Doubt on Mapping

[Tripati Sahu]

Hi All,

I have the bwlow doubt on servlet mapping.

A web.xml contains the following element:
<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>xyz</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>*Insert code here*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
Which of the following url-patterns can be put in place of *Insert code here*?

a> *.*
b> /*.*
c> test/*.jsp
d> None Of these


The answer shoud be none of these

The above question is from Enthuware mock exam. With Question ID as com.enthuware.ets.scwcd.v5.2.143


My doubt is it should be none of the above. I tried to test it in tomcat using a simple servlet. While starting the application is is throwing the below exception


SEVERE: End event threw exception
java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
at sun.reflect.GeneratedMethodAccessor22.invoke(Unknown Source)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.IntrospectionUtils.callMethodN(IntrospectionUtils.java:953)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.CallMethodMultiRule.end(WebRuleSet.java:789)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Rule.end(Rule.java:229)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.endElement(Digester.java:1140)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanEndElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1644)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationWebConfig(ContextConfig.java:365)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.start(ContextConfig.java:1066)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:261)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4252)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.checkResources(HostConfig.java:1116)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1214)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:293)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.backgroundProcess(ContainerBase.java:1337)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1601)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1610)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.run(ContainerBase.java:1590)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid <url-pattern> *asdfasd* in servlet mapping
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.addServletMapping(StandardContext.java:2397)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.addServletMapping(StandardContext.java:2373)
... 32 more
Aug 24, 2009 2:00:36 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig applicationWebConfig
SEVERE: Parse error in application web.xml file at jndi:/localhost/TestWebProject/WEB-INF/web.xml
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid <url-pattern> *asdfasd* in servlet mapping
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2808)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.createSAXException(Digester.java:2834)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.endElement(Digester.java:1143)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanEndElement(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDriver.next(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentScannerImpl.next(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.XMLParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.jaxp.SAXParserImpl$JAXPSAXParser.parse(Unknown Source)
at org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.Digester.parse(Digester.java:1644)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.applicationWebConfig(ContextConfig.java:365)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.start(ContextConfig.java:1066)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:261)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.start(StandardContext.java:4252)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.checkResources(HostConfig.java:1116)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.check(HostConfig.java:1214)
at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:293)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.backgroundProcess(ContainerBase.java:1337)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1601)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.processChildren(ContainerBase.java:1610)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$ContainerBackgroundProcessor.run(ContainerBase.java:1590)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Aug 24, 2009 2:00:36 AM org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig applicationWebConfig

[Bindu Lakhanpal]

you tried with url-pattern *.*?
What was the request's servlet path?

The explanation there says that it is the ONLY valid option of all.
and it would work when the extension in request is * for example, hello.* or asdf.* or *.*
but not when it is *.doc or asdf.txt.

[Sebastian Janisch]

  java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid <url-pattern> *asdfasd* in servlet mapping   

URL patterns need to start with a slash '/' which marks the application root.

Also, please put code, exceptions and the like inside the code tags.

[Bindu Lakhanpal]

URL patterns need to start with a slash '/' which marks the application root.

But only excact and direchtory match begin with a "/" and not an extension match( eg. *.do).

[Tripati Sahu]

Hi All,

The answer given is b i.e. *.*

When servlet container cannot initialize a servlet with the given url-pattern. How come the answer will be *.*

The answer should be none of these.

I am not talking the extension in request.

May be I could not understand the question