Specify a custom web.xml to an embedded tomcat - spring

Question

Is there a way to specify a different web.xml from the standard WEB-INF/web.xml when using an embedded tomcat instance?
I would like to put a web.xml in my src/test/resources (or some other area) and refer to that web.xml when starting the embedded tomcat.
Here is my existing code to start the tomcat instance
tomcat = new Tomcat();
String baseDir = ".";
tomcat.setPort(8080);
tomcat.setBaseDir(baseDir);
tomcat.getHost().setAppBase(baseDir);
tomcat.getHost().setAutoDeploy(true);
tomcat.enableNaming();
Context ctx = tomcat.addWebApp(tomcat.getHost(), "/sandbox-web", "src\\main\\webapp");
File configFile = new File("src\\main\\webapp\\META-INF\\context.xml");
ctx.setConfigFile(configFile.toURI().toURL());
tomcat.start();
I am starting this server from a tomcat instance and I would like to do the following when running unit tests
turn off the contextConfigLocation
specify a custom ContextLoaderListener that sets the parent ApplicationContext of the embedded tomcat.
This file might be specified like so:
File webXmlFile = new File("src\\test\\resources\\embedded-web.xml");
Edit
After much frustration I realized that no matter what I do, I cannot persuade tomcat from looking in WEB-INF for web.xml. It appears that I must ignore the web.xml altogether and set the items in the web.xml programmatically.
I ended up with this configuration:
cucumber.xml for configuring tests
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context.xsd">
<bean id="applicationContextProvider" class="ca.statcan.icos.sandbox.ApplicationContextProvider"/>
<bean id="sandBoxDataSource" class="org.apache.tomcat.dbcp.dbcp.BasicDataSource" destroy-method="close">
<property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver" />
<property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:mem:testdb;shutdown=true;" />
<property name="username" value="SA" />
<property name="password" value="" />
</bean>
<!-- Support for JPA related annotation support (#PersistenceUnit and #PersistenceContext) -->
<bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.support.PersistenceAnnotationBeanPostProcessor" />
<!-- JTA Configuration -->
<bean id="jtaTransactionManager" class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionManager"
init-method="init" destroy-method="close">
<property name="forceShutdown"><value>true</value></property>
</bean>
<bean id="jtaUserTransaction" class="com.atomikos.icatch.jta.UserTransactionImp" />
<bean id="springTransactionManager"
class="org.springframework.transaction.jta.JtaTransactionManager">
<property name="transactionManager" ref="jtaTransactionManager" />
<property name="userTransaction" ref="jtaUserTransaction" />
</bean>
<!-- JPA Entity Manager configuration -->
<bean id="entityManagerFactory"
class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean"
lazy-init="true">
<property name="persistenceUnitName" value="sandBox" />
<property name="dataSource" ref="sandBoxDataSource" />
<property name="jpaVendorAdapter">
<bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.vendor.HibernateJpaVendorAdapter">
<property name="database" value="SQL_SERVER" />
<property name="showSql" value="true" />
<property name="generateDdl" value="true" />
</bean>
</property>
<property name="jpaPropertyMap">
<props>
<prop key="hibernate.archive.autodetection">class</prop>
<prop key="hibernate.cache.use_second_level_cache">false</prop>
<prop key="hibernate.cache.use_query_cache">false</prop>
<!-- Second Level Cache : EHCache in dev
<prop key="hibernate.cache.provider_class">net.sf.ehcache.hibernate.EhCacheProvider</prop> -->
<prop key="hibernate.hbm2ddl.auto">create</prop>
</props>
</property>
</bean>
<bean class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager">
<property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="entityManagerFactory" />
</bean>
<import resource="classpath:META-INF/applicationContext-core.xml" />
<import resource="classpath:META-INF/applicationContext-web.xml" />
</beans>
applicationContext-core.xml - where the services are configured
