local development using tomcat, do I have to setup my IDE in a special way?

Question

Just downloaded netbeans, and curious if I was to play around with JSP's etc., do I have to put my source files in a particular folder layout?

How will I hookup tomcat?

Answer 1

You don't need configure somewhere for tomcat.you must develop your code and only run in tomcat.
see this tutorial.

Answer 2

If you're just getting started with JSP programming, then I recommend that you download NetBeans 5.5, which comes with a built-in Tomcat server. If you use the current version of NetBeans (6.7?), then you'll have to manually attach it to your server, which means you'll have to learn to set up the server first.

As for "particular folder layout", the answer is yes, both for NetBeans and for J2EE web applications in general. However, when you create your project as a web application, NetBeans will handle that for you.