Wiki source code of Short XWiki URLs

Version 20.1 by Dmitry Bakbardin on 2012/12/29

version	line-number	content
19.4	1	{{box cssClass="floatinginfobox" title="Contents"}}
	2	{{toc/}}
	3	{{/box}}
14.1	4
19.4	5	This tutorial shows you how to tune your XWiki platform by replacing the default URL scheme with a shorter scheme.
15.1	6
14.1	7	{{info}}
	8	A short URL is an URL without the ##xwiki/bin/view## parts.
	9	{{/info}}
2.1	10
20.1	11	= I. Application name =
1.1	12
14.1	13	The ##/xwiki/## part of the URL is the application name. It identifies the application that should process the request, and it allows a container to host more than one application. To change it you must refer to your container's documentation and find how to map the context path of a web application. For example on Tomcat it's enough to simply deploy the XWiki webapp in the ##webapps## directory, in a sub directory named after the application name you wish to use (e.g. ##webapps/myappname##).
1.1	14
19.4	15	A special case is when deploying XWiki as the ROOT application, which actually allows the application name part to be empty, so an URL can take the form ##server.com/bin/view/Space/Document##. Achieving this depends on the container, as there's no standard regarding the ROOT application. For example in Tomcat, with the default configuration, all it takes is to deploy the XWiki web application in ##webapps##, in a sub directory named ##ROOT## (i.e. ##webapps/ROOT##). In Jetty, the default name is ##root##. Refer to your container's documentation for more details.
10.2	16
20.1	17	= II. Servlet mapping name =
1.1	18
19.4	19	The second part is the hardest part to remove. It identifies the servlet that should process the page, which, for ##/bin/##, is the Struts servlet. To get rid of ##/bin/##, for the moment ##web.xml## must be changed in a container-dependent way, so that the container's default servlet is configured to serve the existing directories, like skins, yui, tinymce and wikieditor.
1.1	20
20.1	21	== 2.1. Original Instructions ==
1.1	22
20.1	23	=== 2.1.1. Container setup ===
	24
12.1	25	In Jetty, the container shipped with the XWiki installer, you will have to write something like:
	26
14.1	27	{{code language="xml"}}
	28	<servlet>
4.1	29	<servlet-name>defaultSkins</servlet-name>
12.1	30	<servlet-class>org.mortbay.jetty.servlet.DefaultServlet</servlet-class>
4.1	31	<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
	32	</servlet>
	33	<servlet-mapping>
	34	<servlet-name>defaultSkins</servlet-name>
	35	<url-pattern>/skins/*</url-pattern>
	36	</servlet-mapping>
18.1	37	<servlet-mapping>
	38	<servlet-name>defaultSkins</servlet-name>
	39	<url-pattern>/resources/*</url-pattern>
	40	</servlet-mapping>
14.1	41	{{/code}}
4.1	42
16.1	43	{{warning}}
19.4	44	If you are using Jetty 1.7 or higher, the correct servlet-class is ##org.eclipse.jetty.servlet.DefaultServlet##.
16.1	45	{{/warning}}
	46
7.1	47	In Tomcat, the default servlet does not accept a parameter for changing the resource base, so you will need to write another default servlet.
4.1	48
20.1	49	=== 2.1.2. Container setup alternative: front-end by-pass ===
	50
19.4	51	Alternatively, you could by-pass the servlet container at the web front-end level. For example, if you are using Apache httpd as a front-end, and assuming a webapp deployed as a ROOT webapp and an AJP connection between httpd and the servlet container, the following configuration allows you to serve skin files and static resources directly from httpd:
19.1	52
	53	{{code}}
19.4	54	Alias /skins /usr/local/xwiki/skins
	55	Alias /resources /usr/local/xwiki/resources
	56	ProxyPass /skins/ !
	57	ProxyPass /resources/ !
19.1	58	{{/code}}
	59
20.1	60	If you use Nginx as a web-server, just add two more locations and set "root" to them:
	61
	62	{{code}}
	63	location /skins/ {
	64	root /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/ROOT;
	65	}
	66
	67	location /resources/ {
	68	root /var/lib/tomcat7/webapps/ROOT;
	69	}
	70	{{/code}}
	71
	72	In the example above XWiki is set as ROOT applocation in Tomcat. Change path to your installation accordingly.
	73
	74	=== 2.2. Struts servlet mapping ===
	75
19.4	76	The second thing to do is to copy the mapping for the Struts servlet to also be activated for /, like:
14.1	77
	78	{{code language="xml"}}
	79	<servlet-mapping>
4.1	80	<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
	81	<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
	82	</servlet-mapping>
14.1	83	{{/code}}
	84
19.4	85	Be sure to leave the other mappings in place, so that ##/bin/## works, too.
