Creating a New Web Application

Launching the New Web Application Wizard

To create a new project, click on the New Web Application Project toolbar button. You can also access this wizard by selecting the Web Application Project item from the drop-down menu associated with the New toolbar button, or by selecting File > New > Web Application Project.

Creating a Project with the New Web Application Wizard

The New Web Application Project wizard allows you to create a new web application that uses Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and/or Google App Engine:

The wizard allows you to choose a name and root package for the project. The project's name will be used when generating the names of the classes in the sample application. All of the classes will live in a subpackage of the root package.

In the Google SDKs group box, you can choose which SDKs that you'd like to use in your Web Application. See Using SDKs for more details.

Click on the Finish button to create the project.

Generated Project Structure

The sample application generated by the New Web Application Wizard will have a src/ directory for Java source files and a war/ directory for compiled classes, server runtime libraries, static content, and configuration files.

The generated files will differ depending on whether your application is using GWT, App Engine, or both. The sections below highlight the differences between the generated sample for a project named MyTestProject with a root package of com.mytestproject.

If you make a mistake and delete some of the essential resources in the war directory, don't worry! You can easily fix these problems.

GWT

These are the files that are generated for the GWT sample:

MyTestProject
  src/
    com/
      mytestproject/
        MyTestProject.gwt.xml        
        client/
          GreetingService.java
          GreetingServiceAsync.java
          MyTestProject.java      
        server/
          GreetingServiceImpl.java
  war/  
    MyTestProject.css
    MyTestProject.html
    WEB-INF/
      web.xml
      classes/
      lib/
       ...GWT JARs...         

The GWT sample application consists of a simple user interface with a single button. When you press the button, a Remote Procedure Call is performed to get the current time on the server. The results of the call are then displayed in the interface. See GWT's documentation for more information about the project's contents.

App Engine

These are the files that are generated for the App Engine sample:

MyTestProject
  src/
    log4j.properties
    META-INF/
      jdoconfig.xml
    com/
      mytestproject/
        MyTestProjectServlet.java
  war/  
    index.html
    WEB-INF/
      appengine-web.xml
      web.xml
      logging.properties
      classes/
      lib/
       ...App Engine JARs...            

The App Engine sample application consists of a servlet which prints "Hello, World!". The application also has some configuration files for deployment and logging. See App Engine's Getting Started Guide for more information about the project's structure and files.

GWT + App Engine

When using both the GWT and App Engine SDKs, the following sample application is generated:

MyTestProject
  src/
    log4j.properties
    META-INF/
      jdoconfig.xml
    com/
      mytestproject/
        MyTestProject.gwt.xml        
        client/
          GreetingService.java
          GreetingServiceAsync.java
          MyTestProject.java      
        server/
          GreetingServiceImpl.java
  war/  
    MyTestProject.css
    MyTestProject.html
    WEB-INF/
      appengine-web.xml
      web.xml
      logging.properties
      classes/
      lib/
        ...App Engine JARs...    
        ...GWT JARs... 

The GWT + App Engine sample application is similar in functionality to the GWT sample application. The main difference is that the server component is meant to run on App Engine, so the App Engine configuration files are generated as well.