How to Fix The Superclass Javax.Servlet.Http.HttpServlet Was Not Found on the Java Build Path

This tutorial demonstrates how to solve the The superclass "javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet" was not found on the Java Build Path in Java.

The superclass "javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet" was not found on the Java Build Path in Java

The error The superclass "javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet" was not found on the Java Build Path occurs when we write our first JSP code in Eclipse, or we are importing an existing Maven project into Eclipse.

This error is because HttpServlet is not available in the classpath of the project.

Solution for Eclipse Class Path

We need to add the Apache Tomcat server to the Eclipse IDE to solve this issue. Follow these steps below to solve this issue.

Following the process above will solve the error The superclass "javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet" was not found on the Java Build Path.

Solution for Maven/Gradle

Another reason for this error is that when working with Maven or Gradle, we must add the servlet-api into the Maven or Gradle dependencies. Follow the process below.

For Maven:

<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.servlet</groupId>
    <artifactId>javax.servlet-api</artifactId>
    <version>4.0.1</version>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

For Gradle:

configurations{provided} sourceSets {
  main {
    compileClasspath += configurations.provided
  }
}
dependencies {
  provided 'javax.servlet:javax.servlet-api:4.0.1'
}