The Tomcat 4 Servlet/JSP Container - Jasper 2 JSP Engine How To

Using Ant is the preferred way to compile web applications using JSPC. Use the script given below to precompile a webapp:

<project name="Webapp Precompilation" default="all" basedir="."> 

  <target name="jspc"> 

    <taskdef classname="org.apache.jasper.JspC" name="jasper2" > 
      <classpath id="jspc.classpath"> 
        <pathelement location="${java.home}/../lib/tools.jar"/> 
        <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/server/lib"> 
          <include name="*.jar"/> 
        </fileset> 
        <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/common/lib"> 
          <include name="*.jar"/> 
        </fileset> 
      </classpath> 
    </taskdef> 

    <jasper2 
             validateXml="false" 
             uriroot="${webapp.path}" 
             webXmlFragment="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/generated_web.xml" 
             outputDir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/src" /> 

  </target> 

  <target name="compile">

    <mkdir dir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/classes"/>
    <mkdir dir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/lib"/>

    <javac destdir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/classes"
           optimize="off"
           debug="on" failonerror="false"
           srcdir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/src" 
	   excludes="**/*.smap">
      <classpath>
        <pathelement location="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/classes"/>
        <fileset dir="${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/lib">
          <include name="*.jar"/>
        </fileset>
        <pathelement location="${tomcat.home}/common/classes"/>
        <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/common/lib">
          <include name="*.jar"/>
        </fileset>
        <pathelement location="${tomcat.home}/shared/classes"/>
        <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/shared/lib">
          <include name="*.jar"/>
        </fileset>
      </classpath>
      <include name="**" />
      <exclude name="tags/**" />
    </javac>

  </target>

  <target name="all" depends="jspc,compile">
  </target>

</project>

The following command line can be used to run the script (replacing the tokens with the Tomcat base path and the path to the webapp which should be precompiled):

Then, the declarations and mappings for the servlets which were generated during the precompilation must be added to the web application deployment descriptor. Insert the ${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/generated_web.xml at the right place inside the ${webapp.path}/WEB-INF/web.xml file. Restart the web application (using the manager) and test it to verify it is running fine with precompiled servlets. An appropriate token placed in the web application deployment descriptor may also be used to automatically insert the generated servlet declarations and mappings using Ant filtering capabilities. This is actually how all the webapps distributed with Tomcat are automatically compiled as part of the build process.