Dynamic Web Application runs with Eclipse but not in Tomcat

Question

I have been working on a small application, mostly as a learning exercise.

I have been introducing new things in stages. I had it working up to adding Struts 2.

Now, I am trying to add Tiles and keep having problems. If I right click on the project and "run As" -> "Run on Server" it will run as expected.

If I deploy the application as a WAR file to my local Tomcat instance it will deploy ok but when I try to access the application it fails with IllegalArgumentException in the tiles definition file.

I do have the Maven resources in the WEB-INF/lib directory. But there is still something that I must be missing when I export the war file. I've reviewed all the log files and can't see a difference. The server configured in Eclipse points to the same server I am running separately. It is Tomcat v7.0.70.

Here is the output from when I try to access the webpage:

Struts Problem Report

Struts has detected an unhandled exception:
Messages:   

    Illegal character in path at index 13: file:///C:/My Programs/apache-tomcat-7.0.70/webapps/TeamInfo/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml
    Illegal character in path at index 13: file:///C:/My Programs/apache-tomcat-7.0.70/webapps/TeamInfo/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml

Stacktraces

java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Illegal character in path at index 13: file:///C:/My Programs/apache-tomcat-7.0.70/webapps/TeamInfo/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml

    java.net.URI.create(Unknown Source)
    org.apache.struts2.tiles.StrutsWildcardServletApplicationContext.getResource(StrutsWildcardServletApplicationContext.java:105)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:232)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:225)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:225)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:203)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:192)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.ResolvingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitions(ResolvingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:68)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.checkAndloadDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:174)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:131)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinition(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:105)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinition(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:49)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.UnresolvingLocaleDefinitionsFactory.getDefinition(UnresolvingLocaleDefinitionsFactory.java:89)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.getDefinition(BasicTilesContainer.java:286)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.isValidDefinition(BasicTilesContainer.java:273)
        org.apache.tiles.TilesContainerWrapper.isValidDefinition(TilesContainerWrapper.java:88)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.mgmt.CachingTilesContainer.isValidDefinition(CachingTilesContainer.java:100)
        org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult.doExecute(TilesResult.java:139)
        org.apache.struts2.result.StrutsResultSupport.execute(StrutsResultSupport.java:208)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.executeResult(DefaultActionInvocation.java:366)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:270)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.LoggingInterceptor.intercept(LoggingInterceptor.java:68)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:240)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.TimerInterceptor.intercept(TimerInterceptor.java:121)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:240)
        org.apache.struts2.factory.StrutsActionProxy.execute(StrutsActionProxy.java:54)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher.serviceAction(Dispatcher.java:556)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ExecuteOperations.executeAction(ExecuteOperations.java:81)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.doFilter(StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.java:113)
        org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
        org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:218)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
        org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:505)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:169)
        org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:103)
        org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:956)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
        org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:442)
        org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1082)
        org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:623)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(AprEndpoint.java:2517)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(AprEndpoint.java:2506)
        java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
        java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
        java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)


java.net.URISyntaxException: Illegal character in path at index 13: file:///C:/My Programs/apache-tomcat-7.0.70/webapps/TeamInfo/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml

