Make it more obvious that web.xml and web-fragment.xml are ignored when running with an embedded container

[wilkinsona]

The answer might just be better documentation, or perhaps a warning if we find a web.xml on the filesystem or in the jar. Searching all dependencies for web-fragment.xml files might be a step too far as it could be rather slow.

[kenwdelong]

Is there any way to add a JAR with a web-fragment.xml to a Spring Boot app?

[wilkinsona]

What end result are you aiming for and are you using an embedded container?

[kenwdelong]

I want a JMX console (like the one in JBoss) that is visible as an HTTP page. Yes, i am using the embedded container/executable JAR.

I have a github project https://github.com/kenwdelong/jmx-console that I am used to just dropping in my WAR projects, and the console just shows up at /jmx-console. It's a web fragment.

I tried registering the servlets individually, which worked, but I could not figure out how to get the static resources and JSPs to work.

[wilkinsona]

Using ServletRegistrationBeans in place of the web-fragment.xml is what I'd do. You could write your own auto-configuration and include it in your JMX console project so that you only need to implement it once and can then drop the project into any Boot app.

As documented, and assuming you're using Tomcat, I believe you'll need to use an executable war to get JSPs to work. You'll also need a dependency on Jasper:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.tomcat.embed</groupId>
    <artifactId>tomcat-embed-jasper</artifactId>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

[kenwdelong]

Ok, thanks Andy. I think what I will do is rewrite JMX Console to use Groovy builders to generate the HTML (hopefully that will work; I fear all the forms) and install standard spring controllers, and then as you said add some autoconfig.