Using Tomcat, @WebFilter doesn't work with <filter-mapping> inside web.xml

jakarta-ee, java, servlet-filters, tomcat

Solution

It's a bug in Tomcat 7. I reported it as issue 53354.

As it's not possible to specify the invocation order in a `@WebFilter`, users are forced to explicitly specify `<filter-mapping>` in web.xml. This works in combination with a `@WebFilter(filterName)` in Glassfish and JBoss AS as follows:

@WebFilter(filterName="filter1")
public class Filter1 implements Filter {}

@WebFilter(filterName="filter2")
public class Filter2 implements Filter {}

with

<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>filter1</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/url1/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>
<filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>filter2</filter-name>
    <url-pattern>/url2/*</url-pattern>
</filter-mapping>

However it fails in Tomcat 7.0.27 with the following confusing exception (the `<url-pattern>` is been set)

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Filter mapping must specify either a <url-pattern> or a <servlet-name>
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.validateFilterMap(StandardContext.java:3009)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.addFilterMap(StandardContext.java:2968)
    at org.apache.catalina.deploy.WebXml.configureContext(WebXml.java:1207)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1294)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.configureStart(ContextConfig.java:855)
    at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.lifecycleEvent(ContextConfig.java:345)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:119)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleBase.java:90)
    at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5161)
    at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
    ... 7 more

In the meanwhile your best bet is to use Glassfish or JBoss AS instead, or to register the filters by `<filter>` anyway.

Problem

Here's a working web.xml: ``` <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <web-app 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_3_0.xsd" version="3.0"> <session-config> <session-timeout>30</session-timeout> </session-config> <filter> <filter-name>rememberMeCookieFilter</filter-name> <filter-class>be.example.fun.jsp.filters.RememberMeCookieFilter</filter-class> </filter> <filter> <filter-name>mustBeSignedInFilter</filter-name> <filter-class>be.example.fun.jsp.filters.MustBeSignedInFilter</filter-class> </filter> <filter-mapping> <filter-name>rememberMeCookieFilter</filter-name> <url-pattern>/*</url-pattern> </filter-mapping> <filter-mapping> <filter-name>mustBeSignedInFilter</filter-name> <url-pattern>/private/*</url-pattern> </filter-mapping> </web-app> ``` When I remove the `<filter>` elements and use the following annotations instead: ``` @WebFilter(filterName="rememberMeCookieFilter") public class RememberMeCookieFilter implements Filter @WebFilter(filterName="mustBeSignedInFilter") public class MustBeSignedInFilter implements Filter ``` Then Tomcat 7.0.14 gives me the following error: ``` java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Filter mapping must specify either a <url-pattern> or a <servlet-name> at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.validateFilterMap(StandardContext.java:2956) at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.addFilterMap(StandardContext.java:2915) at org.apache.catalina.deploy.WebXml.configureContext(WebXml.java:1180) at org.apache.catalina.startup.ContextConfig.webConfig(ContextConfig.java:1270) ... ``` I followed the answer of this question, but that doesn't work for me. Here are the dependencies of my web application: ``` <dependencies> <!-- SLF4J (+ LOGBack) for logging --> <dependency> <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId> <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId> <version>1.6.4</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId> <artifactId>logback-core</artifactId> <version>1.0.0</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>ch.qos.logback</groupId> <artifactId>logback-classic</artifactId> <version>1.0.0</version> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId>org.codehaus.groovy</groupId> <artifactId>groovy</artifactId> <version>1.8.3</version> </dependency> <!-- The servlet API that I installed in my local repo --> <dependency> <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId> <artifactId>servlet-api</artifactId> <version>3.0</version> <type>jar</type> <scope>provided</scope> <!--optional>false</optional--> </dependency> <!-- JUnit for testing --> <dependency> <groupId>junit</groupId> <artifactId>junit</artifactId> <version>4.8.2</version> <scope>test</scope> </dependency> </dependencies> ``` EDIT: I only have the issue when using Tomcat (7.0.14). Glassfish is fine.

Original source

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