在WebApp上下文中，“ spring-context.xml”文件在哪里？

Question

In short: I don't know which folder to place the "spring-context.xml" file in a WebApp when I'm doing this:

ApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("spring-context.xml");

In Long: I know what a classpath is basically. It used to be an environment variable that told the Java project where to look for jars and other resources. It doesn't seem to be used much. But in Eclipse, it talks about setting your classpath by going into your Java Build Path.

What I don't understand it when I want to find a Spring "spring-context.xml" file using the classpath (above) what that has to do with the Eclipse Java Build Path, if anything! What folders does a WebApp look in when I use the above statement? I usually hear people say, "In the classpath" but that doesn't tell me much since I don't want to use an environment variable and the Eclipse Java Build Path seems to have little to do with finding the spring-context.xml file.

More Detail

Initially I was afraid that more details would confuse the situation, but maybe they hold a key.

I am using Vaadin to create a web app. I'm following their direction for how to get a Spring context into Vaadin. I've created a Spring Helper class:

public SpringContextHelper(Application application) {
    ServletContext servletContext = ((WebApplicationContext) application.getContext()).getHttpSession().getServletContext();
    context = WebApplicationContextUtils.getRequiredWebApplicationContext(servletContext);
}

In the web.xml I have these sections:

<listener>
    <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
</listener>

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>classpath*:spring-context.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

I'm getting the error in the first line of SpringContextHelper() . I've broken the line down so I know it is this logic that is failing:

WebApplicationContext wac = (WebApplicationContext) application.getContext();

wac comes back null, presumably because is can't find the spring-context.xml file.

Answer 1

Essentially, the "Java Build path" you specify for a project is the CLASSPATH.

And files you put in the "src" root of your "Java Resources" project folder will automatically go in your web app's "classes" subdirectory (ie will automatically be available as in the runtime CLASSPATH).

For example, if you have a custom log4j.properties file, then it can and should go in your Eclipse project's "src/" root.

As far as "where does spring-context.xml go?", I don't know. This link suggests it should go under META-INF/jsca (at least for WebLogic):

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E15315_09/help/oracle.eclipse.tools.weblogic.doc/html/sca.html