url pattern for html file in web.xml

Question

we know how to set url pattern for servlet but I am unable to set url pattern for html in web.xml, can u help me to find solution, I googled but, can't able to get it, please find below for my problem.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>auth.Login</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Login</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/login</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

in above code I am setting url pattern for **Login** servlet class in web.xml, like wise can I able to set url pattern for html file in web.xml pls help to find solution thank you in advance

Solution 1

If you don't mind to change your HTML page to JSP you can set url pattern for it like this:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Error</servlet-name>
    <jsp-file>/pages/error.jsp</jsp-file>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Error</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/error</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Solution 2

URL pattern are for servlet and filters. For servlet

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Servlet-name</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/< Pattern ></url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

For Filter

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>Filter-Name</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/< Pattern ></url-pattern>
    <dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
</filter-mapping>

Those are not for Html file. Infact there are no pattern configuration for JSPs too.

Solution 3

If you want to protect *.html files from direct access (by placing *.html files under WEB-INF) you can use a Servlet which would be only responsible for forwarding all such requests to intended html files.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>HTMLServlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>my.package.HTMLServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>HTMLServlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/somepath/*.html</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Code in servlet class may look like this

...
protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request,
                      HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException {
  String requestedPath = //... code for getting requested HTML path
  request.getRequestDispatcher(requestedPath).forward(request, response);
}
...

Comments

[Jafar Ali]

no you can't, inface HTML file doesent require any URL patter configuration. In tomcat HTML files can be accessed directly with their corresponding URLs.

[Selva]

I thought that we can set url pattern for html file, then how in the welcome file list alone they are setting index.html as startup page

[Jafar Ali]

Welcome file is a special case. It is configurable so that one can set welcome page other than default i.e index.html. This way we can also set a servlet as a welcome page.

[Paul LeBeau]

You don't need to change the page to a JSP. An HTML file will work just fine: <jsp-file>/pages/error.html</jsp-file>