Fix for Eclispe generated WAR file not including Ivy libraries

I was using Eclipse to create a relatively simple Dynamic Web Project that used Ivy for dependency mangement.  Also, I wanted to use Eclipse’s export to a WAR feature so I would not need to write a build script.  My WAR file was created, but after deploying my web app to Tomcat and starting I received this error:

SEVERE: Servlet /EntitySandboxWeb threw load() exception
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1718)
at org.apache.catalina.loader.WebappClassLoader.loadClass(WebappClassLoader.java:1569)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClass(DefaultInstanceManager.java:529)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.loadClassMaybePrivileged(DefaultInstanceManager.java:511)
at org.apache.catalina.core.DefaultInstanceManager.newInstance(DefaultInstanceManager.java:139)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.loadServlet(StandardWrapper.java:1143)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.load(StandardWrapper.java:1087)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.loadOnStartup(StandardContext.java:5210)
at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.startInternal(StandardContext.java:5493)
at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleBase.start(LifecycleBase.java:150)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1559)
at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase$StartChild.call(ContainerBase.java:1549)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

I found this error confusing as I knew Ivy had pulled down the dependent libraries my project needed.  I decided to look at the generated WAR file and discovered those libraries were not in the WEB-INF/lib directory.

The solution was simple.

1. Under Project Properties,  select “Deployment Assembly”.
2. Click the “Add…” button
3. On the first screen of the wizard, choose “Java Build Path Entries” and click “Next”.
4. On the second screen of the wizard, select “Ivy” and click “Finish”.
5. You can change the “Deploy Path” if necessary (the default is “WEB-INF/lib”).
6. Export your project to a WAR file again and the Ivy libraries should be in the WEB-INF/lib directory now.