Where do CSS and JavaScript files go in a Maven web app project?

Css Problem Overview

I am switching to use Maven for my Spring web app projects and I am running into a simple issue. I am not sure where to put the CSS and JS files in the new project structure.

Traditional Web App Structure

In a traditional Java web app structure (In Eclipse, created as a Dynamic Web Project) I put the CSS, Javascript and Images files under the following structure

WebContent
|__css/myStyles.css
|__js/myjs.js
|__images/myImage.gif
|__WEB-INF

Then in my jsp if I want to reference a CSS file I do as follows:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<%=request.getContextPath()%>/css/myStyles.css">

This works fine.

Maven Web App Structure

In a Maven project I have put the css files in these locations:

First Attempt

Under the webapp folder at the same level as WEB-INF just like in a traditional dynamic web project. But when I do the following

mvn clean tomcat:run

I get the following error from the Spring Framework:

org.springframework.web.servlet.PageNotFound - No mapping found for HTTP request with URI [/appname/css/myStyles.css] in DispatcherServlet

Second Attempt

Placed my css folder under src/main/resources But when I do the following:

mvn clean tomcat:run

I get the following error from the Spring Framework:

org.springframework.web.servlet.PageNotFound - No mapping found for HTTP request with URI [/appname/css/myStyles.css] in DispatcherServlet

Third Attempt

Placed my css folder src/main/resources

Results: Same as above

I am sure it's something simple but I am stuck, maybe I am overlooking something. Thanks in advance

UPDATE: Adding pom.xml to see if it can help troubleshoot the issue:

<?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/maven-v4_0_0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<groupId>com.dariopardo</groupId>
<artifactId>jfreechartdemo</artifactId>
<name>abc</name>
<packaging>war</packaging>
<version>1.0.0-BUILD-SNAPSHOT</version>
<properties>
	<java-version>1.6</java-version>
	<org.springframework-version>3.0.6.RELEASE</org.springframework-version>
	<org.aspectj-version>1.6.9</org.aspectj-version>
	<org.slf4j-version>1.5.10</org.slf4j-version>
</properties>
<repositories>
	<repository>
		<id>spring-maven-release</id>
		<name>Spring Maven Release Repository</name>
		<url>http://maven.springframework.org/release</url>
	</repository>
	<repository>
		<id>spring-maven-milestone</id>
		<name>Spring Maven Milestone Repository</name>
		<url>http://maven.springframework.org/milestone</url>
	</repository>
	<repository>
		<id>spring-roo-repository</id>
		<name>Spring Roo Repository</name>
		<url>http://spring-roo-repository.springsource.org/release</url>
	</repository>
	<repository>
		<id>JBoss Repo</id>
		<url>https://repository.jboss.org/nexus/content/repositories/releases</url>
		<name>JBoss Repo</name>
	</repository>
</repositories>
<pluginRepositories>
	<pluginRepository>
		<id>spring-maven-release</id>
		<name>Spring Maven Release Repository</name>
		<url>http://maven.springframework.org/release</url>
	</pluginRepository>
	<pluginRepository>
		<id>spring-maven-milestone</id>
		<name>Spring Maven Milestone Repository</name>
		<url>http://maven.springframework.org/milestone</url>
	</pluginRepository>
	<pluginRepository>
		<id>spring-roo-repository</id>
		<name>Spring Roo Repository</name>
		<url>http://spring-roo-repository.springsource.org/release</url>
	</pluginRepository>
</pluginRepositories>
<dependencies>
	<!-- Spring -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-context</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<exclusions>
			<!-- Exclude Commons Logging in favor of SLF4j -->
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			 </exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-core</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-test</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<scope>test</scope>
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-aop</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-aspects</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-tx</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-jdbc</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-orm</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>commons-pool</groupId>
		<artifactId>commons-pool</artifactId>
		<version>1.5.4</version>
		<classifier />
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>commons-dbcp</groupId>
		<artifactId>commons-dbcp</artifactId>
		<version>1.3</version>
		<classifier />
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-pool</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-pool</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>xerces</groupId>
				<artifactId>xerces</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>xerces</groupId>
				<artifactId>xercesImpl</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>xml-apis</groupId>
				<artifactId>xml-apis</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-web</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
		<classifier />
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
				<artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.springframework</groupId>
		<artifactId>spring-webmvc</artifactId>
		<version>${org.springframework-version}</version>
	</dependency>
			
	<!-- AspectJ -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.aspectj</groupId>
		<artifactId>aspectjrt</artifactId>
		<version>${org.aspectj-version}</version>
	</dependency>	
	
	<!-- Hibernate -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
		<artifactId>hibernate-core</artifactId>
		<version>3.6.4.Final</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
		<artifactId>hibernate-entitymanager</artifactId>
		<version>3.6.4.Final</version>
		<classifier />
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>cglib</groupId>
				<artifactId>cglib</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>dom4j</groupId>
				<artifactId>dom4j</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.hibernate.javax.persistence</groupId>
		<artifactId>hibernate-jpa-2.0-api</artifactId>
		<version>1.0.0.Final</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.hibernate</groupId>
		<artifactId>hibernate-validator</artifactId>
		<version>4.1.0.Final</version>
		<classifier />
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>javax.xml.bind</groupId>
				<artifactId>jaxb-api</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>com.sun.xml.bind</groupId>
				<artifactId>jaxb-impl</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.validation</groupId>
		<artifactId>validation-api</artifactId>
		<version>1.0.0.GA</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>cglib</groupId>
		<artifactId>cglib-nodep</artifactId>
		<version>2.2</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.transaction</groupId>
		<artifactId>jta</artifactId>
		<version>1.1</version>
		<classifier />
	</dependency>
	