        java.net.URI$Parser.fail(Unknown Source)
        java.net.URI$Parser.checkChars(Unknown Source)
        java.net.URI$Parser.parseHierarchical(Unknown Source)
        java.net.URI$Parser.parse(Unknown Source)
        java.net.URI.<init>(Unknown Source)
        java.net.URI.create(Unknown Source)
        org.apache.struts2.tiles.StrutsWildcardServletApplicationContext.getResource(StrutsWildcardServletApplicationContext.java:105)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:232)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:225)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadRawDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:225)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitionsFromResources(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:203)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:192)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.ResolvingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.loadDefinitions(ResolvingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:68)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.checkAndloadDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:174)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinitions(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:131)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinition(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:105)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.dao.CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.getDefinition(CachingLocaleUrlDefinitionDAO.java:49)
        org.apache.tiles.definition.UnresolvingLocaleDefinitionsFactory.getDefinition(UnresolvingLocaleDefinitionsFactory.java:89)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.getDefinition(BasicTilesContainer.java:286)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.BasicTilesContainer.isValidDefinition(BasicTilesContainer.java:273)
        org.apache.tiles.TilesContainerWrapper.isValidDefinition(TilesContainerWrapper.java:88)
        org.apache.tiles.impl.mgmt.CachingTilesContainer.isValidDefinition(CachingTilesContainer.java:100)
        org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult.doExecute(TilesResult.java:139)
        org.apache.struts2.result.StrutsResultSupport.execute(StrutsResultSupport.java:208)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.executeResult(DefaultActionInvocation.java:366)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:270)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.LoggingInterceptor.intercept(LoggingInterceptor.java:68)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:240)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.interceptor.TimerInterceptor.intercept(TimerInterceptor.java:121)
        com.opensymphony.xwork2.DefaultActionInvocation.invoke(DefaultActionInvocation.java:240)
        org.apache.struts2.factory.StrutsActionProxy.execute(StrutsActionProxy.java:54)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.Dispatcher.serviceAction(Dispatcher.java:556)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ExecuteOperations.executeAction(ExecuteOperations.java:81)
        org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.doFilter(StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter.java:113)
        org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:241)
        org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilterChain.java:208)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValve.java:218)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValve.java:122)
        org.apache.catalina.authenticator.AuthenticatorBase.invoke(AuthenticatorBase.java:505)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java:169)
        org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java:103)
        org.apache.catalina.valves.AccessLogValve.invoke(AccessLogValve.java:956)
        org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.java:116)
        org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:442)
        org.apache.coyote.http11.AbstractHttp11Processor.process(AbstractHttp11Processor.java:1082)
        org.apache.coyote.AbstractProtocol$AbstractConnectionHandler.process(AbstractProtocol.java:623)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.doRun(AprEndpoint.java:2517)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.net.AprEndpoint$SocketProcessor.run(AprEndpoint.java:2506)
        java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
        java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
        org.apache.tomcat.util.threads.TaskThread$WrappingRunnable.run(TaskThread.java:61)
j   ava.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)


You are seeing this page because development mode is enabled. Development mode, or devMode, enables extra debugging behaviors and reports to assist developers. To disable this mode, set:

struts.devMode=false

in your WEB-INF/classes/struts.properties file.

This is `web.xml`

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="3.0" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:web="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee
    http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd">

<display-name>Team Info</display-name>

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/classes/config/SpringBeans.xml</param-value>
</context-param>
<context-param>
    <param-name>isLog4jAutoInitializationDisabled</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
</context-param>
    <context-param>
    <param-name>tilesDefinitions</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>

<listener>
    <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
</listener>
<listener>
   <listener-class>org.apache.struts2.tiles.StrutsTilesListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

<filter>
    <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
    <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>struts2</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

</web-app>

`struts.xml`

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE struts PUBLIC
"-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Struts Configuration 2.0//EN"
"http://struts.apache.org/dtds/struts-2.0.dtd">

<struts>
    <constant name="struts.devMode" value="true" />

    <package name="default" namespace="/" extends="struts-default">

        <result-types>
            <result-type name="tiles" class="org.apache.struts2.views.tiles.TilesResult" />
        </result-types>

        <interceptors>
            <interceptor name="authentication" class="com.teaminfo.interceptors.AuthenticationInterceptor" />
            <interceptor-stack name="authStack">
                <interceptor-ref name="timer" />
                <interceptor-ref name="logger" />
                <interceptor-ref name="authentication" />
                <interceptor-ref name="defaultStack" />
            </interceptor-stack>
        </interceptors>

        <default-interceptor-ref name="authStack" />

        <default-action-ref name="dashboard" />

        <global-results>
            <result name="need_login" type="tiles">login</result>
            <result name="exception">/jsp/error.jsp</result>
        </global-results>

        <global-exception-mappings>
            <exception-mapping exception="java.lang.Exception" result="exception" />
        </global-exception-mappings>

        <action name="login" class="com.teaminfo.action.LoginAction">
            <interceptor-ref name="defaultStack" />
            <result name="success" type="redirectAction">dashboard</result>
            <result name="input" type="tiles">login</result>
        </action>
        <action name="dashboard" class="com.teaminfo.action.Dashboard">
            <result name="manager" type="tiles">manager</result>
            <result name="associate" type="tiles">associate</result>
        </action>
    </package>

