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         -----------
         Load XML definition files using wildcards
         -----------

Load XML definition files using wildcards

  XML definition files can be loaded using wildcard, but this behaviour is not
  the default, due to compatibility reasons to Tiles 2.0.x.

* Prerequisites

  To use wildcards in XML definition files, you need to put the following libraries
  in your classpath:

  * spring-core.jar

  * spring-web.jar

  * spring-context.jar

  * spring-beans.jar

  * aopalliance.jar

  If you are using Maven, simply depend on <<<spring-web>>> package.

* Configuration

  To be able to specify Tiles XML definition files using wildcards, there is the
  need to override the Tiles application context creation. For example, if you
  are using parameter-based initialization, provide a new value for the
  {{{../config-reference.html#org.apache.tiles.context.AbstractTilesApplicationContextFactory}<<<org.apache.tiles.context.AbstractTilesApplicationContextFactory>>>}}
  init parameter. For example:

----------------------------------------
<init-param>
    <param-name>org.apache.tiles.context.AbstractTilesApplicationContextFactory</param-name>
    <param-value>
      org.apache.tiles.servlet.context.wildcard.WildcardServletTilesApplicationContextFactory
    </param-value>
</init-param>
----------------------------------------

* Usage

  To load XML definition files using wilcards you can proceed, as usual, in two
  ways:


  * If you are using parameter-based initialization, provide a new value for the
  {{{../config-reference.html#org.apache.tiles.definition.DefinitionsFactory.DEFINITIONS_CONFIG}<<<org.apache.tiles.definition.DefinitionsFactory.DEFINITIONS_CONFIG>>>}}
  init parameter. The files that have an underscore (_) in their name will be
  skipped. You can specify, for example:

----------------------------------------
<init-param>
    <param-name>org.apache.tiles.definition.DefinitionsFactory.DEFINITIONS_CONFIG</param-name>
    <param-value>/WEB-INF/tiles-defs*.xml,
      classpath:/org/apache/**/tiles-defs.xml</param-value>
</init-param>
----------------------------------------

  * If you are using Java-based configuration, override the 
  {{{../apidocs/org/apache/tiles/factory/BasicTilesContainerFactory.html#getSourceURLs(java.lang.Object,%20org.apache.tiles.TilesApplicationContext,%20org.apache.tiles.context.TilesApplicationContextFactory)}getSourceURLs}}
  of <<<BasicTilesContainerFactory>>>. In the following example, notice the
  manual exclusion of files including underscores (_):

----------------------------------------
/** {@inheritDoc} */
@Override
protected List<URL> getSourceURLs(Object context,
        TilesApplicationContext applicationContext,
        TilesRequestContextFactory contextFactory) {
    List<URL> urls = new ArrayList<URL>(URL_COUNT);
    try {
        Set<URL> urlSet = applicationContext
                .getResources("/WEB-INF/tiles-defs*.xml");
        for (URL url : urlSet) {
            String externalForm = url.toExternalForm();
            if (externalForm.indexOf('_', externalForm.lastIndexOf("/")) < 0) {
                urls.add(url);
            }
        }
        urls.add(applicationContext.getResource(
                "classpath:/org/apache/tiles/classpath-defs.xml"));
    } catch (IOException e) {
        throw new DefinitionsFactoryException(
                "Cannot load definition URLs", e);
    }
    return urls;
}
----------------------------------------

* Syntax

  Wildcard support uses Spring Framework syntax for loading files. For example:

  * one asterisk (*) for a single placeholder;

  * two asterisks (**) to say "in every directory under the specified one";

  * the <<<classpath:>>> prefix loads files from the classpath.

  * etc.

  For everything else, see Spring's documentation.