Getting error: The content of element type "web-app" must match,

Question

When I build my project in Eclipse Helios Service Release 2, I get an error in my web.xml. Please suggest what I have to do for this. In my project I am using DTD 2.2. The error is below.

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

We can't tell you what's wrong with your `web.xml` unless you actually show it to us. — skaffman, Apr 19 '11 at 07:37

BalusC · Answer 1 · 2014-08-18T07:28:06.073

79

The error message tells you in detail in what order the elements are supposed to be placed and how many of them are allowed. In other words, the ordering or amount of the elements inside the <web-app> of your web.xml is incorrect. For example, as per the error message, <servlet> needs to go before <servlet-mapping>. The ? suffix means that there may be zero or one of them. The * suffix means that there may be zero or many of them.

So, the example below is invalid:

<servlet>...</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>

<servlet>...</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>

<servlet>...</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>

While the example below is valid:

<servlet>...</servlet>
<servlet>...</servlet>
<servlet>...</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>...</servlet-mapping>

edited Aug 18 '14 at 07:28

answered Apr 19 '11 at 13:08

BalusC

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Thx, the ``, `` order was my problem! – aorcsik Jul 24 '13 at 14:33
Thanks. I had a totally different error but knowing that the errors are saying that my tags (?) are not in the proper order is very helpful. – Lan Sep 02 '14 at 14:54
I had a similar error. my Filters were before Context Params, changed back the order and this helped. Thanks – Hiren Feb 13 '17 at 05:46
try configuring using design view instead of source view in eclipse. It will work – Derrick Apr 05 '18 at 12:03

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 19 '14 at 13:23

4

If anyone's interested I received the same exception for error-page. This node needs to go after servlet, but before servlet-mapping.

answered Jun 19 '14 at 13:23

Darth Jon

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2

I had a similar problem where `` needed to come after `` and `` – bobtheowl2 Oct 03 '14 at 19:09

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 05 '15 at 02:30

I have the same issue when I integrate spring to struts2 in Eclipse. After some testing, I found it's the problem of tag's order in web.xml file. The following file has the error

<!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>
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>
    <filter>
        <filter-name>struts</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>struts.devMode</param-name>
            <param-value>true</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </filter>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>
</web-app>

If I changed the order to

<!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>
    <filter>
        <filter-name>struts</filter-name>
        <filter-class>org.apache.struts2.dispatcher.ng.filter.StrutsPrepareAndExecuteFilter</filter-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>struts.devMode</param-name>
            <param-value>true</param-value>
        </init-param>
    </filter>

    <filter-mapping>
        <filter-name>struts</filter-name>
        <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
    </filter-mapping>
    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>
    <welcome-file-list>
        <welcome-file>index.jsp</welcome-file>
    </welcome-file-list>
</web-app>

The error will be eliminated.

Hope this will be helpful to the people who encounter the same problem.

Getting error: The content of element type "web-app" must match,

3 Answers3

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