Configuring servlet url-patterns without web.xml

Question

I know this can be done in servlet 3.0 with the @Webservlet annotation where you just assign the url-patterns and not have to do any configurations within a web.xml. Is there a way to programmatically assign a servlets url-pattern for applications running servlet 2.5?

I am creating a library which multiple applications will depend on and trying to make it so each of these applications do not have to explicitly configure any servlet url mappings for the servlets in the library I am creating within their respective web.xml file.

Thanks,

Answer 1

Since the web.xml and @Webservlet are both mechanisms for the server to know where to route requests by examining the war, you would have to be able to manipulate the server if you wanted to do it in code. This is at least theoretically possible, since the server could offer for example a JMX endpoint for configuration or you could go directly into the innards of the server .

However while it might be possible, it would be a non-standard way and you would have to write different tricks for all the servers you want to support. That's not something you want to do.

Finally, if you're creating a library, why does it have servlets in it? It shouldn't be the responsibility of the library to create servlets or decide which urls they're assigned to.