1

The author has made every effort in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information.
However, information in this book is sold without warranty either expressed or implied. The author will not be
held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly or indirectly by this book.

Java, Eclipse, Maven & JSF tutorial

Maven 2 is a powerful tool that promotes convention over configuration and you need to
integrate it into one of the popular integrated development environments (IDEs) called
eclipse to make your work easier, thus increasing your productivity and project quality. This
tutorial provides an example of how to make Maven and Eclipse collaborate. Also covers the
popular JSF Web framework.

by

K. Arulkumaran

& A. Sivayini

Website: http://www.lulu.com/java-success

Feedback email: java-interview@hotmail.com

 2

Table Of Contents

Notations ..................................................................................................................... 3
Tutorial 1 Java, Maven and Eclipse .................................................................. 4
Tutorial 2 Java Web, Maven and Eclipse....................................................... 16
Tutorial 3 JSF, Maven and Eclipse.................................................................. 28
Appendix ................................................................................................................... 58
 3
Notations

Command prompt:

Eclipse:

File Explorer or Windows Explorer:

Internet Explorer:
 4
Tutorial 1 Java, Maven and Eclipse

This tutorial will guide you through building a simple Java application from
scratch using popular tools like eclipse and maven. This tutorial will be handy
for those who are new to maven/eclipse/Java.
Install the following programs. In this tutorial I have installed them under c:/java.

Java 1.5 (JDK1.5 & JRE1.5)

site: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index_jdk5.jsp. . Also set the environment
properties JAVA_HOME (e.g. C:\java\jdk1.5.0) and add to the path (e.g.
%JAVA_HOME%\bin). If installed correctly you should be able to test it by opening a
command prompt and typing

C:\>java version

Results in:

java version "1.5.0_11"

Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_11-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_11-b03, mixed mode, sharing)

Maven 2.0.7. Site: http://maven.apache.org/download.html. Set the environment

variables M2_HOME (e.g. C:\java\maven-2.0.7) and add to the path (e.g.
%M2_HOME%\bin). If installed correctly you should be able to test it by opening a
command prompt and typing:

C:\>mvn --version

Results in:

Maven version: 2.0.7

Java version: 1.5.0_11
OS name: "windows xp" version: "5.1" arch: "x86"

Open the settings.xml file under C:\java\maven-2.0.7\conf folder and set your
local repository as follows:

<localRepository>C:/java/.m2/repository</localRepository>

Also if your internet access is through a proxy server then configure your proxy server
in settings.xml for example:

<proxy>
<id>optional</id>
<active>true</active>
<protocol>http</protocol>
<username>proxyuser</username>
<password>proxypass</password>
<host>webproxy</host>
<port>8080</port>
<nonProxyHosts>local.net,some.host.com</nonProxyHosts>
</proxy>

Eclipse 3.3.0 (Europa). Site: http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

So far we have installed the programs under c:/java. Now we need to create a folder for
our tutorials as c:/tutorials. Also create an eclipse workspace C:\java\eclipse-tutorial-
 5
workspace where metadata get stored. It is the best practice to separate IDE specific (i.e.
C:\java\eclipse-tutorial-workspace) files from the projects (i.e. c:/tutorials) specific files.

C:/java folder

C:/tutorials folder
 6
Now lets have maven into play. One of the powers of maven is its principle of convention
over configuration. You can run the following command to create a maven project structure.

C:\tutorials>mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=com.mytutorial -DartifactId=simple

The above command results in some directories & files created under c:/tutorials. E.g.

C:\tutorials\simple project called simple

C:\tutorials\simple\src src folder under which you have main & test etc.
C:\tutorials\simple\pom.xml the basic maven Project Object Model file.

Important (optional step): The plug-ins attached to lifecycle phases should be downloaded
and stored automatically (i.e. without having to declare them in pom.xml) exactly at the moment
they are needed. For example, if you call mvn compile from the command line. The plugins that
you call from the command line are downloaded and stored in the local repository only when you
call them (i.e. exactly when you type the command in the command line) even if they are
configured in your pom.xml. You can also explicitly define the plug-ins and their version numbers
in your pom.xml file as shown below in bold directly under the root element (i.e. <project>).

