tomcat 6 custom property resource

Question

1) modify $CATALINA_HOME/conf/context.xml with this line

<Environment name="testValue" value="hello world" type="java.lang.String" override="true" />

2) add this in web.xml of new web-app

<resource-env-ref>
    <resource-env-ref-name>testValue</resource-env-ref-name>
    <resource-env-ref-type>java.lang.String</resource-env-ref-type>
</resource-env-ref>

3) retrive this property by

Context ic = new InitialContext();
String value = (String)ic.lookup("testValue");
System.err.println("value = " + value);

getting the following error:

javax.naming.NameNotFoundException: Name testValue is not bound in this Context
    at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:770)
    at org.apache.naming.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:153)
    at org.apache.naming.SelectorContext.lookup(SelectorContext.java:152)
    at javax.naming.InitialContext.lookup(InitialContext.java:392)
    at it.skillbill.at.CustomProperties.contextInitialized(CustomProperties.java:18)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.listenerStart(StandardContext.java:3972)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4467)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChildInternal(ContainerBase.java:791)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.addChild(ContainerBase.java:771)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.addChild(StandardHost.java:546)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWAR(HostConfig.java:905)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployWARs(HostConfig.java:740)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.deployApps(HostConfig.java:500)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.start(HostConfig.java:1277)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:321)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1053)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHost.start(StandardHost.java:785)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.start(ContainerBase.java:1045)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.start(StandardEngine.java:443)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.start(StandardService.java:519)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.start(StandardServer.java:710)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.start(Catalina.java:581)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.start(Bootstrap.java:289)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.Bootstrap.main(Bootstrap.java:414)

I have only one question: why?

Answer 1

i resolved this issue by retrive this property with this line:

(String)ic.lookup("java:comp/env/testValue");

Answer 2

You don't need "resource-env-ref" entry in your web.xml in this case. This is used when you'd like to reference configured resources like DataSource. If you only need to configure some environmental property you could either go with "Environment" configuration or with dedicated "env-entry" in your web.xml. Then you could refer value by using "java:comp/env/testValue"