gwt The default goal. This goal does several main things, including creating a Catalina structure with an application specific context.xml file and an application specific web.xml file, and then launching the GWTShell.

1. Calls war:webapp as a prerequisite so that a local webapp directory, with nothing specific to GWT, all standard Maven setup, is created.

Calling war:webapp is important *before* the GWTShell is invoked for two reasons.

A. web.xml handling - it places an application defined deployment descriptor (web.xml) in the target ${maven.war.webapp.dir}/WEB-INF/ directory. (This should be a standard deployment descriptor with no special GWT additions. This can include any "normal" web.xml elements such as servlets other than GWT related, servlet filters, init parameters, session properties, and so on. This standard web.xml file will be used in a subsequent step to create the GWT Hosted Mode server structure before GWTShell is invoked - your web.xml will matter and work in Hosted Mode.)

B. context.xml handling - it places an application defined context XML descriptor (context.xml) in the target ${maven.war.webapp.dir}/META-INF/ directory. (This should be a standard Tomcat context descriptor. This can include any "normal" context elements such as JNDI DataSources. This standard context.xml file will be used in a subsequent step to create the GWT Hosted Mode server structure before GWTShell is invoked - your context.xml will matter and work in Hosted Mode.)

2. Launches the GWTShell and Hosted Mode Browser against the hosted mode Tomcat instance using project specific properties from project.properties.

Before the shell is launched the tomcat structure is inspected/updated/created by the plugin so that the context.xml and web.xml from the application (if present) are used in the GWT development Tomcat instance (the GWTShellServlet is automatically added to web.xml, as are service servlets based on the GWT module file, and the context.xml is added). gwt:debug Launches the GWTShell using the "Java Platform Debugger Architecture" so that you can connect a debugger. Use the ${google.webtoolkit.debugport} property to specify a port (default is 8887). gwt:compile Launches the GWTCompiler in order to compile the GWT project. gwt:mergewebxml Used primarily by the gwt:war goal as a prerequisite in order to merge the application specific web.xml file (created by war:webapp in the target directory) with the GWT module file. This "merge" step will create service servlet entries in the web.xml file for each such entry present in the GWT module file. Note that this happens on the deployable artifact from the target directory (not the source), so it can safely be done at each deployment and enables you to not have to maintain service servlet entries in multiple places (yet still have them available in a deployable artifact). gwt:war In one shot creates a deployable WAR file from a GWT application. Includes invoking mergewebxml as a prerequisite so that an application specific web.xml file is merged with the GWT module file to create the correct service servlet entries in web.xml automatically. gwt:warsansmerge Convenience shortcut which runs gwt:war but does NOT run mergewebxml (if you do not wish to use that feature, you can skip/avoid it). gwt:generateClientBeans Creates client-side DTOs into your source directory. [TODO BeanMapper documentation with more information].