<project .>
.
<build>
<pluginManagement>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>

<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<configuration>
<downloadSources>false</downloadSources>
<wtpversion>1.5</wtpversion>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>
.
</project>

Note: Maven is a plug-in execution framework. You can look for available plug-ins at
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/. You can add this plug-ins as required. So if you have any
issue(s) in automatically downloading (e.g. due to metadata files getting corrupted) or you
want to override any plug-in configuration then use the above mentioned optional-step. Refer
appendix for sample pom.xml with other plugins added.

Note: You need to have an internet connection so that maven can download the plug-ins from
its central repository at http://repo1.maven.org/ (especially http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/ ).
The above mentioned plug-ins are based on their groupId under
http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/apache/maven/plugins/.

Note: You can find the documentation on plug-ins at mave2 home site
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/index.html.
 7

The pom.xml file with plug-in details (plug-in-details are optional)

Open up eclipse with workspace: C:\java\eclipse-tutorial-workspace. Close the welcome

screen and you should get an empty workbench.
 8

Eclipse needs to know the path to the local maven repository. Therefore the classpath variable
M2_REPO has to be set. Exit out of eclipse and execute the following command in a
command prompt. The following command will be making use of the maven-eclipse-plugin.

C:\tutorials>mvn -Declipse.workspace=C:\java\eclipse-tutorial-workspace eclipse:add-

maven-repo

Results in:

[INFO] Scanning for projects...

[INFO] Searching repository for plugin with prefix: 'eclipse'.
[INFO] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Building Maven Default Project
[INFO] task-segment: [eclipse:add-maven-repo] (aggregator-style)
[INFO] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] [eclipse:add-maven-repo]
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESSFUL
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[INFO] Total time: 1 second
[INFO] Finished at: Wed Aug 01 13:38:15 EST 2007
[INFO] Final Memory: 3M/6M
[INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------

After executing this command, you open up your eclipse and check if this variable
M2_REPO has been added. Important: If you had eclipse open while executing the above
mvn command you would not see this class path variable M2_REPO (e.g.
C:/java/.m2/repository). In eclipse under Window Preferences
 9

Note: Alternatively you can manually add this directly into eclipse without having to
run the mvn command shown above.

If you have a simple java project which is made up of only one module, using eclipse is very
simple. Now let us put the eclipse plug-in to the test of generating eclipse metadata (i.e.
.project, .classpath files). To generate the eclipse metadata files from your pom.xml you
execute the following command:

C:\tutorials> cd simple
C:\tutorials\simple>mvn eclipse:eclipse

After running this command if you check your local maven repository folder
C:\java\.m2\repository should have some dependency jars downloaded from the maven
repository site http://repo1.maven.org/maven2 and installed into your local repository
C:\java\.m2\repository. Also under your project C:\tutorials\simple, you should have some
eclipse related files created like .project and .classpath.

Note: You can find your downloaded plug-ins in your local repository
C:/java/.m2/repository which you set earlier in your settings.xml file under
%M2_HOME%\conf (i.e. C:\java\maven-2.0.7\conf)

Now you get back to your eclipse and import this simple project as shown below. File
Import.
 10

Click Next.

Click Finish. Now you should have the project in eclipse.

 11

The mvn eclipse:eclipse command also has automatically added build dependencies into
your eclipse as shown below by using the M2_REPO class variable, which we set earlier
using mvn -Declipse.workspace=C:\java\eclipse-tutorial-workspace eclipse:add-maven-
repo command. Isnt that cool. You can add any additional dependencies into your
pom.xml file and then run mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse command to get all your
eclipse build path dependencies set automatically. This also means that you can add your
.project & .classpath files under C:\tutorials\simple to your source control ignore list and all
you need is your pom.xml file to rebuild (mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse) it.
 12
Also note the source and target folders as shown below:

Open the App.java file under src/main/java which just prints Hello World as shown
below. Also note the AppTest.java under src/test/java for JUnit testing the App.java

You can run this file inside eclipse by right clicking on App.java and selecting Run As
Java Application. You should see Hello World printed at the console in bottom right hand
corner.
 13

The App.java will run and print the results in the Console window as shown below

Also note that your class files are generated under C:\tutorials\simple\targetin an explorer
window. Now delete all the files under C:\tutorials\simple\target for the next step.

Now, lets build it as a jar using maven and try to run it outside eclipse (i.e. in a command
prompt).

