How to use .jsf extension in URLs?

Question

I'm developing a JSF 2 web application. For prestige purpouses I would like that every URL ends with .jsf extension. Now it ends with .xhtml. If I change it directly to .jsf in web browser address bar, then a HTTP 500 error is shown.

How can I set it to .jsf?

Answer 1

The URL pattern of JSF pages is specified by <servlet-mapping> of the FacesServlet in web.xml. As you mentioned that .xhtml works fine, you have apparently configured it as follows:

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>      
</servlet-mapping>

You need to change the <url-pattern> accordingly to get the desired virtual URL extension.

<servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.jsf</url-pattern>      
</servlet-mapping>

That's all you need to change in order to achieve the concrete functional requirement, really.

However, this puts a security problem open. The enduser can now see the raw Facelets file source code when changing the extension in the URL back from .jsf to .xhtml. You can prevent this by adding the following security constraint to web.xml:

<security-constraint>
    <display-name>Restrict access to Facelets source code.</display-name>
    <web-resource-collection>
        <web-resource-name>Facelets</web-resource-name>
        <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
    </web-resource-collection>
    <auth-constraint/>
</security-constraint>