You can clean and copy the static files easy with the clean and resources plugins, but it won't work for the JSP files always. If the java source in the JSP files being copied introduces a new dependency you are not going to copy it to the lib folder. In that case, the app will break with a ClassNotFoundException.
Even if it is copied it can still break because the server has to be configured to scan the folder with dependencies and refresh the classpath. And that is the start of hot deployment I believe (details).
Try with Vinay's suggestion also. Judging by his answer it seems that the tc server supports scanning of dependencies by default, and with proper maven build this might be a satisfying solution.
To clean and copy the static files from your source directory to where it is deployed:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.5</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>clean-loaded</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<goals>
<goal>clean</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<excludeDefaultDirectories>true</excludeDefaultDirectories>
<filesets>
<fileset>
<directory>${path.server.input}</directory>
<followSymlinks>false</followSymlinks>
<useDefaultExcludes>false</useDefaultExcludes>
<includes>
<include>**/*.jsp</include>
<include>**/*.js</include>
<include>**/*.html</include>
<include>**/*.css</include>
<include>**/*.png</include>
<include>**/*.gif</include>
<include>**/*.jpg</include>
<include>**/*.jpeg</include>
</includes>
</fileset>
</filesets>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
<plugin>
<artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
<version>2.6</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>copy-compile-output</id>
<phase>compile</phase>
<goals>
<goal>copy-resources</goal>
</goals>
<configuration>
<outputDirectory>${path.server.input}</outputDirectory>
<overwrite>true</overwrite>
<includeEmptyDirs>true</includeEmptyDirs>
<filtering>true</filtering>
<resources>
<resource>
<directory>${path.jsp.source}</directory>
<targetPath>${path.element.jsp.deploy}</targetPath>
<includes>
<include>**/*.jsp</include>
</includes>
</resource>
<resource>
<directory>${path.static.source}</directory>
<targetPath>${path.element.static.deploy}</targetPath>
<includes>
<include>**/*.js</include>
<include>**/*.html</include>
<include>**/*.css</include>
<include>**/*.png</include>
<include>**/*.gif</include>
<include>**/*.jpg</include>
<include>**/*.jpeg</include>
</includes>
</resource>
</resources>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
add this to your properties section:
<path.server.input>ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_DEPLOYED_WEBAPP_ROOT</path.server.input>
<path.jsp.source>ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_JSP_SOURCE_ROOT</path.jsp.source>
<path.static.source>ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_STATIC_SOURCE_ROOT</path.static.source>
<path.element.jsp.deploy>REALTIVE_PATH_TO_JSP_DEPLOY_ROOT</path.element.jsp.deploy>
<path.element.static.deploy>REALTIVE_PATH_TO_STATIC_DEPLOY_ROOT</path.element.static.deploy>
Properties that start with path must be absolute paths or start with a ${project.basedir} or similar. Properties that start with path.element are relative paths meaning that they must not be prepended with a / or start with another property that is an absoulte path. That is so because resources plugin copies in outputDirectory/targetPath (resources:copy-resources,
resource)
In my experience, IDE's usually bind their clean-and-build UI action to the compile phase. Also IDE's usually have a way to map a shell command or maven custom goal to be visible from it's UI menu.
To run with clean-and-build
The plugins are already bound to the compile phase. To ensure that clean plugin will run before resources plugin at the end of the compile phase, place them together at the end of your plugins section. It doesn't matter if a plugin is defined twice, just make sure that when reading the pom from top, the first clean plugin definition comes before the first resources plugin definition.
To run as separate action
Change under the execution tag for both like this:
<id>default-cli</id>
<phase>never</phase>
and now it won't be run in compile phase but by invoking from command line:
mvn clean:clean resources:copy-resources
In this case the placement of plugin definitions in pom is irrelevant, since you are defining their order with command arguments order. If this suits you your IDE most probably has a way to map this command as a custom goal visible from it's UI menu.
In both cases, I recommend backing-up the project folder when running for the first time.
