# Creating a dynamic Web project

You create and maintain the resources for your Web applications in Web projects. Unlike with static Web projects, dynamic Web projects enable you to create resources such as JavaServer Pages and servlets.

To create a new dynamic Web project, complete the following steps:

1. Open the Web perspective and select File > New > Dynamic Web Project. The New Dynamic Web Project wizard starts.
2. Type a name for your Web project.

3. Accept the default value in the Project location field (this is where your project is stored in your file system), or click Browse to choose a location from the file system. Then click the Show Advanced button if the advanced options are not already displayed.

4. Select the servlet version number. The servlet version determines the server level on which you can run your applications. Any new servlets and JSP files that you expect to create should adhere to the latest servlet specification level available. (Previous specification levels are offered to accommodate any legacy dynamic elements that you expect to import into the project).
   Notes:
   - The servlet version determines the choice of target servers that appear in the drop-down list.
   - The following servlet versions correspond to the following J2EE levels:
     - version 2.2 - J2EE 1.2
     - version 2.3 - J2EE 1.3
     - version 2.4 - J2EE 1.4
   - Note that you can upgrade your servlet version using the J2EE Migration Wizard but you can't go revert to an earlier level.
5. Select a target server from the drop-down list or create a new target server by selecting the New button
6. A new or existing Enterprise Application project (EAR Project) must be associated with your new Web project to facilitate deployment. If you want to override the default settings for the Enterprise Application project, click New, and make your changes. When your Web project is created at the end of the wizard, the new Enterprise Application project is also created with the name specified in the EAR project field. Note that the default is the name of the web project appended with EAR (unless the ear project was selected when you opened the wizard.) If you want to use an existing Enterprise Application project, select the project from the EAR project drop down list.

   If you want to add a Web project as a module to another Enterprise Application project in the future, you can open the application deployment descriptor editor for the Enterprise Application project and select the Add option in the Module page.

7. Specify a context root. (The context root is the Web application root, which is the top-level directory of your application when it is deployed to the Web server). You can change the context root after you create a project using the project Properties dialog, which you access from the project's pop-up menu. The context root can also be used by the links builder to ensure that your links remain ready to publish as you move and rename files inside your project.
8. To add support for annotated Java classes, select the appropriate check box.
9. To specify or customize the project options, select the Next check box .
10. Select one or more of the Web Project features. The box on the right displays a description of each feature as you select it on the left. The default features are, Default style sheet (CSS file) and web diagram. Accepting the default style sheet creates a default CSS file called Master.css, which is used for any HTML and JSP files included in the project.
11. Click Next.
12. Select Use a default Page Template for the Web Site if you want your entire Web site to share a common page template. If you want to use one of the sample templates provided, select Sample Template and then choose one of the templates shown in the Thumbnail box. If you want to use a template of your own, select User-defined Template and then click Browse to select the template from the file system. The selected template is copied into your project for use when creating web pages.
13. Click Finish. The wizard creates a new project that reflects the J2EE folder structure that specifies the location of web content files, class files, class paths, the deployment descriptor, and supporting metadata.

You can now begin creating or importing content for your Web project using Web resource editors, the New File wizards, or the Import wizards available from the File menu.

Related concepts
Dynamic Web projects and applications
Static Web projects
Annotation-based programming overview

Related tasks
Creating HTML or XHTML files
Creating JSP files
Adding Web annotation tags

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