[news.eclipse.webtools] Re: changing project to dynamic web project fail

[Larry Isaacs <Larry.Isaacs@xxxxxxx>]

Dean Hiller wrote:
> I just downloaded the latest eclipse EE two days ago.  I check out my 
> seam project from CVS(with no .project or .classpath files).  I look for 
> convert to dynamic web project but I don't see that in the list when I 
> right click on project.  How does one convert a project to a dynamic web 
> project?
>
> I could have sworn I managed to do this two days ago(hmmm, maybe that 
> was with jboss tools that I could do it).  The configure submenu only 
> has convert to JPA and convert to plugin projects :(.
>
> How does one mount an existing dynamic web project?
>
> Here is my second try with a workaround that also doesn't work but gets 
> farther.......
> 1. checkout and then delete the project from eclipse(but not delete 
> source off drive)
> 2. now, create a new dynamic web project and uncheck Use default for 
> directory and choose the directory I just checked out
> 3. as I go, choose /input/javasrc, input/webroot, uncheck generate 
> web.xml, click finish

Dynamic Web Projects have a certain "structure".  The "structure" of 
other "web" type projects can be so varied that it's not practical to 
automate conversion in general.  It is much more practical for plug-ins 
that support a particular build framework, such as maven, to implement 
this conversion since the "structure" of the original project is well 
known.  If what you have is a general "web" type project, then what you 
have done seems reasonable.

> 4. Now add my EJB3 project as a dependency(ie. we add the project so we 
> can change code and it will hot deploy)...hmmm, does that work in WTP if 
> you have a subproject of a war project, will it get deployed to tomcat 
> and do hot swap of code like MyEclipse does?  It appears not to work.

In WTP, adding a Java project as a dependency of a Dynamic Web Project 
implies building that Java project into a jar and including that jar in 
the webapp's WEB-INF/lib.  This won't work with hot code replacement. 
However, the WTP Tomcat supports an option to "Server modules without 
publishing".  Double-click the server in the Servers view and enable 
this option in the Server Options section.  This "installs" a custom 
classloader in Tomcat that would allow the classes in the Java project 
to be accessed directly, without being built into a jar.

> RESULT: There was no choice for where it should get my jar files 
> from????  and now my project does not compile.
>
> 5. I try to go to build path and there is this Web App Libraries thing 
> but I can't seem to add jars to that at all. 

Use the Java EE Module Dependencies page to manage such jars.  What you 
configure there will often appear under the Web App Libraries.  Web App 
Libraries isn't something you interact with directly in the Java Build 
Path properties page.  The Web App Libraries would also automatically 
pickup any jar under "input/webroot/WEB-INF/lib", if such a folder existed.

Cheers,
Larry

> Any ideas how to get this to work?
>
> thanks,
> Dean