Maven Tomcat Project Process Simplification - eclipse

I'm working on a Maven project in Eclipse, where I'm using Maven (mvn install) to create my WAR file and run it on my Tomcat server. However, every time I change my application, I have to execute mvn -o compile war:exploded and sometimes have to restart Tomcat.
Is there any other way to simplify this long and heavy process?

You may start using:
m2e ( maven to eclipse integration ) -> http://www.eclipse.org/m2e/
Eclipse WTP ( web tools platform ) -> http://www.eclipse.org/webtools/
WTP will allow you to run Tomcat from eclipse and m2e will take care of converting your Maven build into Eclipse project and integrating it with WTP.

If you are using eclipse then you need not to use mvn -o compile war:exploded every time. But yes, you need to use mvn install each time you make a change in your application.
This is what you need to do:
Open Server View
Open expected tomcat server settings. A settings window for tomcat will be opened.
Select modules tab.
Choose Add external web module. An input form will be opened.
Browse to your application's target (generated by maven) folder and then select already exploded war directory and set it as Document Base
Enter Path as the base url for your application.
This is just one time effort.

Related

Eclipse-Kepler, Maven and Setup Tomcat 7 debug (hot deploy)

I have maven based project with following structure:
main_project
module_webproject
module_java_proj_1
module_java_proj_2
module_java_proj_3
... ...
Everything compiles and packages fine with command line maven goals execution. I need to setup this project into eclipse environment for developers with tomcat deployment. Anyone know setup instructions?
Also, i am looking into tomcat hot deploy for debugging capabilities.
I have tried mvn eclipse:eclipse, this does only creation of .project and .classpath files. But projects directories are not treated as java or web projects.
Answer from following forum some what helps...
[Running Maven project on Tomcat from Eclipse
There can be a few reasons why you don't see the project in the Add/Remove projects dialog for Tomcat. Verify the following:
You have m2e installed (http://eclipse.org/m2e/download/)
You have m2e-wtp installed (http://www.eclipse.org/m2e-wtp/download/)
Your Maven project imported as a Dynamic Web Application. Look for a Deployment Descriptor entry when you expand the project, it should be somewhere in the first few entries. It is the second one down for me on Eclipse Juno. Not there? It's probably not a web app. Go back and verify 1 & 2, then remove and re-import your project.
Make sure that your web application is not too new for the version of Tomcat that you are using. Right-click the project and go to Properties > Project Facets. Look for Dynamic Web Module and check the version. If this version is too new for your Tomcat version, Eclipse won't let you add it. For instance, your Dynamic Web Module version is 3.0 and you're using Tomcat 6.

Running GWT on tomcat in eclipse

I am trying to get a GWT Project running on a Tomcat 7 server in eclipse. I installed Tomcat and i can run other web application out of eclipse on Tomcat without a problem.
Now i generated a gwt maven project for eclipse with the following command and importet it as maven project to eclipse:
"mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeGroupId=org.codehaus.mojo -DarchetypeArtifactId=gwt-maven-plugin"
I can run this now as Web application (with the google plugin) and i can build a "war" with maven and deploy this with the Tomcat management console on the server. Both is working. But if i choose the option in eclipse "Run on server" and choose tomcat than just the html is loaded but not the application itself. See the screenshot: It doesn't find the "GWTModule.nocache.js".
This file is available in the target folder. What do i have to change to tell tomcat to look in the correct directory?
Tomcat is not able to run GWT code in development mode. You can use Tomcat for server side code, but in this case you need to run GWT development mode with -noserver option (to prevent built-in Jetty instance from running). See this article for more details.
I would recommend using the wtp plugin for eclipse. If you do this you can add your project/resource to tomcat when adding a new server. Here are the steps to use if you already have your project imported into eclipse.
Window -> Show View -> Servers
In Servers
New -> Server -> Choose apache tomcat
Point to the location of your tomcat installation/download
Next
At this point you should be able to add your gwt-maven project which will add the target/project.war to the tomcat modules.
Save it
Click on the newly added server, then click the modules tab at the bottom kind of hard to see.
This should have your project shown in the list of web modules.
Start your tomcat instance then on your gwt application right click and choose Run As -> Web application. Make sure your configuration settings are correct and when the development server starts it should give you the development url to browse to.
You can configure some aspects of tomcat in the overview tab, I would recommend making sure that "Modules auto reload by default" is checked so that tomcat will watch the filesystem for class changes.