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:aop="http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop"
xmlns:tx="http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx" xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
xmlns:jee="http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee"
xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx http://www.springframework.org/schema/tx/spring-tx-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop http://www.springframework.org/schema/aop/spring-aop-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.2.xsd
http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee http://www.springframework.org/schema/jee/spring-jee-3.2.xsd"
default-autowire="byName">
<bean id="propertyPlaceholderConfigurer"
class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
<property name="locations" value="classpath*:META-INF/fms-local.properties" />
<property name="systemPropertiesModeName">
<value>SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE</value>
</property>
</bean>
<!--
Classpath scanning to load all the service classes
-->
<context:component-scan base-package="ca.statcan"
use-default-filters="false">
<context:include-filter type="regex" expression="ca\.statcan\.icos.*\.service\..*Service" />
<context:include-filter type="regex" expression="ca\.statcan\.icos.*\.builders\..*Builder" />
</context:component-scan>
<!--
Spring TransactionManager
-->
<tx:advice id="txAdvice" transaction-manager="springTransactionManager">
<tx:attributes>
<!-- all methods starting with 'get' are read-only -->
<tx:method name="get*" read-only="true" propagation="SUPPORTS" isolation="DEFAULT"/>
<tx:method name="find*" read-only="true" propagation="SUPPORTS" isolation="DEFAULT"/>
<!-- other methods use the default transaction settings -->
<tx:method name="*" read-only="false" propagation="REQUIRED" isolation="DEFAULT"/>
</tx:attributes>
</tx:advice>
<!--
AOP Weaving for all Service methods
-->
<aop:config proxy-target-class="true">
<aop:pointcut id="icosServiceMethods" expression="execution(* ca.statcan.icos..*.service.*.*(..))" />
<aop:advisor advice-ref="txAdvice" pointcut-ref="icosServiceMethods" />
</aop:config>
</beans>
Custom ContextLoaderListener
public class EmbeddedContextLoaderListener extends ContextLoaderListener {
#Override
protected WebApplicationContext createWebApplicationContext(ServletContext sc) {
GenericWebApplicationContext context = new GenericWebApplicationContext(sc);
context.setParent(ApplicationContextProvider.getApplicationContext());
return context;
}
#Override
protected ApplicationContext loadParentContext(ServletContext servletContext) {
return ApplicationContextProvider.getApplicationContext();
}
}
Modified Embedded Tomcat Wrapper
public class EmbeddedTomcat {
/** Log4j logger for this class. */
#SuppressWarnings("unused")
private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(EmbeddedTomcat.class);
private Tomcat tomcat;
public void start() {
try {
tomcat = new Tomcat();
String baseDir = ".";
tomcat.setPort(8080);
tomcat.setBaseDir(baseDir);
tomcat.getHost().setAppBase(baseDir);
tomcat.getHost().setDeployOnStartup(true);
tomcat.getHost().setAutoDeploy(true);
tomcat.enableNaming();
Context context = tomcat.addContext("/sandbox-web", "src\\main\\webapp");
Tomcat.initWebappDefaults(context);
configureSimulatedWebXml(context);
LOG.info("Starting tomcat in: " + new File(tomcat.getHost().getAppBase()).getAbsolutePath());
tomcat.start();
} catch (LifecycleException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
public void stop() {
try {
tomcat.stop();
tomcat.destroy();
FileUtils.deleteDirectory(new File("work"));
FileUtils.deleteDirectory(new File("tomcat.8080"));
} catch (LifecycleException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
}
}
public void deploy(String appName) {
tomcat.addWebapp(tomcat.getHost(), "/" + appName, "src\\main\\webapp");
}
public String getApplicationUrl(String appName) {
return String.format("http://%s:%d/%s", tomcat.getHost().getName(),
tomcat.getConnector().getLocalPort(), appName);
}
public boolean isRunning() {
return tomcat != null;
}
