[FIXED] Deploy servlet with IntelliJ IDEA to local Tomcat server

Issue

Trying to deploy simple servlet to Tomcat server. After select Run Tomcat... I'm redirected to http://localhost:8080/hi_war_exploded/ with webpage with one word - $END$. Logfiles reports no error.

I was expecting to see hw folder with my application in tc9\webapps, but found nothing.

What does the $END$ means? Where is my application on TomCat server? How to put my servlet to TomCat server?

Servlet:

import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;

// Extend HttpServlet class
public class hw extends HttpServlet {

    private String message;

    public void init() throws ServletException {
        // Do required initialization
        message = "Hello World";
    }

    public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException {

        // Set response content type
        response.setContentType("text/html");

        // Actual logic goes here.
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        out.println("<h1>" + message + "</h1>");
    }

    public void destroy() {
        // do nothing.
    }
}

web.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app xmlns="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_4_0.xsd"
         version="4.0">


    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>hw</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>hw</servlet-class>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>hw</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/hw</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

pom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
         xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>Hello</groupId>
    <artifactId>hw</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-api</artifactId>
            <version>7.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j-api</artifactId>
            <version>LATEST</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.apache.logging.log4j</groupId>
            <artifactId>log4j-core</artifactId>
            <version>LATEST</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>
        <plugins>
            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <configuration>
                    <source>1.8</source>
                    <target>1.8</target>
                </configuration>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

</project>

Solution

IntelliJ IDEA doesn't copy the webapp files into TOMCAT\webapps.

It modifies Tomcat configuration in CATALINA_BASE and deploys the artifact directly from its output directory to avoid copying the files which can take a lot of extra time, especially for the large projects.

hi_war_exploded is the context configured in Tomcat Run/Debug configuration, Deployment tab.

In the root of this context you have the default index.jsp page generated by IntelliJ IDEA on project creation.

When you open http://localhost:8080/hi_war_exploded/ URL, Tomcat serves index.jsp from the Web Resource root of your application.

$END$ is a part of the the new JSP file template. When you create a new JSP file in a project, cursor is placed at this location.

When the project wizard generates the Web Application project and places index.jsp file from the template, it doesn't expand the $END$ macro, so it appears in the JSP file. It's actually a known bug in IntelliJ IDEA.

Your servlet is available at http://localhost:8080/hi_war_exploded/hw URL.

To make it available at http://localhost:8080/hw URL instead you need to change the Application context to / as shown on this screenshot:

Answered By - CrazyCoder