JAR, WAR and EAR Files

While working on Flex based application, JAR files plays a key role to the generate the understandable body which doesn't compasses binary values.

We ask from the development team or from the data teams for application specific JAR files, those files can be given to us in any form like JAR, WAR or EAR files.

JAR: These files are with the .jar extension. The .jar files contain the libraries, resources and accessories files like property files.

Files with a .jar extension are intended to hold generic libraries of Java classes, resources, auxiliary files, etc.

JAR files (Java ARchive) allows aggregating many files into one, it is usually used to hold Java classes in a library. i.e. Math.jar

WAR:  These files are with the .war extension. The war file contains the web application that can be deployed on the any servlet/jsp container. The .war file contains jsp, html, javascript and other files for necessary for the development of web applications.

War files (files with a .war extension) are intended to contain complete Web applications. In this context, a Web application is defined as a single group of files,classes, resources, .jar files that can be packaged and accessed as one servlet context.

EAR:   Ear files (files with a .ear extension) are intended to contain complete enterprise applications. In this context, an enterprise application is defined as a collection of .jar files, resources, classes, and multiple Web applications. Each type of file (.jar, .war, .ear) is processed uniquely by application servers, servlet

containers, EJB containers, etc.

EAR files (Enterprise ARchive) combines JAR and WAR files to make a combined archive for Enterprise Applications.