How to Configure a Startup Class in Tomcat

[Jaishankar VV]

Can any one let me know how to configure a startup class in Tomcat. What enteries to be made in Server.xml or web.xml file

[Mike Curwen]

There's a few options, and each one depends on what you mean by 'startup', and unfortunately, what the particular container means by 'startup'.


in web.xml, you can specify that a servlet will 'load-on-startup' and any value greater than 1 will cause Tomcat to load the servlet (run the init method) before even a first request is made.

Another option is (if you're using the most recent spec) to use ContextListeners. This is a class you register (also in web.xml I think) to listen to events like ContextCreated or ContextDestroyed.

More info on these can be found in both the servlet specification, and Tomcat's own docs.

[Josh Landin]

Simply implement the interface:

org.apache.catalina.LifecycleListener

and add an entry to your server.xml inside the Engine element:

<Engine name="YourEngine" ...>
  ...
  <Listener className="com.foo.MyListener" ... >
  ...
</Engine>

Note that a Listener can have any number of additional properties that may be configured from this element. Attribute names are matched to corresponding JavaBean property names using the standard property method naming patterns.
HTH,
--
Josh