C:\tutorials\simple>mvn clean package

 14

Now you can see the packaged simple-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar jar file under
C:\tutorials\simple\target, in addition to all the class files. The jar file was built based on
your pom.xml file. Now you can run the java application in the command line as follows:

C:\tutorials\simple>java -cp .\target\simple-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar com.mytutorial.App

Results in:
Hello World!

-cp stands for classpath. I.e. where to find your class or classes.
com.mytutorial.App Fully qualified class name.

Note: Lot of beginners make the mistake of not specifying the classpath -cp. To know the
syntax of java type C:\tutorials\simple>java help in a command prompt.

This tutorial has given a basic idea of building and running a java application using eclipse
and maven. Now if you want your application to be shared by other applications you can
install them into your maven repository C:\java\.m2\repository by:

C:\tutorials\simple>mvn install

Now if you go and check under C:\java\.m2\repository you should find your package under
C:\java\.m2\repository\com\mytutorial\simple\1.0-SNAPSHOT.

com.tutorial is the groupid

simple is the artefact
1.0-SNAPSHOT is the package version
 15
Open up and check your pom.xml (plug-in details are optional) under
c:\tutorials\simple as shown below:

References & useful sites:

Maven home http://maven.apache.org/

Maven book http://mavenbook.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome,

http://www.devzuz.com/web/guest/products/resources

Java World Articles http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2005/jw-1205-

maven.html, http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-02-2006/jw-0227-maven.html,

Maven 2 repository http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/

Please feel free to email any errors to java-interview@hotmail.com. Also stay tuned at
http://www.lulu.com/java-success for more tutorials and Java/J2EE interview
resources.
 16

Tutorial 2 Java Web, Maven and Eclipse

Now lets create a simple Web project using maven and eclipse. Download
and install the Tomcat Server site: http://tomcat.apache.org/download-60.cgi
under C:/java.

Create a skeleton Maven based Web project structure (remember: maven is all about
convention over configuration i.e. consistency) using the following archetype plug-in
command. Remember that heart of maven is plug-ins and you can look at the syntax for
different plug-ins at http://maven.apache.org/plugins/index.html.

C:\tutorials>mvn archetype:create -DgroupId=com.mytutorial -DartifactId=simpleWeb

-DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-webapp
 17
The above command should have created the following structure in your file system under
c:/tutorials.

Now, you need to open up your pom.xml file under C:\tutorials\simpleWeb in a note pad
and add the following lines in bold to give the WTP (Web Tools Platform) support.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-
v4_0_0.xsd">

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.mytutorial</groupId>
<artifactId>simpleWeb</artifactId>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>simpleWeb Maven Webapp</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<finalName>simpleWeb</finalName>
<pluginManagement>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
 18
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<configuration>
<downloadSources>false</downloadSources>
<wtpversion>1.5</wtpversion>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>
</project>

Next generate eclipse files by:

C:\tutorials>cd simpleWeb
C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn eclipse:eclipse

You can notice that .project , & .classpath files and .settings folder have been created under
C:\tutorials\simpleWeb.

Now get back into your eclipse and import the simpleWeb project in by selecting File
Import

Click Next.
 19

Click Finish. Now you should have the simpleWeb project in your workspace.
 20

Note: Please note that the project simpleWeb has a world icon next to it along with J for java,
to indicate that it is a web project. You could also check this by right clicking on simpleWeb
project then selecting properties Project Facets, which says Java version 5.0 & Dynamic Web
Module Version 2.4.

Important: If you see any errors against simpleWeb then try running the following command in a
command prompt and then refresh your simpleWeb project within eclipse by right clicking and
then selecting Refresh or F5.

C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse

Note: The above command will clean (i.e. delete) it first and then rebuild the eclipse files. This
means that you dont have to check-in these eclipse related files and folders into your source
control. You can add these .project, .classpath and .settings files/folder under
c:/tutorials/simpleWeb to the cvs or subversion ignore list.

Now lets set up the Tomcat to run inside eclipse by Window Preferences

Click Add

Select Apache Tomcat V6 and click Next

 21

Select the Tomcat Installation Directory and click Finish and then Ok.

Deploy the package into Tomcat Server by: right clicking on the server and then selecting
Add and Remove Projects.
 22

Start the Tomcat Server by right clicking on the server inside the server tab and then selecting
Start
 23

Now finally to run the index.jsp, right click on it and select Run As and then Run On
Server.
 24

Select the server on the next dialog and now you should see:

Alternatively you can type the following URL http://localhost:8080/simpleWeb/index.jsp

in a an instance of the Internet browser outside eclipse and you should see:
 25

Now stop the server inside eclipse by right clicking on it and then selecting stop.

