Application URL Aliases

Say goodbye to deciphering cryptic application names in your browser address bar. The URL Alias feature allows you to serve applications under friendly, memorable URLs—like using /mrcjava/servlet/Customers instead of /mrcjava/servlet/MYLIB.I00010s—without altering the underlying application. Both the alias and the canonical URL will seamlessly run the same servlet.

Configuration

Navigate to the URL Aliases screen in the m-Power interface by appending /urlaliases to your m-Power URL (e.g., [MPOWERSERVER:PORT]/webapp/mrc/servlet/mpower#/urlaliases).

From this screen, click the “Add Alias” button and configure the following:

• Alias Name: The friendly URL name. This must contain only letters, numbers, and underscores. It cannot contain dots, slashes, or dashes. Aliases must be unique and cannot conflict with reserved names such as app, quicklist, metalist, datastore, or chart.
• Application: The canonical LIB.APPNAME servlet (e.g., MYLIB.I00010s).
• Redirect Original URL: When checked, browsers loaded with the canonical URL (LIB.APPNAME) are auto-redirected to the alias. When unchecked, browsers loaded with the canonical URL (LIB.APPNAME) are not auto-redirected to the alias and will load as normal. POST requests and ajax calls are never redirected.

Click the “Save Changes” button to save the changes.

Every alias change requires a Tomcat restart.

Promoting to Production

To apply your new URL aliases to your live environment, you must promote both the alias configuration file (/mrcjava/WEB-INF/classes/servlet-aliases.json) and your updated web.xml file to your Production environment. Once these files are successfully promoted, you must restart your production Tomcat service for the aliases to take effect.

Developer Notes

• This feature only changes the URL displayed in the user’s web browser. Behind the scenes, the system will continue using the original application name for background processes like workflow calls, application-to-application communication, logging, auditing, and API connections.
• Links created dynamically by custom code (such as Java or JavaScript) might still output the original application name. These links will still work perfectly, and when a user clicks one to navigate to a new page, their browser will automatically redirect them to your friendly alias.
• URL aliasing is only supported for standard, compiled applications. Interpretive apps—such as Data Models and AI applications—are not supported.

Troubleshooting

If an alias fails to map at startup, check the Tomcat catalina logs for URL alias messages. The most common cause is the application lacking a servlet entry in the web.xml. This is resolved by running the update-webxml.bat file on the server or recompiling the app.