Where do I put jar files in Tomcat 6?

Question

I am having trouble getting my JSP page to load a Java class which is in a jar file. The message I get appears to indicate a class not found exception:

Jan 6, 2011 12:21:45 PM org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve invoke
SEVERE: Servlet.service() for servlet jsp threw exception
org.apache.jasper.JasperException: Unable to compile class for JSP: 

An error occurred at line: 72 in the jsp file: /xmlloader.jsp
FactArray cannot be resolved to a type
69:         sourceType = "1";
70: }
71: 
72: FactArray fa = new FactArray();
73: Fact f;
74: 
75: /***********************/

The Type FactArray is one of my classes in a package com.mypackage.fact.FactArray which exists in myjar.jar. myjar.jar is a separate Java project (using NetBeans, but I don't think that's relevant).

I include the package in my JSP as follows:

<%@ page import="com.mypackage.fact.*" %>

I deploy my web site and JSPs into Tomcat 6 as a WAR file. I include myjar.jar in that WAR in WEB-INF/lib but that doesn't work. I tried putting myjar.jar in my tomcat/lib folder, but that doesn't work either.

I have bounced the server several times between changes. I have read a whole bunch of questions on here which say "put it in WEB-INF/lib" but that isn't working, so I'm asking my own question.

Where do I need to put common JAR files so they get picked up by Tomcat?

I hope this code is placed before its declaration `<%@ page import="com.mypackage.fact.*" %>` — jmj, Jan 06 '11 at 19:53

score 10 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

10

Putting in /WEB-INF/lib folder of the deployed webapp should work.

If that doesn't work, then the possible causes are:

The JAR doesn't contain the desired class at all (extract with ZIP tool and verify)
There's a typo in your import and/or class declaration (mind case sensitivity!)

Unrelated to the problem, using scriptlets is not the best practice. Consider a servlet.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Community

1
1

answered Jan 06 '11 at 19:51

BalusC

1,082,665
372
3,610
3,555

hmm, that's an interesting comment. Can you say why you think I have a scriptlet (I thought I had a servlet). – Simon Jan 06 '11 at 21:48
...wait, I get it... but it is still interesting. But now I think I have a knowledge gap. Instead of that scriptlet what would I do? – Simon Jan 06 '11 at 21:55
Start here: [How to avoid Java code in JSP files?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3177733/how-to-avoid-java-code-in-jsp-files) – BalusC Jan 06 '11 at 22:14
I also had the same problem with my tomcat. Your solution works for me, thank you – Apr 04 '20 at 11:42

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 06 '11 at 19:51

1

Make sure you have the correct import statements in the code; depending on how you set up your env, place the jars in the webapps/ROOT/lib

answered Jan 06 '11 at 19:51

user353829

1,244
5
25
38

Where do I put jar files in Tomcat 6?

2 Answers2