Now lets see how to package this war file outside eclipse and deploy it to Tomcat server. To
package it using maven run:

C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn package

You can open up a file explorer and check for the presence of the packaged war file as shown
below.
 26

Now copy your simpleWeb.war file into the Tomcats webapps folder as shown below:

Now you can start your Tomcat server as a service or from a command prompt as shown
below:

C:\java\Tomcat6.0\bin>tomcat6.exe
 27
After the server has started , you can type the following URL
http://localhost:8080/simpleWeb/index.jsp in an instance of the Internet browser outside
eclipse and you should see:

Note: It is also worth opening the simpleWeb.war file and noting down the packaging structure
for a war (i.e. Web ARchive file) file

References & useful sites:

Maven home http://maven.apache.org/

Maven book http://mavenbook.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome,

http://www.devzuz.com/web/guest/products/resources

Java World Articles http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2005/jw-1205-

maven.html, http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-02-2006/jw-0227-maven.html,

Maven 2 repository http://repo1.maven.org/maven2/

Please feel free to email any errors to java-interview@hotmail.com. Also stay tuned at
http://www.lulu.com/java-success for more tutorials and Java/J2EE interview
resources.
 28
Tutorial 3 JSF, Maven and Eclipse

This tutorial is a continuation of the Tutorial 2. We will be using JSF to extend the
simpleWeb project.

Open your mavens pom.xml inside eclipse by double clicking on it and add all the
dependencies for Suns JSF RI, Apache commons etc marked in bold. By adding these
dependencies you tell maven to download these dependency jar files for you. Maven
identifies these jar files based on groupid:artifactid:version.

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.mytutorial</groupId>
<artifactId>simpleWeb</artifactId>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>simpleWeb Maven Webapp</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>

<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

<dependency>
<groupId>javax.faces</groupId>
<artifactId>jsf-api</artifactId>
<version>1.2_02</version> Suns JSF RI API &
</dependency> implementation jars
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.faces</groupId>
<artifactId>jsf-impl</artifactId>
<version>1.2-b19</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>1.1.2</version>
</dependency> Tag libraries

<dependency>
<groupId>taglibs</groupId>
<artifactId>standard</artifactId>
<version>1.1.2</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
<groupId>commons-digester</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-digester</artifactId>
<version>1.8</version> Apache commons
</dependency> libraries

<dependency>
<groupId>commons-collections</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-collections</artifactId>
 29
<version>3.2</version>
</dependency>

</dependencies>

<build>
<finalName>simpleWeb</finalName>
<pluginManagement>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<configuration>
<downloadSources>false</downloadSources>
<wtpversion>1.5</wtpversion>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>
</project>

After adding remember to save your pom.xml file in eclipse.

Note: Now, you may ask how did I find out the groupid:artifactid:version combination. You can do
this by looking at the dependency jars pom.xml files in the maven repository at
http://repo1.maven.org/. For example lets take the jsf-api & jsf-impl jar files, which can be found at:

Now, if you drill into this, you will find the pom files, and if you open it you should be able to find
its coordinates in terms of groupid:artifactid:version. Lets try this for jsf-api.
 30

The groupid:artifactid:version forms the coordinates to identify a particular jar in the maven
repository or your local repository C:\java\.m2\repository.

Note: If a particular dependency jar in your pom.xml file is not found in the local repository
c:\java\.m2\repository, maven 2 will download this from its repository at
http://repo1.maven.org/maven2. Isnt this a better way to manage your dependency jars rather than
you having to manually download it and check all this into your source control and maintain all the
versions etc?
 31
Next step is to bring in all these dependency jars into the eclipse Java Build Path. If you right
click on your simpleWeb and then select Properties from the pop-up menu, you should see
the following screen:

Now, you need to go back to the command prompt and run the following command:

C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse

After finish running the above command, go back to your eclipse and refresh the simpleWeb
project and check your Java Build Path again. Now you can see all the jar files added to your
local repository C:\java\.m2\repository with the same coordinates in your pom.xml under
c:\tutorials\simpleWeb also the Java Build Path updated as shown below. This is the power
of maven 2!!!.

