Loading configuration in an Axis webapp

[Naresh Bhatia <NB...@sapient.com>]

I want to load a configuration file in my webapp that is running the
AxisServlet. I tried doing this in a static block within the Axis
service class. But that makes Axis very upset. I get the following
exception:

<Error> <HTTP> <101017>
<ServletContext(id=4734205,name=omniplanner.war,context-path=/omniplanne
r)>
Root cause of ServletException
java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError
        at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
        at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:190)
        at org.apache.axis.utils.ClassUtils$2.run(ClassUtils.java:187)
        at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
        at
org.apache.axis.utils.ClassUtils.loadClass(ClassUtils.java:171)
        at org.apache.axis.utils.ClassUtils.forName(ClassUtils.java:154)
        at
org.apache.axis.utils.cache.ClassCache.lookup(ClassCache.java:122)
        at
org.apache.axis.providers.java.JavaProvider.getServiceClass(JavaProvider
.java:566)
        at
org.apache.axis.providers.java.JavaProvider.initServiceDesc(JavaProvider
.java:599)
        at
org.apache.axis.handlers.soap.SOAPService.getInitializedServiceDesc(SOAP
Service.java:335)
        at
org.apache.axis.deployment.wsdd.WSDDService.makeNewInstance(WSDDService.
java:507)
        at
org.apache.axis.deployment.wsdd.WSDDDeployableItem.getNewInstance(WSDDDe
ployableItem.java:313)
        at
org.apache.axis.deployment.wsdd.WSDDDeployableItem.getInstance(WSDDDeplo
yableItem.java:299)
        at
org.apache.axis.deployment.wsdd.WSDDDeployment.getService(WSDDDeployment
.java:486)
        at
org.apache.axis.configuration.FileProvider.getService(FileProvider.java:
262)
        at org.apache.axis.AxisEngine.getService(AxisEngine.java:275)
        at
org.apache.axis.MessageContext.setTargetService(MessageContext.java:620)
        at
org.apache.axis.handlers.http.URLMapper.invoke(URLMapper.java:89)
        at
org.apache.axis.strategies.InvocationStrategy.visit(InvocationStrategy.j
ava:71)
        at org.apache.axis.SimpleChain.doVisiting(SimpleChain.java:156)
        at org.apache.axis.SimpleChain.invoke(SimpleChain.java:126)
        at org.apache.axis.server.AxisServer.invoke(AxisServer.java:277)
        at
org.apache.axis.transport.http.AxisServlet.doPost(AxisServlet.java:766)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:760)
        at
org.apache.axis.transport.http.AxisServletBase.service(AxisServletBase.j
ava:339)
        at javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:853)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl$ServletInvocationAction.run(Se
rvletStubImpl.java:1058)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.
java:401)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletStubImpl.invokeServlet(ServletStubImpl.
java:306)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext$ServletInvocationAction.r
un(WebAppServletContext.java:5445)
        at
weblogic.security.service.SecurityServiceManager.runAs(SecurityServiceMa
nager.java:780)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.WebAppServletContext.invokeServlet(WebAppServl
etContext.java:3105)
        at
weblogic.servlet.internal.ServletRequestImpl.execute(ServletRequestImpl.
java:2588)
        at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.execute(ExecuteThread.java:213)
        at weblogic.kernel.ExecuteThread.run(ExecuteThread.java:189)

Any idea where and how I should be loading my configuration. I am using
Weblogic 7 to deploy the webapp and Digester for loading the
configuration.

Thanks.
Naresh