WAR

WAR (Web Application Archives)

Web clients are packaged in Web application archives. In addition to Web components, a Web application archive usually contains other files, including the following:

• Server-side utility classes (database beans, shopping carts, and so on). Often these classes conform to the JavaBeans component architecture.
• Static Web content (HTML, image, and sound files, and so on).
• Client-side classes (applets and utility classes).

Web components and static Web content files are called Web resources.

A WAR has a specific directory structure. The top-level directory of a WAR is the document root of the application. The document root is where JSP pages, client-side classes and archives, and static Web resources are stored

The document root contains a subdirectory called WEB-INF, which contains the following files and directories:

• web.xml: The Web application deployment descriptor
• Tag library descriptor files (see Tag Library Descriptors)
• classes: A directory that contains server-side classes: servlets, utility classes, and JavaBeans components
• lib: A directory that contains JAR archives of libraries (tag libraries and any utility libraries called by server-side classes).

You can also create application-specific subdirectories (that is, package directories) in either the document root or the WEB-INF/classes directory.

Note: When you add classes and archives to a WAR, deploytool automatically packages them in the WEB-INF subdirectory. This is correct for Web components and server-side utility classes, but incorrect for client-side classes such as applets and any archives accessed by applets. To put client-side classes and archives in the correct location, you must drag them to the document root after you have added them to the archive.