Adding 3rd party jars to WEB-INF/lib automatically using Eclipse/Tomcat

I have a dynamic-web project set up on Eclipse and I'm using Tomcat 7 as my web server. It doesn't seem to be automatically putting 3rd party JARs I add to my library on my build path into the WEB-INF/lib folder. Is there a way I can do this automatically? Every time I search for an answer to this, I find something like this.

So how do I do that automatically? Is there a way to configure my build path to do this?

Solution 1:

Here are the instructions for Helios. For earlier releases, see SeanA's answer.

1. Project Properties -> Deployment Assembly
2. Add -> Java Build Path Entries
3. You should now see the list of libraries on your build path that you can specify for inclusion into your finished WAR.
4. Select the ones you want and hit Finish.

Solution 2:

You can use "Ant" to copy files to WEB-INF/lib when you deploy files. Using Ant you will be able to copy only those files which have changed.

http://ant.apache.org/manual/Tasks/copy.html

http://help.eclipse.org/helios/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.user/gettingStarted/qs-81_basics.htm

Solution 3:

I haven't tried this personally, but what I believe it does is what I think you are looking for:

• Right-click project -> Properties
• Go to Java EE Module Dependencies
• Check the boxes for the JARs that you want to export with your Web Application

Let me know if this automatically puts them in your exported WAR. I always just add mine to WEB-INF/lib :)