	<!-- Logging -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
		<artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
		<version>${org.slf4j-version}</version>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
		<artifactId>jcl-over-slf4j</artifactId>
		<version>${org.slf4j-version}</version>
		<scope>runtime</scope>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
		<artifactId>slf4j-log4j12</artifactId>
		<version>${org.slf4j-version}</version>
		<scope>runtime</scope>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>log4j</groupId>
		<artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
		<version>1.2.15</version>
		<exclusions>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>javax.mail</groupId>
				<artifactId>mail</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>javax.jms</groupId>
				<artifactId>jms</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>com.sun.jdmk</groupId>
				<artifactId>jmxtools</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
			<exclusion>
				<groupId>com.sun.jmx</groupId>
				<artifactId>jmxri</artifactId>
			</exclusion>
		</exclusions>
		<scope>runtime</scope>
	</dependency>

	<!-- @Inject -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.inject</groupId>
		<artifactId>javax.inject</artifactId>
		<version>1</version>
	</dependency>
			
	<!-- Servlet -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
		<artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId>
		<version>2.5</version>
		<scope>provided</scope>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.servlet.jsp</groupId>
		<artifactId>jsp-api</artifactId>
		<version>2.1</version>
		<scope>provided</scope>
	</dependency>
	<dependency>
		<groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
		<artifactId>jstl</artifactId>
		<version>1.2</version>
	</dependency>

	<!-- Test -->
	<dependency>
		<groupId>junit</groupId>
		<artifactId>junit</artifactId>
		<version>4.7</version>
		<scope>test</scope>
	</dependency>       
	
	<!-- To bring jfree chart in, iText & Apache POI -->
	<dependency>
        <groupId>net.sf.jasperreports</groupId>
        <artifactId>jasperreports</artifactId>
        <version>4.1.2</version>
    </dependency> 
    
    <dependency>
		<groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId>
		<artifactId>groovy-all</artifactId>
		<version>1.5.5</version>
	</dependency>
    
    <!-- Oracle jdbc drivers -->
    <dependency>
		<groupId>com.oracle</groupId>
		<artifactId>oracle</artifactId>
		<version>10.2.0.1.0</version>
	</dependency>
	
</dependencies>
<build>
	<plugins>
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
			<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
			<configuration>
				<source>${java-version}</source>
				<target>${java-version}</target>
			</configuration>
		</plugin>
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
			<artifactId>maven-war-plugin</artifactId>
			<configuration>
				<warName>abc</warName>
			</configuration>							
		</plugin>
		<plugin>
			<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
			<artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
			<executions>
				<execution>
					<id>install</id>
					<phase>install</phase>
					<goals>
						<goal>sources</goal>
					</goals>
				</execution>
			</executions>
		</plugin>			
	</plugins>
</build>

UPDATE: Adding Web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">

<!-- The definition of the Root Spring Container shared by all Servlets and Filters -->
<context-param>
	<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
	<param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/root-context.xml
                 classpath*:META-INF/spring/applicationContext*.xml				     
	</param-value>
</context-param>

<!-- Creates the Spring Container shared by all Servlets and Filters -->
<listener>
	<listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
</listener>

<!-- Processes application requests -->
<servlet>
	<servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
	<servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
	<init-param>
		<param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
		<param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/appServlet/servlet-context.xml</param-value>
	</init-param>
	<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
	
<servlet-mapping>
	<servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
	<url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Css Solutions

Solution 1 - Css

So if you have your DispatcherServlet configured in a REST like URL pattern such as / then css files would go under src/main/webapp/resources

Just to clarify this is what I had to do:

Make sure that in your servlet-context.xml you have as follows:

<resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />

Create a folder if does not already exist under webapps called resources
Place your css folder along with css files there

Reference my css file as follows:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="<%=request.getContextPath()%>/resources/css/960.css"/>

Solution 2 - Css

I was faced with the same question in a maven project. There seems to be no good answer to my problem. So I did a simple experiment and it worked perfectly.

This is a simple maven project, I have the following directory structure: (Irrelevant directories are not shown)

───src
└───main
├───java
├───resources
└───webapp
├───javascript
│   ├───test.js
│   ├───example.js
│   └───jquery-library.js
├───WEB-INF
│    └───web.xml
└───example.jsp

My JSP pages can refer to my javascript libraries simply as

<script src=javascript/jquery-library.js></script>

There is no need for any special configuration.

Solution 3 - Css

> org.springframework.web.servlet.PageNotFound - No mapping found for > HTTP request with URI [/appname/css/myStyles.css] in DispatcherServlet

This indicates a configuration problem with your web.xml/spring context file. DispatcherServlet should not be processing a request for a css resource.

If this does not help troubleshoot the problem, you may want to post relevant snippets of your web.xml and spring context file.

Solution 4 - Css

From this answer, from @Mario - It depends on the packaging.

If your Maven project is WAR - put it in the webapp directory. You can choose to use subfolders within the webapp directory ie: webapp/css/main.css or put the file directly within the webapp directory ie: webapp/main.css.

If you are using JAR, put in the resources directory. As Viratoro@ mentions above, there is some configuration required to map the resources directory.

Solution 5 - Css

The best solution I found for this problem is to use Java Configuration

@Configuration
 @EnableWebMvc
 public class WebAppConfig implements WebMvcConfigurer {
     
    @Override
    public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {
        
    registry.addResourceHandler("/resources/**").addResourceLocations("/resources/");
    }
}

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Viriato	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Css	Viriato	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Css	Kemin Zhou	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Css	Raghuram	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Css	nanselm2	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Css	Kenton	View Answer on Stackoverflow