Heroku & Maven & Java dynamic web project

Thanks Mccarl, I'll read what I can.  I'm in a rush to get something out the door for tomorrow morning, so if there's any quick hints I'd sincerely appreciate it!

if there's any quick hints I'd sincerely appreciate it!

Firstly, I'd probably suggest NOT to "read what you can" but to DO something instead. Start a basic standalone Maven project (most IDE's should have an option for this) and get an idea of the directory structure and the basic parts of the pom.xml file. Then add ONE dependency, something simple such as apache commons io or something and write the simplest Java standalone app that uses the library. Get a feel for what it does and how it makes it different to what you would normally do if you were to use this library (eg. locate on the web, download, unzip, put it somewhere, add it to your build path, etc).

Now, even for your webapp, you shouldn't need to delve into too much of the secrets of Maven. Use it to define the dependencies of your webapp, and have it build your "war" file. Once you have it working locally, deploying to Heroku should then be not too much of a drama. Yes, Maven can do a LOT of things for you, but in this case you should only NEED the basics.

And obviously, if you get stuck on anything, you can post here! ;)

If I didn't have to do 10000 other things tonight I'd definitely take that great advice!  Trust me, it's exactly what I would have done....

Now I'm just trying to get my hands on a server.xml file for tomcat to run in http only....

I will hit Maven hard in about a week...