Servlet filter doesn't respond on given URL pattern

I have a JSF web application where all the pages that reside under directory web needs to be protected from unautheticatd use i.e., user should be in session to accesss these pages. I am using filter to validate the session for these pages. These pages are accessed via url like : /contextRoot/web/download.xhtml or /contextRoot/web/sign/upload.xhtml. Whereas other pages that reside outside web directory or in some other directory need not to go pass through session validation filter. My filter is like:

@WebFilter(filterName = "AuthenticationFilter", urlPatterns={"/web/*"}, dispatcherTypes   = {DispatcherType.REQUEST})

public class AuthenticationFilter implements Filter {

    private static final boolean debug = true;
    
    private FilterConfig filterConfig = null;

    public AuthenticationFilter() {
    }

    
    public void doFilter(ServletRequest request, ServletResponse response,
            FilterChain chain)
            throws IOException, ServletException {

        if (debug) {
            log("AuthenticationFilter:doFilter()");
        }
        HttpSession session = ((HttpServletRequest) request).getSession(false);
        if (session == null || session.getAttribute("username") == null) {
            System.out.println("Your Session Not Active. You are redirected.");
            //((HttpServletResponse) response).sendRedirect("home.xhtml");
        } else {
            System.out.println("Your Session is active. username : " + session.getAttribute("username"));
        }

        Throwable problem = null;
        try {
            chain.doFilter(request, response);
        } catch (Throwable t) {
            // If an exception is thrown somewhere down the filter chain,
            // we still want to execute our after processing, and then
            // rethrow the problem after that.
            problem = t;
            t.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

I am using urlPattern /web/* so that every page inside web directory will go pass this filter. The filter is right now just printing stuff for debugging. But whenever I am accessing page inside web directory or any other page, it is not going through filter. I also tried using /faces/web/* as urlPattern but that also didn't work. But when I put /* as urlPattern, every accessed page goes through the filter. I am accessing page as
http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/faces/web/sign/SelectServer.xhtml http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/faces/web/sign/FileUpload.xhtml?signmethod=MICROSOFT

I am suspecting something wrong with urlPattern.

Solution

I am accessing page as

http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/faces/web/sign/SelectServer.xhtml
http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/faces/web/sign/FileUpload.xhtml

The URL pattern of a @WebFilter (and @WebServlet) must match exactly those URLs you see in browser's address bar (and thus not the disk file system paths you actually have in the server side; it's also literally called an "URL pattern", not "file pattern" or whatever).

So, all in all, just this should do, provided that /CodesignWebApp is webapp's context root:

@WebFilter("/faces/web/*")
public class AuthenticationFilter implements Filter {
    // ...
}

(filter name is not relevant and request dispatcher method you specified is the default already)

A different alternative is to get rid of ancient JSF 1.0 style /faces/* mapping altogether and replace it by the JSF 2.0 style *.xhtml mapping. You don't want the endusers to see raw JSF source code when they remove /faces part from the URL, right?

<servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>facesServlet</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>*.xhtml</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

This way you can just access the pages as follows:

http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/web/sign/SelectServer.xhtml
http://localhost:8080/CodesignWebApp/web/sign/FileUpload.xhtml

And map the filter as follows:

@WebFilter("/web/*")
public class AuthenticationFilter implements Filter {
    // ...
}

Servlet filter doesn't respond on given URL pattern

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