private void configureSimulatedWebXml(final Context context) {
// Programmatically configure the web.xml here
context.setDisplayName("Sandbox Web Application");
context.addParameter("org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.DEFINITIONS_CONFIG", "/WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml,/WEB-INF/tiles-sandbox.xml");
final FilterDef struts2Filter = new FilterDef();
struts2Filter.setFilterName("struts2");
struts2Filter.setFilterClass("org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter");
struts2Filter.addInitParameter("actionPackages", "ca.statcan.icos.sandbox.web");
context.addFilterDef(struts2Filter);
final FilterMap struts2FilterMapping = new FilterMap();
struts2FilterMapping.setFilterName("struts2");
struts2FilterMapping.addURLPattern("/*");
context.addFilterMap(struts2FilterMapping);
context.addApplicationListener("org.apache.tiles.web.startup.TilesListener");
context.addApplicationListener("ca.statcan.icos.sandbox.EmbeddedContextLoaderListener");
context.addWelcomeFile("index.jsp");
}
}
Step definitions
public class StepDefs {
#Autowired
protected EmployeeEntityService employeeEntityService;
#Given("^the following divisions exist$")
public void the_following_divisions_exist(DataTable arg1) throws Throwable {
final Employee employee = new Employee(3, "Third", "John", null, "613-222-2223");
employeeEntityService.persistEmployee(employee);
}
#Given("^there are no existing surveys$")
public void there_are_no_existing_surveys() throws Throwable {
}
#When("^I register a new survey with the following information$")
public void I_register_a_new_survey_with_the_following_information(DataTable arg1) throws Throwable {
Capabilities capabilities = DesiredCapabilities.htmlUnit();
final HtmlUnitDriver driver = new HtmlUnitDriver(capabilities);
driver.get("http://localhost:8080/sandbox-web/myFirst");
}
#Then("^the surveys are created$")
public void the_surveys_are_created() throws Throwable {
// Express the Regexp above with the code you wish you had
throw new PendingException();
}
#Then("^a confirmation message is displayed saying: \"([^\"]*)\"$")
public void a_confirmation_message_is_displayed_saying(String arg1) throws Throwable {
// Express the Regexp above with the code you wish you had
throw new PendingException();
}
}
Action class
#Results({ #Result(name = "success", location = "myFirst.page", type = "tiles") })
#ParentPackage("default")
#Breadcrumb(labelKey = "ca.statcan.icos.sandbox.firstAction")
#SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class MyFirstAction extends HappyfActionSupport {
private List<Employee> employees;
#Autowired
private EmployeeEntityService employeeEntityService;
#Override
public String execute() {
employees = employeeEntityService.getAllEmployee();
if (employees.size() == 0) {
// persist data in memory
final Employee employee1 = new Employee(1, "First", "John", null, "613-222-2222");
employeeEntityService.persistEmployee(employee1);
final Employee employee2 = new Employee(2, "Second", "John", null, "613-222-2223");
employeeEntityService.persistEmployee(employee2);
employees = employeeEntityService.getAllEmployee();
}
return SUCCESS;
}
public List<Employee> getEmployees() {
return employees;
}
}
With this, the embedded tomcat starts correctly and all seems to go well until I try to navigate to a web page. In the StepDefs class, the EmployeeEntityService is injected correctly. However, in the Action class, EmployeeEntityservice is not injected (it remains null).
According to my knowledge, I am setting the parent ApplicationContext for the embedded Tomcat correctly. So why isn't the server using the parent context to get the EmployeeEntityService?

Answer 1

I was stuck with a similar problem and the solution for using an alternative web.xml is simpler than one would dare to think:
2 lines:
Context webContext = tomcat.addWebapp("/yourContextPath", "/web/app/docroot/");
webContext.getServletContext().setAttribute(Globals.ALT_DD_ATTR, "/path/to/custom/web.xml");
Voila! The magic happens in org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig#getWebXmlSource
Disclaimer: Tested on Tomcat 7.0.42