Convert Dynamic Web Project to Maven = deployment empty

I have a Dynamic Web Project, that is deployed to a Tomcat server by Run As > on Server. The Project has WebServices WSDL, which work fine this way.
But I want to convert to maven/pom. So I use eclipse and choose "convert project to maven".
Afterwards, when I again choose > Run on Server, the tomcat deploy dir is empty!
What is changing exactly when converting to maven project, and how can I fix the deployment process again?
My advice would be to use the Maven Tomcat plugin:
http://tomcat.apache.org/maven-plugin.html
This way, you can create a Maven Run Configuration in Eclipse that compiles and deploys your app to Tomcat with one button click. There is also a Jetty server plugin.

deploying a war file in WTP(Eclipse) tomcat server

I have a maven build Java project.
My war file name is: test-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war
I am using M2E plugin in Eclipse.
I have run target mvn package.
Added server as tomcat version 7 in eclipse indigo 3.7. Server started. But my war file didn't deployed in the server.
I have tried by right clicking tomcat server and Add remove..., it says "there is no resources that can be added or removed from the server".
How can i deploy my war file in the eclipse WTP tomcat server?. Do i need to run any maven target?
Make sure that you have "Maven Integration for WTP" installed in your Eclipse instance.
First check if it's available through
Window->Preferences->Maven->Discovery->Open Catalog
If for whatever reason this does not work, you can get WTP integration from this update site (that's the version I am currently using):
https://repository.sonatype.org/content/repositories/forge-sites/m2eclipse-wtp/0.13.0/S/0.13.0.20110623-0455
This integration does a lifecycle mapping of maven-war-plugin into m2e architecture.
Once you've installed the WTP integration, you must restart eclipse and once it's restarted, right click on your web app project and choose: Maven->Update Project Configuration...
Also, I would advise to run a clean build at this time.
Last, but not least, delete and recreate your Tomcat server configuration (I don't know why, but I had to do it quite a few times when I switched to m2e).
I think eclipse is not recognizing your project as a web app, To confirm this
Open to do open J2ee perspective on your eclipse, If you open the project folder of your app, You should see (Deployment Descriptor)
If you don't see it, your app is not web app as far as eclipse is concerned
I have see this in case if you imported/created a maven command line project
To fix this
Select Project ==> Properties ==> Project Facets ==> make sure Dynamic Web Module check box is checked
If you do that the local tomcat server will add your app when do add remove projects
I think eclipse is not recognizing your project as web app,convert your project into web app by command mvn eclipse:eclipse -Dwtpversion=2.0 and try to deploy in Eclipse configured tomcat,it will work.
If you have Eclipse 3.5 or above you should ensure that you have both the m2eclipse (m2e for 3.7) plugin installed and its WTP add-on. With these you shouldn't need to change your configuration by hand.
Did you try to build your project from the command line and deploy it in Tomcat by hand?
By the way, have you read this wiki post? It's a bit old, but it may still be relevant.
Adding 2 cents to Prasanna wonderful solution.
I realized that building maven war files "mvn package" was just creating .war file but eclipse was not picking up that war but was deploying its some internal version of it's app war.
I found that server > Browse Deployment Location.. in Eclipse server view .. it was taking to some abstract location like "C:\Programs\workspaceSTS.metadata.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp1\wtpwebapps"
Where I could see my exploded app deployed but it was not having any /classes folder just limited files.
Using Prasanna's method I realized that eclipse now was deploying full exploded .war now.
So this was happening coz changing the facets to Dynamic Web Module has actually populated "R-click project > Properties > Deployment Assembly "
This Web Deployment Assembly window only tells eclipse what to deploy and what not. So even if your project is NOT setup as Dynamic Web Module , and still if you configure "Web Deployment Assembly" values properly , eclipse will deploy the app fine to Tomcat/ Server.

Maven/Jetty to Maven/Tomcat Project

I have a project that I created with the Maven Archetype plugin and I added the Maven Jetty plugin so I can run the jetty server with "mvn jetty:run-war".
Now I have to change my project so that it integrates with Eclipse and Tomcat. I remember working on some projects which when I clicked the Tomcat button from the Sysdeo Eclipse Tomcat Launcher plugin, it would automatically compile the new code, deploy it to the Tomcat's webapp folder, and start the Tomcat server for you. Using tomcat also allows us to use the integrated Eclipse debugger.
How do I get that effect with my current Maven/Jetty setup without re-creating the entire project over again and starting it as a Tomcat project?
You can try using Tomcat Maven Plugin. It has similar goals to the jetty plugin. You just need to add the plugin configuration to your existing pom and make no additional changes.