The default directory structure in the Web project adheres to
the J2EE specification for Web modules. (Web modules are also known as Web
applications, in servlet programming.) This specification defines a project
directory structure that specifies the location of WebContent files, class
files, class paths, deployment descriptors, and supporting metadata. The Dynamic
Web Project uses the following directory structure:
- Web Site Navigation - Double-click this file to open Web Site Designer,
which includes a Navigation view and a Details view.
- Web Deployment Descriptor - This file corresponds to the WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml file.
You can double-click to open the file in the Deployment Descriptor editor,
or select Open With from its context menu to open the file with a different
editor.
- Java™ Resources - This node displays Java resources
within the project. Each source folder appears beneath the Java Resources
folder and can be expanded to show their packages and classes.
- WebContent - The WebContent folder contains
the contents of the WAR file that will be published to the server. It contains
all the Web resources, including HTML files, JSP files, and graphics needed
for the application. Any files not under WebContent are considered
development resources (for example .java and .sql files) and will not be deployed
when the project is unit tested or published.
- WebContent/theme - The WebContent/theme folder
contains cascading style sheets and other style-related objects.
- WebContent/WEB-INF - The WebContent/WEB-INF folder contains the
supporting Web resources for a Web application, including the web.xml deployment
descriptor file and the classes and lib directories. The web.xml file
contains general information about the Web application, including servlet
mappings, security information, and the welcome page. The ibm-web-bnd.xml file
contains bindings to references used at the Web module level as defined by IBM®.
The ibm-web-ext.xml file is used by WebSphere® Application Server to support
additional options beyond the J2EE specification such as reloading intervals
and the default error page. The struts-config.xml file
is the deployment descriptor for a Struts application to initialize its own
resources, such as: ActionForms, to collect input from users, ActionMappings,
to direct input to server-side Actions, and Action Forwards, to select output
pages.
- WebContent/WEB-INF/lib - The WebContent/WEB-INF/lib folder
supports .jar files that your Web application references.
Any classes contained in these .jar files will be available
for your Web application.
In the course of development, the web.xml and
the struts-config.xml files are updated automatically
to reflect changes to your Web project. For example, when the Web Interaction
wizard is used to create a Web interaction in a Web project, it automatically
places the appropriate servlet entries into the web.xml file. When you are
testing your application in the Rational® Developer
for Power Systems Software Test
Environment, and the web.xml file has been updated, the
change is not always recognized. In this case you need to restart the project.
To do this go to the Servers view, expand the server you are using, right-click nnnEAR and
select Restart nnnEAR, where nnnEAR is
the EAR file name for your Web project. Watch the console view for a message
indicating that the application has been started.