Deploying servlet on Tomcat using "ant install" not working. Please help.

Question

Hello. Normally I can find answers by using search, but I can't today for some reason. So please bare with me if this has been mentioned before. I will try to provide as much info as possible so that helping me isn't too much a chore. Thank you.
I have downloaded and installed the JWSDP 1.3. and Tomcat is running. I am also using Ant 1.5.4 (previous installation - not one included with JWSDP) and modeled my build.xml file after the template provided here:
http://jakarta.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-5.0-doc/appdev/build.xml.txt.
When I run ant on my respository, everything builds fine. But when I run Ant with the install target, I get the following error:
BUILD FAILED
file:C:/owl/build.xml:366: java.io.IOException: Server returned HTTP response co
de: 401 for URL: http://localhost:8080/manager/deploy?path=%2Fowl&war=file%3A%2F
%2FC%3A%5Cowl%2Fbuild
Here is line 366 build.xml:
localWar="file://${build.home}"/>
...which is included in this block for the target "install":
<target name="install" depends="compile"
description="Install application to servlet container">
<deploy url="${manager.url}"
username="${manager.username}"
password="${manager.password}"
path="${app.path}"
localWar="file://${build.home}"/>
</target>
When I point my brower to the url located in the error verbose, I get the following:
FAIL - Encountered exception java.lang.NullPointerException
I am trying to get my environment set up correctly before I start spending time developing servlets, but I am getting tempted to just develop to servlets and "manually" installing/deploying them either by copying and pasting or by using the Tomcat manager. I would really like to do everything from Ant though if possible. Please help.

