[java] Can't import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet

I have started to write app that can run on Google App Engine.
But when I wanted to use my code from Netbeans to Eclipse I had an errors on:

import javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet;

and

@WebServlet(name = "MyServlet", urlPatterns = {"/MyServlet"})

the errors are:

The import javax.servlet.annotation cannot be resolved
WebServlet cannot be resolved to a type

I tried to import the servlet-api.jar to Eclipse but still the same, also tried to build and clean the project. I don't use Tomcat on my Eclipse only have it on my Netbeans. How can I solve the problem?

I had the same issue, it turns that I had my project configured as many of you stated above, yet the problem persisted, so I went deeper and came across that I was using Apache Tomcat 6 as my Runtime Server, so the fix was simple, I just upgraded the project to use Apache Tomcat 7 and that's all, finally the IDE recognized javax.servlet.annotation.WebServlet annotation.

Check that the version number of your servlet-api.jar is at least 3.0. There is a version number inside the jar in the META-INF/manifest.mf file:

Implementation-Version: 3.0.1

If it's less than 3.0 download the 3.0.1 from Maven Central: http://search.maven.org/#artifactdetails|javax.servlet|javax.servlet-api|3.0.1|jar

Former servlet specifications (2.5, 2.4 etc.) do not support annotations.

If you are using IBM RAD, then ensure the to remove any j2ee.jar in your projects build path -> libraries tab, and then click on "add external jar" and select the j2ee.jar that is shipped with RAD.

If you're using Maven and don't want to link Tomcat in the Targeted Runtimes in Eclipse, you can simply add the dependency with scope provided in your pom.xml:

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.1</version>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

Simply add the below to your maven project pom.xml flie:

<dependencies>
          <dependency>
            <groupId>javax</groupId>
            <artifactId>javaee-web-api</artifactId>
            <version>6.0</version>
            <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
  </dependencies>

I had the same issue using Spring, solved by adding Tomcat Server Runtime to build path.

Add library 'Server Runtime' to your java build path, and it shall resolve the issue.

Go to

window->Preference->server->runtime environment

then choose your tomcat server. If the error is still there, then

right click project->properties>Targeted Runtimes

then check the server

Copy servlet-api.jar from your tomcat server lib folder.

Paste it to WEB-INF > lib folder

Error was solved!!!

You need to add your servlet-api.jar to the build path of your project. Have a look here for how to do that.

import javax.servlet.annotation.*;

(no one has written this, but need to import this as WebInitparam is not recognized by the other packages)