Question

I have this one mapping

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>service</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/service/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

but i also want
/service/master
to map to master servlet.

<servlet-mapping>
<servlet-name>master</servlet-name>
<url-pattern>/service/master</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

I believe there is a conflict here since calling /service/* will trigger service servlet right away. Is there a way for me to use some kind of exclusion in servlet-mapping or may be regexp to do what I want to do?

Answer 1

Servlet mappings always use the most specific match, so the path <context>/service/master will always map to master.

This is the 1st rule of mappings from the Servlet 3.0 spec:

1. The container will try to find an exact match of the path of the request
   to the path of the servlet. A
   successful match selects the servlet.
2. The container will recursively try to match the longest path-prefix. This
   is done by stepping down the path tree
   a directory at a time, using the ’/’
   character as a path separator. The
   longest match determines the servlet
   selected.
3. If the last segment in the URL path contains an extension (e.g.
   .jsp), the servlet container will try
   to match a servlet that handles
   requests for the extension. An
   extension is defined as the part of
   the last segment after the last ’.’
   character.
4. If neither of the previous three rules result in a servlet match, the
   container will attempt to serve
   content appropriate for the resource
   requested. If a “default” servlet is
   defined for the application, it will
   be used. Many containers provide an
   implicit default servlet for serving
   content.