So far we have got all our dependency jars for JSF downloaded and installed. Next we will build a
simple JSF based Website.
 32
Create a new java folder under simpleWeb/src/main for all our java files.

Click Finish. Now you need to run the following command again from a command prompt.
 33
C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse

Refresh the simpleWeb project by selecting it and pressing F5. Now we need to add a java
package under the java folder we just created.
 34

Create a package called com.mytutorial under simpleWeb/src/main/java

 35
Also create the same package under simpleWeb/src/main/resources.

We now need to add a java class and a .properties file under the package com.mytutorial we
created above. Lets add the messages.properties file first as shown below under
simpleWeb/src/main/resources/com/mytutorial:

Important: According to Maven convention all the java files should go under src/main/java and all
the resources like .properties files should go under src/main/resources folder. When they are
packaged (i.e. war file), both the packages end up under WEB-INF\classes folder as a single
package.

Next step is to create a properties file named messages.properties under

simpleWeb/src/main/resources/com/mytutorial
36
 37

Open the messages.properties file you just added and add the following name/value pairs and then
save the file.

inputname_header=JSF Tutorial
prompt=Tell me your name:
greeting_text=Welcome to JSF
button_text=Hello
sign=!
 38

Next step is to create a backing bean java class named PersonBean.java under
simpleWeb/src/main/java/com/mytutorial.
39
 40

Open the PersonBean.java and type the following in bold:

package com.mytutorial;

public class PersonBean {

String personName;
}
 41

Now select the PersonBean.java and generate getter/setter methods for the personName as shown
below.
 42

Now you should have the following code under PersonBean.java and Save the file.

package com.mytutorial;

public class PersonBean {

String personName;

public String getPersonName() {

return personName;
}

public void setPersonName(String personName) {

this.personName = personName;
}
}
 43

Note: * in PersonBean.java means not yet saved. So remember to save it by clicking the disk
icon circled above.

Now you need to run the following command in a command prompt.

C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse

Also refresh the simpleWeb project inside eclipse.

Important: According to Maven convention all the java files should go under src/main/java and all
the resources like .properties files should go under src/main/resources folder. When they are
packaged (i.e. war file), both the PersonBean.class & messages.properties end up under WEB-
INF\classes\com\mytutorial folder as shown below.

Next step is to create the JSP pages.

 44

Now add a new folder named pages under the webapp as shown below:

We will add two JSP files as show below under the pages folder we just created.
 45

Open the inputname.jsp file and type the following code and save it:
 46

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h"%>

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f"%>
<f:loadBundle basename="com.mytutorial.messages" var="msg" />

<html> Using your messages.properties file resource bundle

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title>Insert title here</title>
</head>
<body>
<f:view>
<h3>
<h:form id="helloForm"> Using PersonBean.java. Refer faces-
config.xml for mapped name.
<h:outputText value="#{msg.prompt}"/>
<h:inputText value="#{personBean.personName}" />
<h:commandButton action="greeting" value="#{msg.button_text}" />
</h:form>
</h3>
</f:view> Using navigation-rule outcome from the
</body> faces-config.xml file
</html>

Follow the same procedures shown above to add another JSP file named greeting.jsp with the
following code.

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/html" prefix="h"%>

<%@ taglib uri="http://java.sun.com/jsf/core" prefix="f"%>
<f:loadBundle basename="com.mytutorial.messages" var="msg" />

<html>
<head>
<title>greeting page</title>
</head>
<body>
<f:view>
<h3>
<h:outputText value="#{msg.greeting_text}" />,
<h:outputText value="#{personBean.personName}" />
<h:outputText value="#{msg.sign}" />
</h3>
</f:view>
</body>
</html>
 47

Next step is to create the deployment descriptor files like faces-config.xml and web.xml.

Q. What are deployment descriptor files?

Deployment descriptors are text-based XML files whose elements describe how to deploy and
assemble components into a specific environment. They also contain information about the components
that can specify settings not contained in the code of the components themselves, such as initialization
parameters and security settings.

