Up until recently, I followed the process you described because it was a "sure thing" as far as getting the right JSP pages and classes to load into Tomcat at run-time.
Since then, Craig M. recommended the approach set out in the Tomcat application developers guide. I've been following that process ever since, and I can vouch for the reliability of the process of reloading applications without having to restart Tomcat. You can access the Tomcat application developers guide at... http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-4.0-doc/appdev/ There were a few hiccups I encountered with the sample build.xml and build.properties file: --> The documentation instructs you to define catalina.home and app.name in build.properties, but those properties are defined in build.xml; I removed the latter to avoid confusion as to which declarations were taking precedence. --> There is a means by which to declare JAR files which should be copied to the build/WEB-INF/lib folder and included in your classpath. It was more convenient for me to copy my JAR files into web/WEB-INF/lib and pick up the JAR files automatically in the classpath using a fileset tag. Once set up properly, you can run "ant install" on your build.xml file. That will create a build folder, copy files from your web folder (supposed to contain all non-Java files) into the build folder, compile all Java files in your src folder and copy the class files intto build/WEB-INF/classes, dynamically mount your app.name context with the build folder as your docBase. Immediately, you can test your application using http://localhost:8080/context/. If you discover and error, fix it in the appropriate place (either the src folder or the web folder). Then run the "ant reload" task, wait a few seconds for Tomcat to reload your application, and continue your testing. PS: Because "ant install" dynamically deploys your webapp into Tomcat without creating a <Context/> in your server.xml file, you will have to run that task again whenever Tomcat is restarted. When you are ready to have your application permanently deployed (or you want more control over your <Context/> attributes), make the change to the server.xml file yourself and point the docBase at your build folder. ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ruffin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Tomcat Users List'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 10:32 Subject: RE: Best practices - dev & deploy? > Thanks PQ - I cleared the cache and reloaded to no avail. I also closed the > brower and re-launched - same thing. > > I'm really interested in understanding how people go about testing? > > Do you develop in your source area, run Ant, then navigate to your app in > the browser. At this point are all your changes visible or is there > something else that needs to be done? > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 11:15 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: Best practices - dev & deploy? > > > I guess it was cached. Try close your browser and re-launch it. > > Regards, > > > PQ > > "This Guy Thinks He Knows Everything" > "This Guy Thinks He Knows What He Is Doing" > > -----Original Message----- > From: John Ruffin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: February 14, 2003 12:13 PM > To: 'Tomcat Users List' > Subject: Best practices - dev & deploy? > > I running tc4.1.18, sdk1.4.0_01, struts1.1.b2 on a w2k machine. TC runs as > an NT service. > > I created a basic myHello project - just an app with 2 jsps. Used Ant to > build and deploy the app but I can't see the changes unless I go through > this crazy process of: > (step1) removing the app using Manager > (step2) stopping the "NT service" - Apache Tomcat4.1 > (step3) deleting the app folder under catalina_home\webapps > (step3) deleting the appName.war file > (step4) starting the NT service - Apache Tomcat4.1 > (step5) building the app using Ant - which of course redeploys the app > > <Did I mention it was crazy?> > > Question: What are some best practices for testing applications? > > I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel - there must be an easier way. > > BTW, if I make changes to a jsp inside the container I can see the changes - > but of course I don't want to do that. > > Thanks for your feedback. > > > > ************************************************************ > The information in this email is confidential and may be > legally privileged. 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