Maven: Parent Spring Webapp - spring

Question

I would like to have a framework base code for all my webapps using Maven and Spring.
Tomcat7 is starting correctly on my child project, but I get a 404 when trying to open index.html.
Parent POM:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.example.base</groupId>
<artifactId>base</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>pom</packaging>
<properties>
<!-- Generic properties -->
<java.version>1.6</java.version>
<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
<project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
<!-- Spring -->
<spring.version>3.2.2.RELEASE</spring.version>
<!-- Servlet -->
<jstl.version>1.2</jstl.version>
<servlet.version>2.5</servlet.version>
<!-- Logging -->
<slf4j.version>1.7.5</slf4j.version>
<log4j.version>1.2.17</log4j.version>
<!-- Test -->
<junit.version>4.11</junit.version>
</properties>
<dependencies>
<!-- Spring -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
<version>${spring.version}</version>
<exclusions>
<!-- Exclude Commons Logging in favor of SLF4j -->
<exclusion>
<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>${spring.version}</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Servlet -->
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>${servlet.version}</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>${jstl.version}</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Logging -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
<version>${log4j.version}</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- Apache Tiles -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
<artifactId>tiles-jsp</artifactId>
<version>2.2.2</version>
<exclusions>
<!-- Exclude Commons Logging in favor of SLF4j -->
<exclusion>
<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-logging-api</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<defaultGoal>install</defaultGoal>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0</version>
<configuration>
<compilerArguments>
<Xlint />
</compilerArguments>
<verbose>true</verbose>
<source>${java.version}</source>
<target>${java.version}</target>
<showWarnings>true</showWarnings>
</configuration>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.tomcat.maven</groupId>
<artifactId>tomcat7-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.0</version>
<configuration>
<webXml>src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml</webXml>
</configuration>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>tomcat-run</id>
<goals>
<goal>run</goal>
</goals>
<phase>pre-integration-test</phase>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>tomcat-shutdown</id>
<goals>
<goal>shutdown</goal>
</goals>
<phase>post-integration-test</phase>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
Child POM:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.example.child</groupId>
<artifactId>child</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<parent>
<groupId>com.example.base</groupId>
<artifactId>base</artifactId>
<version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
</parent>
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.3</version>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
The web.xml is provided in the parent project (base). The JSPs are provided in the child project.
I guess the 404 is due to the pom packaging as the child project doesn't know where to get the files of the parent project. Am I wrong? What's the reasona dn how to solve it?
EDIT
Is it possible to create a parent spring webapp which defines all the configuration (web.xml, applicationContext.xml, servletContext.xml, Controllers, ...) and child projects which contains the JSP stuff?

Answer 1

Have a look at the maven war plugin. This plugin allows what it calls overlays.
Overlays are used to share common resources across multiple web applications. The dependencies of a WAR project are collected in WEB-INF/lib, except for WAR artifacts which are overlayed on the WAR project itself.
It might prove useful to you and your requirements.

Answer 2

You should add dependencies in each module.
The best practice is to add the dependencyManagement with in the parent pom where you list dependencies with versions, scope etc.
Note that parent module does not have dependencies element at all (since it only declare dependencies)
In the child pom include dependencies without versions, scope etc.
dependencyManagement in the parent pom:
<dependencyManagement>
<!-- Spring -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
<version>${spring.version}</version>
<exclusions>
<!-- Exclude Commons Logging in favor of SLF4j -->
<exclusion>
<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
<version>${spring.version}</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Servlet -->
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
<version>${servlet.version}</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
<version>${jstl.version}</version>
</dependency>
<!-- Logging -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
<version>${slf4j.version}</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
<version>${log4j.version}</version>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
<!-- Apache Tiles -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
<artifactId>tiles-jsp</artifactId>
<version>2.2.2</version>
<exclusions>
<!-- Exclude Commons Logging in favor of SLF4j -->
<exclusion>
<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
<artifactId>commons-logging-api</artifactId>
</exclusion>
</exclusions>
</dependency>
</dependencyManagement>
dependencies in the child pom:
<dependencies>
<!-- Spring -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Servlet -->
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Logging -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>log4j</groupId>
<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
</dependency>
<!-- Apache Tiles -->
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.tiles</groupId>
<artifactId>tiles-jsp</artifactId>
</dependency>
</dependencies>