Can IntelliJ update resources on Tomcat when a file is changed externally?

Question

My company has elected to go with IntelliJ for development and deployment to a local Tomcat server. I have been doing my development on gVim, and have no desire to change.

When we were using eclipse I was able to have eclipse republish resources when the file was changed externally. ( I beleive the setting was Refresh using native hooks or polling) This was wonderful because I prefer to use command line tools to integrated ones.

We are using IntelliJ to manage the server, which I'm okay with, however I would like to not disrupt my current workflow.

I know IntelliJ stays in synch pretty well, and will update the files when I focus on it, and refresh them when I leave the frame.

Is there a way to have intelliJ update resources that have been changed externally ( Gvim, cli git... ext ) without moving to it?

Answer 1

Sadly, I have been unable to find a way to monitor external changes and update a Tomcat server inside IntelliJ.

I have implemented a workaround using grunt. ( a node.js task runner )

The theory behind this workaround is simple:

• Tomcat serves an exploded war
• grunt watches my front end files
• when a file changes grunt moves my front end files into the exploded war

Some benefits of doing it this way are:

• works for any external editor/tool/ect (vim, sublime text, nano, cli git, and any other you can think of)
• you don't need to move into intelliJ to get your resources updated.
• no java required to get this solution set up.

Down side is

• you've got an extra process running.
• you have another tool to deal with.
• you need to deploy the front end stuff in exploded wars ( not really that bad in my opinion )

To learn more about grunt and get it set up you can visit gruntjs.com.

This workaround uses two plugins

• grunt-contrib-copy
• grunt-contrib-watch

First you set up a task that copies your files into your exploded war. This will use the grunt-contrib-copy plugin and will probably take some finagling, but it isn't too bad. Mine looks like this:

copy:{
    webfilesToOutdir:{
        files: [
            {expand: true, src: ['WebContent/**'], 
             dest: '../out/artifacts/attensity-q/exploded/attensity-q.war',
             rename: function(dest, src){
                    var ret = dest+"/"+ src.replace('WebContent/', '');
                    return ret;
                }
            }
        ]
    }
}

Next you will need a task to watch your files and run the copy when something changes. This will use grunt-contrib-watch and again it is nothing to bad, you will just need to adjust the paths. Here is mine:

watch: {
    web: {
        files: ['WebContent/**', '!WebContent/less/**'],
        tasks: 'copy:webfilesToOutdir',
        interrupt: true
    }
}

I hope this helps. I've been using this solution for some time now and it has done its job pretty well. Good luck, gentle men.