Maven - Web Application

Create Web Application

To create a simple java web application, we will use maven-archetype-webapp plugin. So, let's open the command console, go to the C:\MVN directory and execute the following mvn command.

C:\MVN>mvn archetype:generate 
-DgroupId = com.companyname.automobile 
-DartifactId = trucks
-DarchetypeArtifactId = maven-archetype-webapp 
-DinteractiveMode = false

Maven will start processing and will create the complete web based java application project structure as follows −

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'archetype'.
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building Maven Default Project
[INFO] task-segment: [archetype:generate] (aggregator-style)
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Preparing archetype:generate
[INFO] No goals needed for project - skipping
[INFO] [archetype:generate {execution: default-cli}]
[INFO] Generating project in Batch mode
[INFO] --------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Using following parameters for creating project
from Old (1.x) Archetype: maven-archetype-webapp:1.0
[INFO] --------------------------------------------------------------------

[INFO] Parameter: groupId, Value: com.companyname.automobile
[INFO] Parameter: packageName, Value: com.companyname.automobile
[INFO] Parameter: package, Value: com.companyname.automobile
[INFO] Parameter: artifactId, Value: trucks
[INFO] Parameter: basedir, Value: C:\MVN
[INFO] Parameter: version, Value: 1.0-SNAPSHOT

[INFO] project created from Old (1.x) Archetype in dir: C:\MVN\trucks

[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------

[INFO] Total time: 16 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Tue Jul 17 11:00:00 IST 2012
[INFO] Final Memory: 20M/89M
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------

Now go to C:/MVN directory. You'll see a java application project created, named trucks (as specified in artifactId) as specified in the following snapshot. The following directory structure is generally used for web applications −

Maven uses a standard directory layout. Using the above example, we can understand the following key concepts −

Sr.No.	Folder Structure & Description
1	trucks contains src folder and pom.xml.
2	src/main/webapp contains index.jsp and WEB-INF folder.
3	src/main/webapp/WEB-INF contains web.xml
4	src/main/resources it contains images/properties files.

POM.xml

<project xmlns = "https://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
   xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation = "https://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
   https://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.companyname.automobile</groupId>
   <artifactId>trucks</artifactId>
   <packaging>war</packaging>
   <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <name>trucks Maven Webapp</name>
   <url>https://maven.apache.org</url>
   <dependencies>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>junit</groupId>
         <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
         <version>3.8.1</version>
         <scope>test</scope>
       </dependency>
   </dependencies>
   <build>
      <finalName>trucks</finalName>
   </build>
</project>

If you observe, you will find that Maven also created a sample JSP Source file.

Open C:\ > MVN > trucks > src > main > webapp > folder to see index.jsp with the following code −

<html>
   <body>
      <h2>Hello World!</h2>
   </body>
</html>

Build Web Application

Let's open the command console, go to the C:\MVN\trucks directory and execute the following mvn command.

C:\MVN\trucks>mvn clean package

Maven will start building the project.

[INFO] Scanning for projects...
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building trucks Maven Webapp
[INFO] task-segment: [clean, package]
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [clean:clean {execution: default-clean}]
[INFO] [resources:resources {execution: default-resources}]

[WARNING] Using platform encoding (Cp1252 actually) to
copy filtered resources,i.e. build is platform dependent!

[INFO] Copying 0 resource
[INFO] [compiler:compile {execution: default-compile}]
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] [resources:testResources {execution: default-testResources}]

[WARNING] Using platform encoding (Cp1252 actually) to
copy filtered resources,i.e. build is platform dependent!

[INFO] skip non existing resourceDirectory
C:\MVN\trucks\src\test\resources
[INFO] [compiler:testCompile {execution: default-testCompile}]
[INFO] No sources to compile
[INFO] [surefire:test {execution: default-test}]
[INFO] No tests to run.
[INFO] [war:war {execution: default-war}]
[INFO] Packaging webapp
[INFO] Assembling webapp[trucks] in [C:\MVN\trucks\target\trucks]
[INFO] Processing war project
[INFO] Copying webapp resources[C:\MVN\trucks\src\main\webapp]
[INFO] Webapp assembled in[77 msecs]
[INFO] Building war: C:\MVN\trucks\target\trucks.war
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 3 seconds
[INFO] Finished at: Tue Jul 17 11:22:45 IST 2012
[INFO] Final Memory: 11M/85M
[INFO] -------------------------------------------------------------------

Deploy Web Application

Now copy the trucks.war created in C:\ > MVN > trucks > target > folder to your webserver webapp directory and restart the webserver.

Test Web Application

Run the web-application using URL: https://<server-name>:<port-number>/trucks/index.jsp.

Verify the output.