Question on Deployment descriptor - Order of Listeners and Servlets

[P Rathi]

Does the order of Listeners and Servlets matter in DD ?

I came across this question (in italics below) on JavaRanch Mock exam and as per it the order does matter. But on Pg 174 of HFSJ, I see a DD with "listener" element after "servlet" element. Any thoughts ??

<web-app>
<servlet>
.....
</servlet>
<listener>
<listener-class>com.javaranch.LogListener</listener-class>
</listener>
</web-app>

The above entry in the Deployment Descriptor(DD) will result in which of the following?


Answer: The webapp will not be loaded due to a parse exception of the DD.

Explanation: The ordering of the DD is listener then servlet.

[Connie Ky Leung]

The question in JavaRanch targes Servlet spec 2.3. In 2.3, <listener> must appear before <servlet> element in deployment descriptor. As of 2.4, the order of <servlet> and <listener> does not matter.