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Eclipse Java Resources Folder

I am learning Java Dynamic Web Development and have confusion about the folder structure created by Eclipse. I am running the latest Eclipse IDE 2021-03 JEE and noticing that, when creating new projects, the project structure appears to be different when comparing to the online tutorials I've seen. I am noticing a WebContent folder in which I believe I can simply rename the folder from "src/main/webapp" to "WebContent" in the Content Directory during the web project creation. But the Java Resources is one that I cannot seem to add manually and it is always appearing in every tutorial I've seen. I am hoping for some direction on this.
Thanks!

How to continuous UI development in java?

So I come from ruby on rails background.
I am working on this java project.I am fairly new to java.
I maybe wrong but It seems unlike other technologies ,one compiles the project in a war file then deploy's that on tomcat.
The original assets are in src directory that are be checked in the source directory.
Where as to make any changes in assets files that being css/javascripts/images one need to
make changes in the target directory of the tomcat to preview them on the browser.
This makes development tricky and complex as I can't use branches, since branches work on src directory of my local repository but the changes I make are in the target directory. Also I would like to use sass and haml like features in java. What frameworks or other web servers or any other strategy are my options .
I have heard of groovy on grails but for some reason we want to stick to java the language

Look into using a build tool like maven or gradle to build your project. They both have a jetty plugin with a jettyRun goal that will run your project out of your source directory using embedded jetty. So if you are making changes to the assets, you just have to refresh the browser.
Another alternative is to configure tomcat to serve your assets up as static files from your workspace while you're doing development.
Or as #DaveNewton suggested, you can use your IDE to auto deploy

Eclipse: Is it possible to publish Javascript edits to an external Tomcat instance

I am converting an application from Flex to Javascript. My workflow within Eclipse for Flex was to use Maven to start my Java web app in Tomcat and then have Eclipse configured to compile edited Actionscript files to a SWF and save it to my exploded WAR directory (that Maven/Cargo uses).
It worked very well for a long time allowing me to edit actionscript source code, flip over the browser, refresh the screen and see the changes.
I am new to Javascript however, and am struggling to get the same workflow up and running. The part I don't understand is how to tell Eclipse that I would like my edited Javascript files to be written out to a particular directory (that contains the exploded WAR). In my WAR project (a WTP dynamic web project) there is something that looks like a Javascript build path called "Javascript resources", but there is no output directory.
I would really like to continue to run Tomcat and Jetty via Maven if at all possible. I realize I can do what I want via WTP (M2E-WTP), but would prefer to use Maven/Cargo.

Denis's suggestion to create custom builder is probably best solution if you want to continue using pure Maven/Cargo approach with Eclipse.
If you are deploying to an exploded war directory, then another similar idea would be to use a File Synchronization plugin. These will automatically copy modified files to configured folders. See:
http://andrei.gmxhome.de/filesync/
https://wiki.onehippo.com/display/CMS7/Use+Filesync+Eclipse+plugin+for+faster+turn+around
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FWIW, I don't think Maven:Tomcat/Cargo plugins are ideal for real-time web development, especially on the frontend side of things. They are useful mainly for controlled deployments or bootstrapping a server without initial setup. My thoughts:
Eclipse WTP used to be great for real-time web development, but I stopped using it a few years back as it just got way too hard to make it work correctly in a Maven environment. Fwiw, my preferred approach these days looks like this:
Do not install or use Eclipse WTP.
Use m2eclipse to integrate Maven with Eclipse.
Use Maven to do clean builds and generate exploded WAR directory in target folder.
Setup independent Tomcat server to load webapp from the exploded target folder.
I suspect the tomcat setup/startup could be integrated into Maven. It's not worth the extra complexity to me though.
Then, I configure JRebel (automatically via Maven) to handle java and web resource file changes. With this setup, I almost never have to redeploy or restart Tomcat. All changes (java, html, js, etc.) are seen immediately.
I think the same setup could be used without JRebel (for non-java files only) by configuring the web source folders as source folders in Eclipse with custom target output path being the corresponding directory in the exploded war directories. If that didn't work, then it would definitely work by using the custom builder or file synchronization solutions mentioned above.

