Deploying EJBs - Java Application Development on Linux - page 513

Table 23.3 Contents of the WAR file

Name Type Content

text A standard JAR manifest; it can be empty or list the

contents.

MANIFEST.MF

XML XML description of the Web application—servlet

definitions, and so on.

web.xml

XML Empty in our example—no JBoss-specific directives

are used.

jboss-web.xml

directory Directory structure for the Java class files. classes

class The various class files.

classes/.../*.class

JSP These are the JSP files that run as part of the Web

application; note that they are in the top level of this
directory structure, not in any subdirectory.

*.jsp

HTML Any static HTML pages, too.

*.html

directory A directory with other files. META-INF

directory A directory with other files.

WEB-INF

23.2.3.2
The web.xml file is the descriptor for the Web application part of all this.
Using the servlet tag, it defines a servlet associating a name with this servlet
(a name which can be used elsewhere in this XML file) and stating which
Java class file is that servlet.
Then the servlet-mapping tag is used to map a URL pattern to a servlet.
The URL pattern is the portion of the URL that signals to the server that the
request is not for a simple HTML page, but rather for our servlet.
Example 23.6 is a sample web.xml ; notice in particular how the mapping
from URLs to the Java class is accomplished.

Weaving the Web

23.2.3.3
So now that you have seen all the pieces, know that you can edit the XML files
with your favorite editor, and can build the JAR/WAR/EAR files with the jar
command, it's not that hard to put it all together. It is, however, tedious, and
is well worth automating, at least with Ant.
The key to making it work, whether by hand or by automation, is a
workable directory structure. The easiest way to construct JAR files is to have

Connecting the Pieces