Answer 1

I don't think this is at all correct:
localWar="file://${build.home}"/>You've got to create a real WAR file - a JAR file with WEB-INF and all its minions inside it:
http://access1.sun.com/techarticles/simple.WAR.html
That's the file you need to refer to there. You can manage that with Ant too, of course.
Here's what my Ant build.xml looks like for Web apps (there's a build-web.properties file that follows):
build-web.xml
<project name="Tomcat Build Tasks" default="clean" basedir=".">
    <target name="init-props">
        <tstamp>
            <format property="touch.time" pattern="MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm aa" />
        </tstamp>
        <filterset id="ant.filters">
            <filter token="DATE" value="${TODAY}" />
            <filter token="TIME" value="${TSTAMP}" />
        </filterset>
        <!-- Load in all the settings in the properties file -->
        <property file="build.properties" />
        <!-- Load in all Tomcat settings in the properties file -->
        <property file="build-web.properties" />
    </target>
    <target name="prepare" depends="init-props">
        <mkdir dir="${war.classes}"/>
        <mkdir dir="${war.lib}"/>       
        <mkdir dir="${manifest}" />
    </target>
    <target name="clean" depends="init-props" description="clean up temporary files">
        <delete file="${project}.war" />   
        <delete dir="${war.root}"/>
        <delete dir="${manifest}" />
    </target>
    <target name="set-tomcat-classpath" depends="prepare">
        <path id="tomcat.class.path">                  
            <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/bin">
                <patternset>
                    <include name="**/*.jar" />
                </patternset>
            </fileset>
            <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/shared/lib">
                <patternset>
                    <include name="**/*.jar" />
                </patternset>
            </fileset>
            <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/common/lib">
                <patternset>
                    <include name="**/*.jar" />
                </patternset>
            </fileset>
            <fileset dir="${tomcat.home}/server/lib">
                <patternset>
                    <include name="**/*.jar" />
                </patternset>
            </fileset>
            <fileset dir="${ant.home}/lib">
                <patternset>
                    <include name="**/*.jar" />
                </patternset>
            </fileset>
        </path>              
    </target>
    <target name="create" depends="set-tomcat-classpath" description="create the war file">
        <!-- All files at root level -->       
        <!-- Temporarily put the JSPs at root until you figure this out -->
        <copy todir="${war.root}">
            <fileset dir="${src.jsp}"/>
        </copy>
<!--
        <copy todir="${war.root}">
            <fileset dir="${src.html}" includes="*.html"/>
        </copy>
-->
        <copy todir="${war.root}/css">
            <fileset dir="${src.css}"/>
        </copy>
        <copy todir="${war.root}/images">
            <fileset dir="${src.images}"/>
        </copy>
        <copy todir="${war.root}/js">
            <fileset dir="${src.js}"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- All files at the WEB-INF level and below -->       
        <copy todir="${war.web}">
            <fileset dir="${src.etc}" includes="web.xml"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- All files in the CLASSPATH lib -->
        <copy todir="${war.web}/lib">
            <fileset dir="${src.lib}" includes="**/*.jar" excludes="**/*-tests.jar, **/junit.jar"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- Put the dispatcher XML in WEB-INF/config -->
        <copy todir="${war.web}/config">
            <fileset dir="${src.etc}" includes="${project}-config.xml"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- Put XSL stylesheets in WEB-INF/xsl -->
        <copy todir="${war.web}/xsl">
            <fileset dir="${src.xsl}" includes="**/*.xsl"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- Put the project JAR file in WEB-INF/lib -->
        <copy todir="${war.web}/lib">
            <fileset dir="${deploy}" includes="**/${project}.jar"/>
        </copy>
        <!-- Create the manifest -->
        <buildnumber />
        <manifest file="${manifest}/manifest.mf">
            <attribute name="Implementation-Title"      value="${project}" />
            <attribute name="Built-By"                  value="${user.name}"/>
            <attribute name="Build-Date"                value="${TODAY}" />
            <attribute name="Major-Version"             value="${major}" />
            <attribute name="Minor-Version"             value="${minor}" />
            <attribute name="Build-Number"              value="${build.number}" />
        </manifest>
        <!-- Create the WAR file -->
        <jar jarfile="${project}.war"
             manifest="${manifest}/manifest.mf">
            <fileset dir="${war.root}"/>
            <metainf dir="${src.etc}" includes="context.xml"/>
        </jar>
    </target>
    <target name="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" depends="set-tomcat-classpath">
<!--
        <pathconvert targetos="windows" refid="tomcat.class.path" property="converted.class.path" />
        <echo message="CLASSPATH: ${converted.class.path}" />
-->       
        <taskdef name="install"     classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.InstallTask"     classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>
        <taskdef name="remove"      classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.RemoveTask"      classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="reload"      classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ReloadTask"      classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>
        <taskdef name="deploy"      classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.DeployTask"      classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="undeploy"    classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.UndeployTask"    classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="start"       classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.StartTask"       classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="stop"        classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.StopTask"        classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="list"        classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ListTask"        classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="resources"   classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.ResourcesTask"   classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>       
        <taskdef name="roles"       classname="org.apache.catalina.ant.RolesTask"       classpath="tomcat.class.path"/>
    </target>
    <target name="install" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="install the war file on Tomcat">
        <install    url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}"
                    config="file:/${basedir}/${src.etc}/context.xml"
                    war="file:/${basedir}/${project}.war" />
    </target>
    <target name="remove" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="remove the war file on Tomcat">
        <remove     url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}" />
    </target>
    <target name="reload" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="reload the war file on Tomcat">
        <reload     url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}" />
    </target>
    <target name="deploy" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="deploy the war file on Tomcat">
        <deploy    url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}"
                    config="file:/${basedir}/${src.etc}/context.xml"
                    war="file:/${basedir}/${project}.war" />
    </target>
    <target name="undeploy" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="undeploy the war file on Tomcat">
        <undeploy   url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}" />
    </target>
    <target name="start" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="start an application on Tomcat">
        <start      url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}"/>
    </target>
    <target name="stop" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="stop an application on Tomcat">
        <stop       url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    path="/${project}" />
    </target>
    <target name="list" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="list all applications running on Tomcat">
        <list       url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"/>
    </target>
    <target name="resources" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="list all resources on Tomcat">
        <resources  url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"/>
    </target>
    <target name="data-sources" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="list all data sources on Tomcat">
        <resources  url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"
                    type="javax.sql.DataSource"/>
    </target>
    <target name="roles" depends="create-tomcat-admin-tasks" description="list all user roles on Tomcat">
        <roles      url="${tomcat.manager.url}"
                    username="${tomcat.username}"
                    password="${tomcat.password}"/>
    </target>
</project>
build.properties
# Properties file for setting up an Ant build.xml
# Project specific items that change each time
project=api-prototype
major=1
minor=0
version=${major}.${minor}
jar.name=${project}
versiondate=${TODAY}
# Directory structure (these should never change)
bin=bin
deploy=deploy
doc=doc
manifest=META-INF
xml=xml
# Everything under src should come out of a repository
src=src
src.bin=${src}/bin
src.config=${src}/config
src.data=${src}/data
src.dtd=${src}/dtd
src.java=${src}/java
src.lib=${src}/lib
src.profile=${src}/profile
src.properties=${src}/properties
src.schema=${src}/schema
src.sql=${src}/sql
src.templates=${src}/templates
src.testdata=${src}/testdata
src.xml=${src}/xml
src.xsl=${src}/xsl
# These are created and deleted by Ant each time
javadocs=javadocs
reports=reports
output=output
output.classes=${output}/classes
output.lib=${output}/lib
# Required for proper use of XDoclet
xdoclet.home = C:/Tools/xdoclet-1.2b3
build-web.properties
war.root=war-root
war.pages=${war.root}/pages
war.web=${war.root}/WEB-INF
war.classes=${war.web}/classes
war.css=${war.web}/css
war.js=${war.web}/js
war.lib=${war.web}/lib
war.tld=${war.web}/tld
# Properties needed by Tomcat tasks
ant.home =
tomcat.home         =
tomcat.manager.url  = http://localhost:8080/manager
tomcat.username     =
tomcat.password     = MOD