finish to finish the process.

7