Hi all! I'm new to Ktor and I'd need some help on how to generate a .war file from my Ktor webapp? T...

# ktor

[zsoltkiss]

Hi all! I'm new to Ktor and I'd need some help on how to generate a .war file from my Ktor webapp? Though I created a .war using Gretty plugin but the artifact has strange folder structure. I copied the .war on a Tomcat but can't see anything in the browser.

[mp]

Not an answer to your immediate question, I know... but if you have the option of skipping tomcat & friends entirely and just starting ktor via a main method you'll probably be happier overall. Simpler local dev, more predictable production deployment.

[zsoltkiss]

Hi Marshall, thanks for your help. You mean 'skipping' that I should not use Tomcat at all? It might be a solution, yes. Let me explain my original problem I have to solve... I built a Ktor web app and currently I run it from its .jar file using java command. But my customer needs a "public" images directory somewhere, where they will be able to put images into and the web app should reach these pictures. I don't know how to configure Ktor embedded server to see outside of its .jar file and reach images from an external directory... That's why I thought a standard web app directory structure on a Tomcat (or any web server) might be a solution. I don't stick to Tomcat at all if there is a solution to my problem using only Ktor and its embedded server.

[mp]

I'd just provide a filesystem path via however you choose to do configuration, and pass that path to the static content feature: https://ktor.io/servers/features/static-content.html

[mp]

easy peasy

[mp]

I don't have static content in this demo but it does show how you can quite easily have a pretty sophisticated server stack with a main() function that you write (and therefore can set up any way you want): https://bitbucket.org/marshallpierce/ktor-demo/src/master/

[zsoltkiss]

Very nice! Thanks a lot.