Next we need to add the JSF descriptor file faces-config.xml under

simpleWeb/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF with the managed beans e.g. PersonBean.java
and the page navigation logic for the pages inputname.jsp and greeting.jsp.
48
49
 50

The faces-config.xml file should have the following managed beans and navigation rules.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE faces-config PUBLIC

"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD JavaServer Faces Config 1.1//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-facesconfig_1_1.dtd">

<faces-config>
<navigation-rule> commandButton
<from-view-id>/pages/inputname.jsp</from-view-id> action=greeting
<navigation-case> from inputname.jsp
<from-outcome>greeting</from-outcome>
<to-view-id>/pages/greeting.jsp</to-view-id>
</navigation-case>
</navigation-rule>

<managed-bean>
<managed-bean-name>personBean</managed-bean-name>
<managed-bean-class> </managed-bean-class>
<managed-bean-scope>request</managed-bean-scope>
</managed-bean>
</faces-config>

Next we need to modify the java web descriptor file web.xml with the JSF configuration
details as shown below.

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC

"-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
"http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

<web-app>
<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
<param-value>server</param-value>
</context-param>
 51

<context-param>
<param-name>javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/faces-config.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

<listener>
<listener-class>
com.sun.faces.config.ConfigureListener
</listener-class>
</listener>

<!-- Faces Servlet -->

<servlet>
<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
Tells that the URL like *.jsf
Should use the Faces
<!-- Faces Servlet Mapping --> Servlet.
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

Finally modify the index.jsp file as follows before deploying & running:
 52

<html>
<body>
<jsp:forward page="/pages/inputname.jsf" />
</body>
</html>

Now you can republish these changes to Tomcat server inside eclipse as follows. After re-
publishing the status should change from Republish to Synchronized.
 53

Start the tomcat server by right clicking on the server and selecting Start
Now you can run the index.jsp on the server by selecting it and then Run As and Run On
Server.
54
 55
You should now get your first screen as follows within eclipse:

Type your name as say John in the text box above and click the button Hello, you should have the
following screen:

Thats it. You can also stop the server and then build the war file outside eclipse with the following
maven command in a command prompt as did before in the Tutorial 2.
 56
C:\tutorials\simpleWeb>mvn clean package

Copy the simpleWeb.war file under C:\tutorials\simpleWeb\target to

C:\java\Tomcat6.0\webapps. Start the server by double clicking on tomcat6.exe under
C:\java\Tomcat6.0\bin.

Open an instance of the Internet Explorer window type the following URL
http://localhost:8080/simpleWeb/index.jsp

Note: Unpack your war file and examine the packaged structure:

Library files:

Class/properties files:

Web resource files:

 57
Deployment descriptor files:

Manifest file:

Thats all to it. This JSF tutorial is based on the tutorial JSF KickStart: A Simple
JavaServer Faces Application at http://www.exadel.com/tutorial/jsf/jsftutorial-
kickstart.html by Exadel, Inc.

Please feel free to email any errors to java-interview@hotmail.com. Also stay tuned at
http://www.lulu.com/java-success for more tutorials and Java/J2EE interview
resources.
 58
Appendix

Sample pom.xml file with plug-ins defined:

<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">

<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.mytutorial</groupId>
<artifactId>simple</artifactId>
<packaging>jar</packaging>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>simple</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>

...........

</dependencies>

...........

<build>
<pluginManagement>
<!-- Building -->
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.2</version>
<configuration>
<source>1.5</source>
<target>1.5</target>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-help-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.1</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1.1</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.2</version>
 59
<configuration>
<testFailureIgnore>true</testFailureIgnore>
<forkMode>never</forkMode>
<excludes>
<exclude>**/*AbstractTests.java</exclude>
</excludes>
</configuration>
</plugin>

<!-- Packaging -->

<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1</version>
<configuration>
<archive>
<manifest>
<addDefaultImplementationEntries>
true
</addDefaultImplementationEntries>
</manifest>

<addMavenDescriptor>true</addMavenDescriptor>
</archive>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<goals>
<goal>test-jar</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-source-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0.3</version>
<configuration>
<attach>true</attach>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<goals>
<goal>jar</goal>
</goals>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-assembly-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-archetype-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.0-alpha-4</version>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-install-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.1</version>
</plugin>
 60
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-deploy-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3</version>
</plugin>

<!-- IDE -->

<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-eclipse-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.4</version>
<configuration>
<downloadSources>false</downloadSources>
<wtpversion>1.5</wtpversion>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<!--Site -->
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-site-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0-beta-5</version>
</plugin>
</plugins>

</pluginManagement>
</build>
...............
</project>