test maven web module in eclipse and tomcat

I have a maven web module in my eclipse project. Is it possible to simply test this module in eclipse by running it on tomcat. At the minute im generating a war file and adding it to the web开发者_如何学Pythonapps directory of tomcat.

A quicker approach would be great

Thanks Damien

Is it possible to simply test this module in eclipse by running it on tomcat.

You could deploy your application on Tomcat using the WTP. This is doable whether you're using the Maven Eclipse Plugin or the m2eclipse plugin (just make sure to install the Maven Integration for WTP from the m2eclipse Extras).

I'd recommend that you try the maven jetty plugin.
http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-war-plugin/examples/rapid-testing-jetty6-plugin.html

If you could accept to use Jetty to test it , it's more easier to use Eclipse Run-Jetty-Run Plugin to run your project , just one click without any configuration!

Reference http://code.google.com/p/run-jetty-run/