</struts>

Tiles config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>

<!DOCTYPE tiles-definitions PUBLIC
     "-//Apache Software Foundation//DTD Tiles Configuration 2.0//EN"
     "http://tiles.apache.org/dtds/tiles-config_2_0.dtd">

<tiles-definitions>
    <definition name="mainTemplate" template="/jsp/layout.jsp">
            <put-attribute name="title"  value="Team Info" />
            <put-attribute name="header" value="/jsp/header.jsp" />
            <put-attribute name="menu" value="/jsp/menu.jsp" />
            <put-attribute name="body"   value="/jsp/body.jsp" />
            <put-attribute name="footer"   value="/jsp/footer.jsp" />
     </definition>

     <definition name="login" extends="mainTemplate">
        <put-attribute name="title" value="Team Info Login" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/jsp/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/login.jsp" />
     </definition>

     <definition name="admin" extends="mainTemplate">
        <put-attribute name="title" value="Team Info Admin" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/jsp/admin/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/admin/body.jsp" />
     </definition>

     <definition name="manager" extends="mainTemplate">
        <put-attribute name="title" value="Team Info Manager" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/jsp/manager/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/manager/body.jsp" />
     </definition>

     <definition name="associate" extends="mainTemplate">
        <put-attribute name="title" value="Team Info Manager" />
        <put-attribute name="menu" value="/jsp/associate/menu.jsp" />
        <put-attribute name="body" value="/jsp/associate/body.jsp" />
     </definition>

</tiles-definitions>

Error is probably due to the space between "My Programs" in the file path. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4992317/illegal-character-in-path-at-index-16 — hamnix, Aug 01 '16 at 15:45
I'm guessing the Eclipse Workspace isn't under "My Programs", so your web-app has no spaces in its path when deployed from there. — nitind, Aug 01 '16 at 16:00
Actually Eclipse is installed in "Program Files (x86)" so the path has TWO spaces. I have to assume that Eclipse is hiding that fact. — GISNovis, Aug 01 '16 at 16:32
Please clarify your specific problem or add additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it’s hard to tell exactly what you're asking. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question. — Roman C, Sep 21 '16 at 21:22

SkyWalker · Answer 1 · 2016-08-01T16:41:45.833

1

it doesn't like the space in the path. So the space should be changed with a %20 in this case. Use the replaceAll(" ","%20");

Otherwise, you can use encoding using URLEncoder.

String pathOfFile = "file:///C:/My Programs/apache-tomcat-7.0.70/webapps/TeamInfo/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml";
pathOfFile = URLEncoder.encode(pathOfFile, "UTF-8");

UPDATE1:

For tiles, you can replace your param value as below

    <param-value>
      /WEB-INF/tiles-defs.xml,/org/apache/tiles/classpath-defs.xml
    </param-value>

instead of

<param-value>/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml</param-value>

For more, you can go through this tutorial.

edited Aug 01 '16 at 16:41

answered Aug 01 '16 at 16:11

SkyWalker

28,384
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132

I understand what you are saying. However, that is a constructed path. in web.xml it has "/WEB-INF/classes/tiles-def.xml". So I don't have a way to change it once the full file name is generated. We don't have admin authority here at the company I work for so I couldn't install it in "program files" so I created "My Programs" for Tomcat, MySQL and other software. I'm surprised it is just now encountering that as an issue. It's been working fine up until I added Tiles. I'll try renaming the directory – GISNovis Aug 01 '16 at 16:31

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 18 '16 at 07:03

Apart from what ever SkyWalker has said, I would like to mention, deploying the war file which built in target folder of your project location's workspace to tomcat is also not the right way and will not most times wont work. You always need to right click on your project in eclipse -> export -> war and check Optimize for a specific server runtime and select Apache Tomcat. The exported war file, copy to your tomcat\webapps directory.

Hope it helps save time.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 05 '19 at 00:25

Just in case this works for other people. You need to access your web application once deployed in tomcat with the very same name of your war.

Example.

If you exported your war as something.war then you must access your web app like http://localhost:8080/something

Dynamic Web Application runs with Eclipse but not in Tomcat

Stacktraces

This is web.xml

struts.xml

Tiles config

3 Answers3

UPDATE1:

This is `web.xml`

`struts.xml`