NetBeans and tomcat 5.0 work in a different manner

Question

If I compile the servlet Contatore.java by means of NetBeans, it's ok only if I execute it by means of Netbeans with the following url in my browser
http://localhost:8084/servlet/Contatore
on the contrary if I execute it by means of Tomcat 5.0 only changing the port from 8084 ti 8080,
http://localhost:8080/servlet/Contatore
then I have the following error
HTTP Status 404 - /servlet/Contatore
type Status report
message /servlet/Contatore
description The requested resource (/servlet/Contatore) is not
available.
Apache Tomcat/5.0.24
Can someone explain me why these 2 differente behaviours
Perhaps is it impossible to use a folder named "servlet" ?
Thanks
Eugenia Mariani

Answer 1

I thought NetBeans used Tomcat as its servlet/JSP engine, no?
The /servlet context is special in Tomcat. You invoke servlets that aren't mapped in the web.xml using URL http://host/ContextName/servlet/ServletName. When you give a URL like http://localhost:8080/servlet/Contatore, you're asking Tomcat to invoke a servlet named Contatore in the default ROOT context. Is there such a thing?
Tomcat prefers that servlets and Java Beans be in packages these days. If it's not, there might be problems.
I wouldn't name a context of mine "servlet". I don't deploy apps of mine in the default ROOT context, either. I create a context for each Web app.