Create a Gradle Java Web Application and run on Gradle Tomcat Plugin

Create Gradle Project
Configuring Gradle
Edit application structure
Code Project
Gradle Build
Configure to run application

1. Create Gradle Project

File/New/Other...

Enter the name of the project:

HelloGradleWebApp

Project is created:

2. Configuring Gradle

This is the default content of build.gradle file created by Eclipse, and remove all the comments:

build.gradle (ORIGIN CONTENT)

apply plugin: 'java'

repositories {
   jcenter()
}

dependencies {

   compile 'org.slf4j:slf4j-api:1.7.21'

   testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12'
 
}

You need to add the configuration for your application to become "WEB Application". And can be run directly on Eclipse + Tomcat Plugin.

See full code:

build.gradle

apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'war' 
apply plugin: 'com.bmuschko.tomcat'

repositories {
    jcenter()
}

dependencies {   
 
    testCompile 'junit:junit:4.12' 
  
    providedCompile "javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:3.1.0"      
    
}


dependencies {
    def tomcatVersion = '7.0.59'
   
    tomcat "org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-core:${tomcatVersion}",
           "org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-logging-juli:${tomcatVersion}",
           "org.apache.tomcat.embed:tomcat-embed-jasper:${tomcatVersion}"
}


buildscript {

    repositories {
        jcenter()
    }

    dependencies {
        classpath 'com.bmuschko:gradle-tomcat-plugin:2.2.2'
    }
}

Note that each time there is a change in build.gradle you need to update the project, using the tool of Gradle.

3. Edit application structure

In "src/main" folder, you need to create 2 sub folders are "resources" and "webapp".

src/main/java: This folder has java sources.
src/main/resources: This folder can hold property files and other resources
src/main/webapp: This folder holds jsp and other web application content.

4. Code Project

Greeting.java

package org.o7planning.hellogradlewebapp.bean;

public class Greeting {

   
    public String getHello()  {
        return "Hello Gradle Web Application";
    }
   
}

hello.jsp

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>

<meta charset="UTF-8">

<title>Hello Gradle Web App</title>
</head>
<body>

<jsp:useBean id="greeting" class="org.o7planning.hellogradlewebapp.bean.Greeting"/>
 
<h3>${greeting.hello}</h3>
 


</body>
</html>

5. Gradle Build

Open "Gradle Task" view.

Note: If you do not see "Gradle Task", you can open it by:
Window/Show View/Other...

Right-click on "build" and select "Run Gradle Tasks".

Check Gradle Executions tab, you should see a list of tasks executed.

6. Configure to run application

Enter:

Name: Run HelloGradleWebApp
Gradle Tasks: tomcatRun
Working Directory: ${workspace_loc:/HelloGradleWebApp}

Run URL:

http://localhost:8080/HelloGradleWebApp/hello.jsp

Note: You can also create other tasks with Gradle Tomcat Plugin:

Task Name	Depends On	Type	Description
tomcatRun	-	TomcatRun	Starts a Tomcat instance and deploys the exploded web application to it.
tomcatRunWar	-	TomcatRunWar	Starts a Tomcat instance and deploys the WAR to it.
tomcatStop	-	TomcatStop	Stops the Tomcat instance.
tomcatJasper	-	TomcatJasper	Runs the JSP compiler and turns JSP pages into Java source using Jasper.