Is it possible to change the /resources folder name which is used by h:outputStylesheet and h:outputScript

Question

Is it necessary to give the folder name "resources" when making the reference of a css file and js file in h:outputStylesheet and h:outputScript

Answer 1

The folder name is fixed as per chapters 2.6.1.1 and 2.6.1.2 of the JSF specification.

2.6.1.1 Packaging Resources into the Web Application Root

The default implementation must support packaging resources in the web application root under the path

resources/

relative to the web app root. Resources packaged into the web app root must be accessed using the getResource*() methods on ExternalContext.

2.6.1.2 Packaging Resources into the Classpath

For the default implementation, resources packaged in the classpath must reside under the JAR entry name:

META-INF/resources/

Resources packaged into the classpath must be accessed using the getResource*() methods of the ClassLoader obtained by calling the getContextClassLoader() method of the current Thread.

It mentions "must" in both cases. It does not mention anything about a possible configuration option to change those paths. This applies to both JSF 2.0 and JSF 2.1.

In the upcoming JSF 2.2, however, it will as per JSF spec issue 996 be possible to change the path by the new javax.faces.WEBAPP_RESOURCES_DIRECTORY context parameter which takes a path relative to the webcontent root as parameter value:

    javax.faces.WEBAPP_RESOURCES_DIRECTORY
    WEB-INF/resources 

This example will move the /resources folder into /WEB-INF, hereby ensuring more security (i.e. it is now not possible anymore to access those resources independently from the FacesServlet).

In your particular case, you'd thus like to use the following setting when having upgraded to JSF 2.2:

    javax.faces.WEBAPP_RESOURCES_DIRECTORY
    assets 

Note that this only covers webapp's own resources as specified in chapter 2.6.1.1, not the JAR resources as specified in chapter 2.6.1.2. The path of JAR resources should still be META-INF/resources as this is controlled by Servlet API specification, not the JSF specification. It's namely under the covers obtained by ServletContext#getResource() method which is outside control of JSF.