4.1	86
19.4	87	Tthe last thing that must be changed is the default mapping used by the URL factory, by adding this piece of code in ##xwiki.cfg##: {{code language="none"}}xwiki.defaultservletpath={{/code}}.
4.1	88
20.1	89	== 2.3. Specific Lighttpd + Jetty Instructions ==
11.1	90
19.4	91	The original instructions might work for you if you don't use the WYSIWYG editor. It did not work for me and this is what I had to do:
12.1	92
14.1	93	The problem is that you need to use Java Struts for the routing. They are not very powerful when it comes to the servlet-mapping configuration. We need to map:
12.1	94
14.1	95	* /resources/* ~-~-> static content
	96	* /skins/* ~-~-> static content
	97	* *.gwtrpc ~-~-> a servlet
	98	* everything else ~-~-> other servlets
	99
19.4	100	The problem is that .gwtrpc files are in the ##/resources/## folder, and the ##/resources/## mapping will always have a higher priority than .gwtrpc due to the way structs works.
12.1	101
19.4	102	So, we have to cheat a bit, and offload the static content to the webserver, which does have a powerful route-map configuration.
12.1	103
19.4	104	I used lighttpd, but I assume it can be done with other webservers too. This is the configuration I used in the lighttpd config (note that my xwiki folder has been moved to ##/usr/share/jetty/webapps/root## (no 'xwiki' at all)):
12.1	105
14.1	106	{{code language="none"}}
12.1	107	$HTTP["host"] =~ "^www\.domain\.com$" {
	108	# ensure all requests for .gwtrpc files go through to java server
	109	# we can put this rule first as a higher priority, which java couldn't do
	110	$HTTP["url"] =~ "\.gwtrpc$" {
	111	proxy.server = ( "" => (( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8080 )))
	112	}
	113	# otherwise, we can handle the static resources
	114	else $HTTP["url"] =~ "^/resources/" {
	115	alias.url += ( "/resources" => "/usr/share/jetty/webapps/root/resources" )
	116	}
	117	# otherwise, we can handle the static resources
	118	else $HTTP["url"] =~ "^/skins/" {
	119	alias.url += ( "/skins" => "/usr/share/jetty/webapps/root/skins" )
	120	}
	121	# and here is the primary server
	122	else $HTTP["host"] =~ "^www\.domain\.com$" {
	123	proxy.server = ( "" => (( "host" => "127.0.0.1", "port" => 8080 )))
	124	}
	125	}
	126	# redirect anything.domain.com to www.domain.com
	127	else $HTTP["host"] =~ "\.domain\.com$" {
	128	url.redirect = ( "^/(.*)" => "http://www.domain.com/$1" )
	129	server.name = "www.domain.com"
	130	}
	131	# redirect domain.com to www.domain.com
	132	else $HTTP["host"] =~ "domain\.com$" {
	133	url.redirect = ( "^/(.*)" => "http://www.domain.com/$1" )
	134	server.name = "www.domain.com"
	135	}
14.1	136	{{/code}}
12.1	137
19.4	138	So lighttpd will serve any static content unless it has .gwtrpc on the end of the URL.
12.1	139
19.4	140	Then in ##web.xml##, I changed the gwtrpc mapping to:
14.1	141
	142	{{code language="xml"}}
	143	<servlet-mapping>
12.1	144	<servlet-name>gwtrpc</servlet-name>
	145
	146	<url-pattern>/resources/*</url-pattern>
	147	<url-pattern>/skins/*</url-pattern>
	148	</servlet-mapping>
14.1	149	{{/code}}
12.1	150
19.4	151	Since we are using a url-pattern of ##/path/##, it will be specific enough to be a higher priority than the / pattern we'll use next. And since the only thing that will come through via resources or skins will be gwtrpc, then we can be sure it's ok. Note that only ##resources## is required, but I did both anyway.
12.1	152
19.4	153	Now, as described above, add a rule to catch everything else and redirect it to your xwiki servlet:
14.1	154
	155	{{code language="xml"}}
	156	<servlet-mapping>
12.1	157	<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
	158	<url-pattern>/*</url-pattern>
	159	</servlet-mapping>
14.1	160	{{/code}}
12.1	161
19.4	162	The last thing that must be changed is the default mapping used by the URL factory, by adding this piece of code in ##xwiki.cfg##: {{code language="none"}}xwiki.defaultservletpath={{/code}}.
