Tomcat 6.x web.xml default and custom servlet routing

Question

I have two servlets defined in the web.xml file, namely the default2 and myservlet. The default2 servlet is used to map the static files like the javascript and css. The myservlet is used for getting dynamic content.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>default2</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.apache.catalina.servlets.DefaultServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet>
    <servlet-name>myservlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>
            classpath:my-servlet.xml
        </param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

The servlet mapping is defined as follows

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>myservlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>default2</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/resources/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

When i try to access any files under /resources, i get a 404. Any ideas why this config is not working or change this config to make it work.

Answer 1

Removed wrong portion of the answer as per @BalusC comment.

Set a break point in your servlet and perform a debug session. Look for the path that your servlet is picking up these files at. Make sure they match the location

Answer 2

It should work fine. Are those files in real also located in the /resources folder?

Answer 3

Your web.xml looks correct (except I would change your <load-on-startup> constants). Make sure that your /resources exists and is a publicly visible folder in your project path and not under /WEB-INF folder.

Answer 4

Tomcat's default servlet actually serves a static resource identified by HttpServletRequest.getPathInfo(), so that /style.css will be returned when /resources/style.css is requested.

(Jetty's default servlet uses a full path, so this behaviour is not portable across containers).

Answer 5

Try changing your url-pattern for myservlet to /, and optionally adding <mvc:default-servlet-handler /> (see here) to your Spring configuration.