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?

Answer 1

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>

Answer 2

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

Answer 3

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.

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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.

Answer 7

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" >

Answer 8

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.

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

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>`