This page describes the process setting up Apache Tomcat 6 to act as a WebDAV server. After you are done you will be able to mount this WebDAV resource from windows or any other WebDAV client and modify file directly on the server. The location will look like a WebFolder to a Windows machine.
Reasons for having your webapp host WebDAV mount point
- Allows the your users to easly upload/download documents to/from your web application.
- Allows users to view your web application as a “Share Drive”
- Allows you to have a “back door” into your application to view Log files.
- Tools like “Web Drive” or “Net Drive” allow you to assign a drive letter for your application.
Requirements
- Maven installed and configured
- Some web security knowledge- The implementation described below will allow anyone to modify files.
Procedure
Start by creating a project from a maven archetype.
mvn archetype:generate -DarchetypeArtifactId=maven-archetype-webapp
Answer the rest of the questions like this…
Define value for groupId: : com.test Define value for artifactId: : webdavTest Define value for version: 1.0-SNAPSHOT: : Define value for package: com.test: :
Hit enter for the rest of the defaults.
cd to the project’s folder
Next we generate the eclipse project (optional). The project is still not ready however this step makes editing the pom.xml file easier.
mvn eclipse:clean eclipse:eclipse
Import the Existing project (generated project) into eclipse.
Next steps are to typically modify the pom.xml file and insert the rest of the dependencies and regenerate the eclipse project by re-typing the above command and clicking refresh on the eclipse project.
Your pom.xml file should look like this…
pom.xml
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.test</groupId>
<artifactId>webdavTest</artifactId>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
<name>webdavTest Maven Webapp</name>
<url>http://maven.apache.org</url>
<dependencies>
<dependency>
<groupId>junit</groupId>
<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
<version>3.8.1</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.apache.tomcat</groupId>
<artifactId>catalina</artifactId>
<version>6.0.24</version>
<scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
<build>
<finalName>webdavTest</finalName>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>tomcat-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<server>tomcat</server>
<update>true</update>
<url>http://localhost:8080/manager</url>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
</project>
Your web.xml file should look like this..
src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN" "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" > <web-app> <display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name> <servlet> <servlet-name>webdav</servlet-name> <servlet-class>org.apache.catalina.servlets.WebdavServlet</servlet-class> <init-param> <param-name>debug</param-name> <param-value>1</param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>listings</param-name> <param-value>true</param-value> </init-param> <init-param> <param-name>readonly</param-name> <param-value>false</param-value> </init-param> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>webdav</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping> </web-app>
Test the WebDAV location
Start the tomcat server by typing
mvn tomcat:run
Navigate to the following location using your web browser to test:
http://localhost:8080/webdavTest/
if that worked then navigate using your WEBDAV client to the same location. I used windows XP and mapped a network drive. It worked fine.
if you are using linux ubuntu you can type dav://localhost:8080/webdavTest/
TODO Items
Still trying to figure out how to get Jetty server to host this site. I have tried however got an error
javax.naming.NameNotFoundException; remaining name 'Resources' at org.eclipse.jetty.jndi.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:576) at org.eclipse.jetty.jndi.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:663) at org.eclipse.jetty.jndi.NamingContext.lookup(NamingContext.java:678) at org.eclipse.jetty.jndi.java.javaRootURLContext.lookup(javaRootURLContext.java:110)
The problem was related to the following section of code: Line 262 of DefaultServlet.java
262 // Load the proxy dir context.
263 resources = (ProxyDirContext) getServletContext()
264 .getAttribute(Globals.RESOURCES_ATTR);
265 if (resources == null) {
266 try {
267 resources =
268 (ProxyDirContext) new InitialContext()
269 .lookup(RESOURCES_JNDI_NAME);
270 } catch (NamingException e) {
271 // Failed
272 throw new ServletException("No resources", e);
273 }
274 }
275
276 if (resources == null) {
277 throw new UnavailableException("No resources");
278 }
I think it has something to do with the difference between the Jndi Implementation available in Jetty vs the one in Tomcat 6. Sorry for the folks that are in love with jetty but for now this only works in Tomcat 6. Not sure about Websphere or other Application servers… Soon as I try I will come back to update this page.
References
- Tomcat JavaDoc
- http://webdav-servlet.sourceforge.net/ – another implementation based on the one described here