Eclipse introduces the concept of "builder" to build a project. It comes with hardcoded builders such as the java compiler or the war builder of WTP.
But eclipse also enable to setup your own Builder using ant files : on your project, right click the project properties, go to section Builders, click on the new button.
You can use arguments to your ant file and use variables defined in by eclipse to build them
Do not forget to fill the refresh tab if you want eclipse to by notified of the produced files.
Do not forget the fill the Build options tab, section "Specify working set of relevant resources" in order to have your builder called each time a source used by the build file is changed inside eclipse.
Also go to the "targets" tab to specify during which type of build phase your ant file is called and which target is called.
I knwo this solution may not be the best for you since your build process will be described more than once but it may help you achieve your goal.

JavaEE compiling files

I feel like a 4-year old who has a slice of bread with pb and a slice with jelly and is asking how to make a sandwich..
I've been given the responsibility of maintaining a javaEE website that was done by our parent company that no loner supports us. I'm relatively new to JavaEE and I'm trying to figure out how to recompile the files that need to be modified from within the root folder of the site.
I downloaded NetBeans to help me with this, but still can't figure it out. My problem is that the java files can't find any of the packages and resources they are dependent on. As far as I know, the resources are there.. although, I do see some packages starting with "com." and "javax.", and I don't see a 'com' or 'javax' folder anywhere.. I believe my problem has something to do with setting the class path in the project properties in NetBeans.. I tried that but either I'm not doing it right, or its not working. This whole Java compilation is so foreign to me, it'd be really great if someone could lead me in the right direction of getting this website compiled.
I posted a pick of the folder hierarchy of the website to help:
I'm trying to compile the RecordAdd.java file here specifically at the moment. Some of the packages it is trying to import come from its parent folder, asp, of the folder it is in, easp. The file is also trying to import com.icesoft.faces.component.*; where '*' consists of several different imports of the parent packages. I don't see a com folder like I mentioned, but I do see icefaces.jar files in the lib folder in WEB-INF folder. I've tried putting these folders in NetBeans Library-Compile category classpath, but that didn't do anything.
I'm not doing something right, that is probably a basic knowledge of compiling java projects, but I'm just not getting it. I really appreciate any help, just please don't be too harsh. Thanks!

Try to find out which IDE the original devs used. I see a nbproject folder which indicated Netbeans (unless that was created by you) so try opening the project in Netbeans as a Java EE project. I'd also try to open it in Eclipse, it has good importing capabilities and can sometimes figure out the classpath on it's own. Download the Java EE version of Eclipse and install the Web Tools Project. You can also try to see if there is a build file that will compile and generate a war file for you (something like build.xml).

It should be simple if the project was created in netbeans. Just go to File -> Open Project. Navigate to where the project is located. You will know if the folder is a project, because netbeans recognizes it and a different icon is displayed instead of a regular folder icon. Once you open your project, you can right click compile the project.
You don't use java compiler yourself to compile java files in a project. Compiling and building are done by tools like ant, maven... It's automated.

Importing existing projects into netbeans is a great way to loose a half a day.
I'm assuming that since there's a nbproject directory, this was built through netbeans, which should give you a leg up.
In the "Open Project" wizard, the top level of your application (not necessarily the sources) should have a friendly globe icon for a web application (.war) or a triangle for EE application (.ear). Open the triangle if there is one. Web applications can be packaged with EE applications through netbeans, so if the Web App you're trying to compile belongs to one, some of the build properties may be associated with it.
Looking at the file nbproject/build-impl.xml should give you hints about where your libraries folder was located. Make sure this path matches in your project properties under the Libraries header. These libraries can be shared among projects and therefore likely out of this projects directory structure and referenced or native to this project alone in which case jars are copied in to your lib folder.
There may be additional reference or server issues that netbeans detects (and gives a paltry error message for) which can be found in the project context menu under "Resolve Reference Issues" or "Resolve Missing Server". In netbeans projects are built against the servers they're run on right in the IDE. Check that you have the servers you want configured under Tools-> Servers, then ensure that server is linked in your project properties under Run.
This may not solve all your problems, but is a good start. Good Luck!

