The content of element type "..." must match in web.xml

Question

I have a problem with my web.xml file. The error:

The content of element type "web-app" must match "(icon?,display-name?,description?,distributable?,context-param*,filter*,filter- mapping*,listener*,servlet*,servlet-mapping*,session-config?,mime-mapping*,welcome-file-list?,error-page*,taglib*,resource-env- ref*,resource-ref*,security-constraint*,login-config?,security-role*,env-entry*,ejb-ref*,ejb-local-ref*)".

However, my web.xml file is in the order what error say.

Here is my web.xml:

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC
         "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
         "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

<web-app>
    <display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name>

    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
        <param-value>client</param-value>
        <description>State saving method: 'client' or 'server' (=default). See JSF Specification 2.5.2</description>
    </context-param>
      
    <context-param>
        <param-name>javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.fmt.localizationContext</param-name>
        <param-value>resources.application</param-value>
        <description></description>
    </context-param>

    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
      
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>index.htm</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>default.html</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>default.htm</welcome-file>
        <welcome-file>default.jsp</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>

</web-app>

I use WebLogic 10.3.4. Any idea about the problem?

Yeah, the order of this file screws me over regularly. According to the DTD snippet you posted, the welcome-file-list should appear _after_ the servlet and servlet mappings. Try that. — Faelkle, Sep 18 '12 at 10:08
No, it is not the problem. the order of the tags perfectly fits to the DTD. — erencan, Sep 18 '12 at 10:57
Sure? [the DTD](http://svn.apache.org/repos/asf/beehive/trunk/netui/external/struts/web-app_2_3.dtd) states that the `welcome-file-list` comes after `servlet-mapping` - it's later in the comma-separated list of elements. — Faelkle, Sep 18 '12 at 11:05
Well I'm at a loss then - that's the only thing I can see wrong with it :/ — Faelkle, Sep 19 '12 at 14:38
possible duplicate of [web app web.xml error](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6603910/web-app-web-xml-error) — yatul, Jul 16 '13 at 12:08

score 82 · Accepted Answer · edited May 08 '19 at 04:24

One very simple solution which solves my problem.

Change the schema reference from

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC
   "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"
   "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

<web-app></web-app>

to this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<web-app xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" 
         version="2.5" 
         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"> 
         // ...
         // your all content goes here

</web-app>

score 22 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 04 '13 at 00:28

22

I had the same problem in Eclipse, after re-order tags as DTD, the error goes way. You may also try to restart Eclipse.

answered Aug 04 '13 at 00:28

Cooper.Wu

4,335
8
34
42

2

What do you mean `re-order tags as DTD`? – CodyBugstein Aug 31 '14 at 05:18
8

Reordering the tag means arranging the tags( like icon, display-name, servlet, servlet-mapping) in the way that web.xml specifies. You can see the order in the help message which comes when you mouse over the error in eclipse. – Rajkumar Mar 16 '15 at 12:06

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '14 at 23:37

8

I observed that DTD at Web.xml required an specific order for elements servlet, servlet-mapping, etc.

So, I started adding each element from Design View of XML file at ECLIPSE.

It works!. You can build your XML file in a way it likes to DTD.

answered Dec 14 '14 at 23:37

Aquiles

857
1
10
19

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 02 '16 at 10:59

7

I just removed <!DOCTYPE .. > tag and it worked for me. Actually I don't know how much important..

answered Aug 02 '16 at 10:59

fozersahin

98
1
5

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 12 '14 at 15:31

I followed someone's suggestion for "copy all" - "cut" - "paste" - "save" and this seemed to clear up the message. Comparing the before and after files, I found that in the "pasted" version all tabs had been converted to spaces. So it seems that the web.xml validator in Eclipse does not like tabs.

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Dec 19 '13 at 11:53

rearrange your code like this...

<web-app>
  <display-name>Archetype Created Web Application</display-name>

  <welcome-file-list>
    <welcome-file>index.html</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>index.htm</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.html</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.htm</welcome-file>
    <welcome-file>default.jsp</welcome-file>
  </welcome-file-list>

 <context-param>   
    <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
    <param-value>client</param-value>
    <description>State saving method: 'client' or 'server' (=default). See JSF Specification 2.5.2</description>
  </context-param>

  <context-param>
    <param-name>javax.servlet.jsp.jstl.fmt.localizationContext</param-name>
    <param-value>resources.application</param-value>
    <description></description>>
  </context-param>

  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
 <servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
 </servlet-mapping>

and if you have more servlet then define your servlet above the mapping then map your servlet after that.

score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 05 '18 at 11:59

2

Finally i resolved this issue by configuring servlet and servlet-mapping by using design view in eclipse instead of typing directly in the web.xml in source view. Hope this helps.

answered Apr 05 '18 at 11:59

Derrick

3,669
5
35
50

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered May 20 '18 at 14:53

2

This part was removed and errors were solved.

<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.3//EN"  "http://java.sun.com/dtd/web-app_2_3.dtd" >

answered May 20 '18 at 14:53

Chamila Maddumage

3,304
2
32
43

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 29 '14 at 21:51

1

If you are dealing with this same issue and find nothing at all wrong with web.xml syntax, I recommend doing the following: "cut (all content within web.xml)", "paste to notepad" - "copy from notepad" - "paste back into web.xml" - "and finally save web.xml". Got to love those invisible characters, tabs, etc.

answered Sep 29 '14 at 21:51

techy2k

11
1

That worked for me, wondering why: web.xml last change was 16 months so why the sudden eclipse error ? – timmacp May 12 '21 at 12:25

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 11 '18 at 01:52

Just don't forget to save the file when trying the above solutions. The error went away in my case after using the latest schema descriptor and saving :

<?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_3_1.xsd"
    id="WebApp_ID" version="3.1">

    <!-- your content here -->

</web-app>`

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 20 '21 at 06:06

0

I just removed the DOCTYPE and restarted Eclipse. It worked. Do try

answered Aug 20 '21 at 06:06

Shivam Papat

457
4
14

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Nov 23 '21 at 07:09

0

Instead of using "xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_0.xsd""

use

xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_1.xsd"

answered Nov 23 '21 at 07:09

user17485782

1

2

Welcome to Stack Overflow! While this code may solve the question, [including an explanation](//meta.stackexchange.com/q/114762) of how and why this solves the problem would really help to improve the quality of your post, and probably result in more up-votes. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, not just the person asking now. Please [edit] your answer to add explanations and give an indication of what limitations and assumptions apply. – Yunnosch Nov 23 '21 at 07:23

The content of element type "..." must match in web.xml

12 Answers12