Distributed: [AIX MacOS Linux Windows]

Setting a web project to use shared libraries

If you have a utility project defined as a shared library, you can associate defined shared libraries with a web project.

Before you begin

Define a utility project as a shared library.

About this task

A shared library is an external Java™ archive (JAR) file that is used by one or more applications. Using shared libraries enables multiple applications published on a server to use a single library, rather than use multiple copies of the same library. After you associate shared libraries with an application or project, the application or module class loader loads classes in the shared libraries and make those classes available to the application or module.

Procedure

  1. To set a web project to use shared libraries:
    1. In the Project Explorer view, right-click your web project that you want to associate shared libraries.
    2. Select Properties > Liberty > Shared Libraries.
    3. When you click the Add button, a list of shared library IDs appears. In the IDs field, specify one or more shared library identifiers that you want the project to reference. To specify multiple identifiers, use a comma-separated list. For example: ID1, ID2, ID3.
      Tip: The shared library identifier is the value specified in the Shared Libary ID field from the Defining a utility project as a shared library task.
  2. You might want to add its associating utility projects to the class path for compilation-purpose:
    1. In the Project Explorer view, right-click your project that you are associating shared libraries.
    2. Select Properties > Java Build Path.
    3. Select the Projects tab.
    4. Click Add.
    5. Select the utility projects that the project references.
  3. Optional: Set the API visibility.
    1. Right-click a web project.
    2. Select Liberty > Shared Libraries.
    3. Select from the following check boxes to set the API visibility: API, IBM API, Spec, and Third party. The default visibility is set for API, IBM API, and Spec.
  4. Develop the artifacts in the web project. For example, you can add a servlet in a web project that references classes in the shared libraries.
  5. Add the web project to the server.
    Distributed: [AIX MacOS Linux Windows]For more details see Deploying applications to Liberty servers by using developer tools topic.

Results

Here is an example entry added to the server configuration (server.xml) file:
<application type="war" id="web" name="web" location="web.war">
	<classloader commonLibraryRef="libid"/>
</application>