Enterprise Explorer view and web development
The Enterprise Explorer view is the default view in the
web perspective. This view provides the following notable features:
- VCM (version control management) information can be toggled from the Preferences page ( )
You can drag files from Windows Explorer or the desktop into the Navigator view.
- View filtering is supported by selecting Filters from the Navigator view Menu. Resources can be filtered by name, project type, or content type. Files beginning with a period are filtered out by default.
- The status line shows the full path of the selected resource.
- Dragging a .java file from the Navigator view into a JSP file inserts a usebean tag. The same behavior is exhibited when a .class file is dragged into a JSP file.
- Errors and warnings are indicated with a red or yellow warning next to the resource with the problem. Parent containers up to the project level (for all projects types) also show the red error or yellow warning indicators. Errors and warnings can include Java™, HTML/JSP, and Links Builder problems.
- Items available from the New cascading menu in the project menu are context-sensitive. All menus have Project and Other options.
Organization of the Enterprise Explorer view
The
Enterprise Explorer view shows a custom view of all projects with
added Java EE extensions. The
following are some of the notable top-level objects that are displayed
beneath the project node (based on default folder names).
- Web Deployment Descriptor
- This file corresponds to the WebContent/WEB-INF/web.xml file,
which is used to specify deployment information for modules that are
created in the web development environment. Use one of the following
methods to edit this file:
- Use the Web Deployment Descriptor Editor.
- Right-click the file and select Open With from the menu to open the file with a different editor.
- Java Resources
- This node shows Java resources
within the project. If the project contains a single Java source folder, the packages and classes
(for example, servlets, beans) within that folder are displayed directly
beneath the Java Resources folder
node. If the project contains multiple source folders, each source
folder is displayed beneath the Java Resources
folder. You can expand source folders to show their packages and classes.
- Libraries
- This folder contains the library JAR files that are defined in
the project properties. Three types of JAR files are shown:
- JAR files included in the WebContent/WEB-INF/lib directory of the project
- JAR files external to the project, such as j2ee.jar and rt.jar
- Project libraries, which are special references to a Java project
When a web project is exported, a JAR file is automatically created from the Java project to be used by the web application during run time. Libraries are shown in class path order. By default, only the JAR files that are contained within the project are shown. You can also show external JAR files and project libraries by selecting
from the Navigator view.
- imported_classes folder
- This folder can be created during a WAR import, and contains class
files that do not have accompanying source. The imported_classes folder
is a Java classes folder; Java classes folders can also be
created using the web project Java Build Path properties
page.
You can drag class files from the Windows Explorer or desktop to the imported_classes folder in the Navigator view.
- Web content folder
- This folder contains items to be published to the server. By default,
this folder is named WebContent for newly created web projects. Note: You can change the name in the creation wizard on the web facet page.
- META-INF
- This directory contains the MANIFEST.MF file. This file is used to map class paths for dependent JAR files that exist in other projects in the same Enterprise Application project. An entry in this file updates the runtime project class path and Java build settings to include the referenced JAR files.
- Theme
- The suggested directory for cascading style sheets and other style-related objects.
- WEB-INF
- The directory where supporting web resources for a web application
are kept (for example: .xmi files, .xml files, and web.xml.) Tip: You can double-click the web.xml file to open the Web Deployment Descriptor editor. You can also open the Web Deployment Descriptor editor by double-clicking the Deployment Descriptor.