12.1	163
20.1	164	== 2.4. Alternative: Changing the mapping name ==
12.1	165
19.4	166	If removing the ##/bin## part is not possible in your environment, you can still rename it to something less technical, and which would better fit your site, like ##/wiki##. To do this, you must first add a mapping for the new path, as in:
12.1	167
14.1	168	{{code language="xml"}}
	169	<servlet-mapping>
11.3	170	<servlet-name>action</servlet-name>
	171	<url-pattern>/wiki/*</url-pattern>
	172	</servlet-mapping>
14.1	173	{{/code}}
11.3	174
	175	This means that the wiki now accepts requests through this mapping.
	176
14.1	177	{{info}}
	178	This specific mapping (##/wiki##) should already be there, but you need to add a new one for other custom mappings.
	179	{{/info}}
11.3	180
14.1	181	{{warning}}
19.4	182	The ##/wiki## mapping is reserved for multiwikis with path based wiki mapping setup, so use something else in this scenarion. It should work fine when multiwikis are disabled or when only hostname wiki mapping is used.
14.1	183	{{/warning}}
11.4	184
19.4	185	Then you must make sure that accessing the application without a servlet in the path (as in ##http:~/~/server.com/xwiki/## when XWiki is not set as the ROOT application, or ##http:~/~/server.com/## if XWiki is the ROOT application) redirects to the right servlet. This involves changing the configuration for the ##redirect## servlet in ##web.xml##; search for the declaration of the ##redirectHomeServlet##, uncomment the ##init-param## section, and adjust accordingly:
11.3	186
14.1	187	{{code language="xml"}}
	188	<servlet>
11.3	189	<servlet-name>redirectHomeServlet</servlet-name>
	190	<servlet-class>com.xpn.xwiki.web.HomePageRedirectServlet</servlet-class>
	191	<!-- Uncomment and edit this if you want to redirect to a different home page, or if you have different mappings.
	192	Note: the URL should not start with /, because it allows the context name to be changed. If it starts with /,
	193	then it should be an absolute URL, including the application context path. -->
	194	<init-param>
	195	<description>The address to redirect to when the client hits the root of the application.</description>
	196	<param-name>homePage</param-name>
	197	<param-value>wiki/</param-value>
	198	</init-param>
	199	</servlet>
14.1	200	{{/code}}
11.3	201
19.4	202	Also change the default mapping used by the URL factory, by adding this in ##xwiki.cfg##: {{code language="none"}}xwiki.defaultservletpath=wiki/{{/code}}.
11.3	203
19.4	204	Optionally, you can make sure that accessing the hostname without a path (as in ##http:~/~/server.com/##) redirects to the right servlet. This depends on your environment. In a Tomcat + Apache HTTPD + mod_redirect, just update these settings:
11.3	205
14.1	206	{{code language="none"}}
	207	RedirectMatch ^/$ /xwiki/wiki/
11.3	208	RedirectMatch ^/xwiki/$ /xwiki/wiki/
14.1	209	{{/code}}
11.3	210
14.1	211	In the default standalone distribution (with Jetty), the ROOT application only redirects to the ##/xwiki## application, so configuring the XWiki redirect servlet is enough if you don't change the application name. If you do, just edit the ##web.xml## of the ##root## webapp, uncomment the ##init-param## of the ##XWikiDispatcherServlet## and change the application name.
11.3	212
20.1	213	= III. Struts action name =
14.1	214
19.4	215	The third part, ##/view/##, identifies the struts action that should process a request. So this tells what we want to do with the document, ##/view/## it, ##/edit/## it or ##/delete/## it, for example. The XWiki platform allows this part to be missing, considering that the default action is to just display the document, so an URL like ##server.com/bin/Space/Document## will work out of the box.
	216
	217	Even more, the URL factory, the component that generates URLs, can be configured to skip this part when the action is ##/view/##. To do this write this code in ##xwiki.cfg##: {{code language="none"}}xwiki.showviewaction=0{{/code}}.
	218
20.1	219	= IV. Error Page =
19.4	220
14.1	221	At the ##WEB-INF/web.xml##, the ##location## of the 404 error code needs to be changed accordingly. For example:
	222
	223	{{code language="xml"}}
	224	<error-page>
9.1	225	<error-code>404</error-code>
	226	<!--<location>/xwiki/bin/view/Main/DocumentDoesNotExist</location>-->
	227	<location>/bin/Main/DocumentDoesNotExist</location>
	228	</error-page>
14.1	229	{{/code}}
9.1	230
20.1	231	= V. Conclusion =
4.1	232
	233	After performing all these changes, you should be able to access documents with URLs like:
14.1	234
4.1	235	* server.com/Space/Document
	236	* server.com/Space/ (pointing to Space.WebHome)
	237	* server.com/Document (pointing to Main.Document)
	238	* server.com/ will show Main.WebHome, without any redirect.
	239
5.1	240	As a bonus, these changes are backwards compatible, meaning that any currently working URL will also work with these changes performed, so you won't have any broken bookmarks.

Wiki source code of Short XWiki URLs

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