Myfaces_Eclipse_Setup

Myfaces application can be configured in eclipse and launched using tomcat/jetty servlet container. Lets assume a general web application directory structure:

<root>
  +---lib
  +---persistence
  |      +---src
  |           +---java
  +---service    
  |      +---src
  |           +---java
  +---web
       +-----src
       |      +---java
       +-----webapp
              +---WEB-INF
              |    +---classes
              |    +---lib
              |    +---web.xml
              |    +---faces-config.xml
              +---<view pages>

The <root>/lib folder contains Myfaces jars (Let <root> folder be c:\workspace\myproject). Its may be a good idea to download all latest commons jars and put in a subdirectory under lib (eg: latest version of commons-logging.jar will be used by Myfaces as well as hibernate, avoiding maintainence of different versions). Install the following:

• j2sdk 1.5
• eclipse sdk 3.1 (c:\eclipse)
• tomcat 5.x if you want to use tomcat(c:\applications\Tomcat5.x)
• jetty 5.1 if you want to use jetty(c:\applications\jetty5.1)

Following steps are common whether configuring for tomcat or jetty

• create a new java project in eclipse.In project properties window do add all the source code in the source path.

• make the "destination path" as <root>/web/webapp/WEB-INF/classes in project properties.

• create a new user library and add all jars under <root>/lib folder to it recursively.

• Now the project should be compiling without errors and all class files should get generated under <root>/web/webapp/WEB-INF/classes.

Configuring in Tomcat

• Any of these two eclipse plugins for tomcat need to be installed: "sysdeo" or "wtp tomcat plugin". We will cover Sysdeo plugin as it is easy to configure(wtp1.0 tomcat plugin enforces a predefined directory structure).

• unzip sysdeo plugin into c:\eclipse\plugins directory and restart eclipse.

• go to windows --> preferences --> Tomcat

• select the tomcat version and enter the Tomcat home (c:\applications\Tomcat5.x). Click OK.
• Click on the start tomcat icon in the eclipse toolbar to startup tomcat. ( make sure its running)

• Now copy all jars under <root>/lib to c:\applications\Tomcat5.x\common\lib. directory structure under <root>\lib needs to be flattened up when copying to tamcat's common lib folder

• create a new myproject.xml file in C:\applications\Tomcat5.x\conf\Catalina\localhost directory. Following needs to be entered:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<Context docBase="${catalina.home}/../../workspace/myproject/web/webapp" path="/myproject">
  <Logger className="org.apache.catalina.logger.FileLogger"
             prefix="localhost_myproject_log." suffix=".txt"
          timestamp="true"/>

</Context>

• restart tomcat from eclipse by pressing the restart icon.

• localhost:8080/myproject/index.faces shows welcome page.

Configuring in Jetty

• Install jetty launcher plugin from http://jettylauncher.sourceforge.net/updates and restart eclipse.

• Right click on project --> Run as --> Run

• Select "Jetty Web" on the left hand pane, and click new button at the bottom left hand corner.
• In the screen that shows up on right hand pane, enter following:

  1. jetty home: c:\applications\jetty5.1

  2. webapp root dir: web/webapp

  3. contextname: myproject

  4. http host: localhost

• Click on "Apply". Click "Run".

• localhost:8080/myproject/index.faces shows welcome page.