The deployed app seems to be updating when i make changes to a JSP for example. It also lets me reload successfully when I edit a file such as MessageBundle.properties or something.
Correct. If you don’t want it to do this, use a packaged deployment instead.
But when I try and redeploy using “Manage Deployments” it gives me the “Deployment is out of date due to changes in the underlying project contents….” status. The application stops working from that moment, I can’t start the application or remove it until tomcat has stopped.
No surprises here. If you are using an exploded deployment, you shouldn’t need to keep opening the deployment dialog to redeploy, it’s done for you already. Also if you are trying to redeploy to a running instance of your app server, it won’t work due to file locks.
I guess this is something to do with Windows’s filesystem. What is the best way to develop and work on an application when this gets in the way? What are your workarounds?
You are actually exactly right, just use an exploded deployment, that’s the easiest. Then all your changes are immediately sync’ed with the server.