gwt app deployment to tomcat doesn't load compiled javascript - eclipse

Question

I use Eclipse GWT Plug-in to build a GWT app. Later on, I'll have to deploy this as a Tomcat webapp. I have read many pages on how to do it and it looks dead simple but it doesn't work here.
If I create a new Web application using the plug-in and that I copy the war directory content to de tomcat_install/webapps folder it works right out the box, I get the application and all the things get loaded correctly.
If I do the same with the application I'm working on for a couple of weeks now, I get nothing, there is just the plain html file I use as welcome page that loads. If I inspect the page I can see it has correctly loaded the .nocache.js but no controls whatsoever show up on my page.
Everything works in development, my servlet are correctly mapped.
Here is my app.gwt.xml :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<module rename-to='VirtualLabPortal'>
<inherits name="com.google.gwt.user.User" />
<inherits name='com.google.gwt.user.theme.standard.Standard'/>
<inherits name="com.google.gwt.i18n.I18N"/>
<set-property name="gwt.logging.enabled" value="FALSE"/>
<define-property name="webkitVariant" values="safari, chrome" />
<collapse-all-properties />
<extend-property name="locale" values="en"/>
<extend-property name="locale" values="fr" />
<set-property-fallback name="locale" value="fr"/>
<entry-point
class="com.banctecmtl.ca.vlp.view.webview.client.VirtualLabPortal" />
<source path='view/webview/client' />
<source path='shared' />
<source path='model' />
</module>
My web,xml, where my two servlet are mapped looks like this :
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd" version="2.5">
<servlet>
<servlet-name>VlpControllerService</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.banctecmtl.ca.vlp.view.webview.server.VlpControllerServiceImpl</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet>
<servlet-name>UserAccessService</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>com.banctecmtl.ca.vlp.view.webview.server.UserAccessServiceImpl</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>VlpControllerService</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/VirtualLabPortal/VlpController</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>UserAccessService</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/VirtualLabPortal/UserAccess</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<!-- Default page to serve -->
<welcome-file-list>
<welcome-file>VirtualLabPortal.html</welcome-file>
</welcome-file-list>
</web-app>
Note that in my services interfaces I use #RemoteServiceRelativePath("VlpController") and #RemoteServiceRelativePath("UserAccess") to ensure a correct mapping.
This is the content of my entrypoint, that I made plain simple just to see if I could get it to work on deployment :
public class VirtualLabPortal implements EntryPoint {
/**
* Entry point method.
*/
public void onModuleLoad() {
RootPanel.get().add(new Label("This"));
}
}
Since the body of my html page is empty, a white page shows up, the javascript should write the test label on that page, but nothing happens. As I said, my VirtualLabPortal.nocache.js is loaded in the html page.
Is there something I'm completely missing here?
EDIT :
I think i just got it, I removed two properties my partner added to the gwt.xml file to reduce the number of permutations and it seems to be fixed so far:
<set-property name="gwt.logging.enabled" value="FALSE"/>
<define-property name="webkitVariant" values="safari, chrome" />
<collapse-all-properties />

Answer 1

Do you compile your project via :
project right clic > google > gwt compile
and then
project right clic > export > WAR file
this is the way I proceed, it works !
check this one:
Deploying GWT app from GAE to Tomcat

Answer 2

After long hours of searching and testing, I understtod how GWT bootstrapping process was working. I looked over my module.gwt.xml file and I found the following line added by one of my partners to reduce the number of permutations :
<collapse-all-properties />
Removing this line brought us back to 18 permutations and deploying the WAR folder to my tomcat webapps directory did the job. Compiling only once was not generating the file used required by my locale. Maybe if my browser language would have been in English it would have worked out the first time.
Well now it works as all the required files are correctly compiled.