Right, class dir = exploded jar, I follow you there.  Let me lay out the
situation a little better.  I'm trying to compile HelloTag.java.  My
classpath initially was set to this:  "/Users/matt/development/java:."
So, I realize, the jar files I need (jsp-api.jar, included in tomcat
distro) are not in either the java directory or the . (current
directory).  

First, I just wanted to make sure that jsp-api.jar was the correct jar I
needed (yes I know this isn't the best way to go about things), so
copied the jsp-api.jar into the current directory.  Figuring that if
that was the correct jar, I would be able to compile HelloTag.java.
Unfortunately, it did not compile.  So, then I set my classpath to
include the actual jar file, classpath was changed to
"/Users/matt/development/java:/Library/Tomcat/Home/common/lib/jsp-api.ja
r:."  So that's why I'm a little confused.

matt



-----Original Message-----
From: QM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2004 10:38 AM
To: Tomcat Users List
Subject: Re: tag library compile - semi-resolution


On Thu, May 20, 2004 at 10:02:27AM -0400, Zollinhofer, Matt wrote:
: So, it works, but I don't really understand the necessity of having
the
: particular jar file on the classpath.

Is this a confusion of
        "class directories vs JAR files"
or
        "webapp class search paths"
?

JAR files and directories are equivalent in Java: they both contain a
hierarchy of classes and resources.  (You can think of a class dir as an
exploded JAR file.)

When building on the commandline (with ant or straight javac) you must
explicitly set the classpath.

With webapps, it's a little different: JAR files from certain
directories are automagically included for you.  Imagine the
container, on startup, scans for WEB-INF/lib/*.jar and puts those in
its search path.

That's not a Tomcat thing; that's the servlet spec.

-or did I miss your question entirely?

-QM

-- 

software  -- http://www.brandxdev.net
tech news -- http://www.RoarNetworX.com


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