Urgent: Packaging/Deployment Problem!!

Question

Hi all AppServer Gurus
Need you advise/auggestion on how should we package our application ear file to be "deployable" to S1App7.
We have the following java packages
...business/ejb -> all ejb classes here
...model -> All Java TO classes here
...web -> All Java Servlet classes here
...util -> All utilities Java Classes here
The model and util packages is sharable to all ejb and Servlet classes. Our "ideal" application structure (EAR file):
1. One WAR file
2. Multiple ejb jar files, each jar file should only consists of bean, home, remote, and two dd files.
3. common.jar, all java classes in util and model, exception classes, and all ejb bean and home classes
The above EAR file is not deployable, S1App7 complain it could not locate common claaes to generate stubs/skelaton for our ejbs.
Eg. ejbA.methodA and ejbB.methodC require UserTO, we need to include UserTO object into both ejbA.jar and ejbB.jar, to make the application deployable. (A nightmare!!)
The other solutions is to ftp the common.jar to S1App7 classpath, restart server, and then deploy the application (Another nightmare).
Anyone have better solution?
Thanks
James Khoo

Answer 1

HI Chen,
I have two solutions, First one is the one I use, Second I am not sure that it will work.
1.- Put all your EJBs in the same jar, and the model "TO" clases and other classes used by the web side there.
2.- Use the manifest.mf file to set the class-path of your diferents JAR with your EJBs. The tipical idea is to create a commons.jar with all your model and commons classes and configure de manifest .mf of your jars to put inside theirs class-path this jar. Then, put this commons.jar in the WEB-INF/lib of your jar.
The AssemblyTool in the download section maybe will help you.
HTH