JSF faces config file outside WEB-INF?

Question

When creating multiple faces config files, it is correct to have the faces-config.xml outside of WEB-INF? The JSF spec does not seem to be very clear about this (Section 10.1.3)

If yes, how should this faces-config.xml be declared in web.xml? the paths generated by IDE's (like Eclipse/JDev) generally use something like:

<context-param>
    <param-name>javax.faces.CONFIG_FILES</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/faces-config1.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

Now, if my faces-config.xml is outside WEB-INF -- is it correct to declare the param-value as something like "/WebContent/WEB-INF/faces-config2.xml"?

Answer 1

It is possible, but not recommended. The reason you put configuration files under WEB-INF is that the server knows not to serve these files - you have your code, database configuration and other sensitive stuff there.

You cannot use "/WebContent/WEB-INF/faces-config2.xml" - AFAIK "WebContent" is eclipse specific. have the config files names to be absolute inside the WAR. It means that they will always begin with "/WEB-INF/".

Answer 2

As mentioned in David's answer, it's not recommended to put the config files outside of the WEB-INF directory. However, if you're looking for ways to organise your project, you might try creating a new subdirectory under WEB-INF.

For example, when I'm dealing with lots of faces-config files, I'll create a directory /WEB-INF/config and put the faces-config files in there.