How do I properly deploy and structure projects in Eclipse against Tomcat?

I am relatively new Java developer that's been thrown in the deep end, my usual skillset lies in Microsoft products and C#.
However I have managed to write a nice web service using Restlet and incorporating Toplink and doing some database CRUD stuff, etc etc.
I developed this in Eclipse against Tomcat 5.5. I followed tutorials and examples and managed to throw something together that works.
I had all my jar files in WebContent/WEB-INF/lib directory of my project - I soon realised that when I export this as a WAR file and deploy in Tomcat, it takes these jar files with it and stores them local to the application.
Fine, but then when you try to undeploy the app, it only does it partially as Tomcat "holds on" to some of the jars it was using i.e. the Oracle JDBC, and Toplink ones. This makes sense as the web service was using these jars as there was a live Oracle connnection going on.
So then I thought I should have all these jars in a common place where all deployed apps can access them, that folder I believe is:
C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Tomcat 5.5\common\lib
(in my case). This made total sense, it's logical as you don't want loads of apps on Tomcat all referencing the same jars. So I removed all the jars out of my projects lib folder and put them in the common\lib directory.
Now my app will not work properly - it can't find my source code in src, the custom bespoke code that I have programmed against these jars. It will only work if I jar up my source code and put in the directory stated above. Odd.
I am obviously very confused with class paths and build paths and all of that stuff, and must have got this sort of stuff all wrong as I am no Java expert, as I readily admit I have pretty much hacked this together - so can anyone explain to me in laymans terms how I should structure my project to get it working with jars held in a common folder in Tomcat. Or are there any good resoureces on the web to help explain to me what I should do.
Hope this all makes sense...
Here is a pic of my current project:

Sounds like you are not using WTP web project.
If you've installed 'Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers' flavor of Eclipse, the WTP is already bundled in there. Otherwise here its update site -> http://download.eclipse.org/webtools/updates
Once you've installed WTP you should create 'Dynamic Web Project'.
In general I would recomment to put only your presentation layer here ( JSPs, CSS, HTML ) and put all pure java projects into standard 'Java' project that you later add as a dependency to 'Dynamic Web Project'.
WTP can run your web application under a number of containers, fortunately Tomcat is supported.
You will need to configure it through Window->Preferences->Server->Runtime Environments.
Once runtime envirnonment is configured, you can create your server runtime:
Right click in 'Servers' view.
Choose New->Server
Select server type: 'Tomcat v.5.5 Server'
(Optional) Change server name to whatever makes sense for you
Select server runtime environment: This is the Runtime Environemtn that you have configured previously
Hit 'Next' button
Add your 'Dynamic Web Project' project to 'Configured projects:' panel
Hit 'Finish' button
After the server is configured you can just run it, or you can put it in Debug mode. All source code referenced by dependent projects will be available for debugging.
NOTE:
From personal experience, I would not recommend using common/lib. Put all the jars that your web application relies upon into its WAR file. If you are worried about dependency tracking then start looking into Maven and m2eclipse.

Usually I put my jars in $CATALINA_BASE/shared/lib/
Please read this documentation for more clarification and specially Class Loader Definitions section.
Also restart the server after you copied the jars.

Go to Window > Show View > Other > Server > Servers, a servers tab will appear below with console tab. Click on your server and then F3, this will open server configuration.
Check Server Locations, and make sure you checked Use tomcat installation(takes control of tomcat installation) then click Modules tab below and it will show your installed modules, make sure the module is present or add it.