SpringSource: loading properties PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer bean

Question

I'm using Spring Tool Suite Version: 3.0.0.RELEASE

I want to load my own .properties files to use in my application, so I tried using PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer

Here is my servlet-context.xml code:

     <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
    xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
    xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd">

    <!-- DispatcherServlet Context: defines this servlet's request-processing infrastructure -->

    <!-- Enables the Spring MVC @Controller programming model -->
    <annotation-driven />

    <!-- Handles HTTP GET requests for /resources/** by efficiently serving up static resources in the ${webappRoot}/resources directory -->
    <resources mapping="/resources/**" location="/resources/" />

    <!-- Resolves views selected for rendering by @Controllers to .jsp resources in the /WEB-INF/views directory -->
    <beans:bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.view.InternalResourceViewResolver">
        <beans:property name="prefix" value="/WEB-INF/views/" />
        <beans:property name="suffix" value=".jsp" />
    </beans:bean>
    <context:component-scan base-package="jp.co.rns" />

    <mvc:interceptors>
    <beans:bean class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.LocaleChangeInterceptor">
        <beans:property name="paramName" value="lang" />
    </beans:bean>
</mvc:interceptors>

    <beans:bean id="messageSource"
    class="org.springframework.context.support.ReloadableResourceBundleMessageSource">
    <beans:property name="basename" value="classpath:static" />
    <beans:property name="defaultEncoding" value="UTF-8"/>
</beans:bean>

<beans:bean id="localeChangeInterceptor"
    class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.LocaleChangeInterceptor">
    <beans:property name="paramName" value="lang" />
</beans:bean>

<beans:bean id="localeResolver"
    class="org.springframework.web.servlet.i18n.CookieLocaleResolver">
    <beans:property name="defaultLocale" value="jp"/>
</beans:bean>

<beans:bean id="handlerMapping"
    class="org.springframework.web.servlet.mvc.annotation.DefaultAnnotationHandlerMapping">
    <beans:property name="interceptors">
        <beans:ref bean="localeChangeInterceptor" />
    </beans:property>
</beans:bean>

<beans:bean id="propertyConfigurer" 
    class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer"> 
    <beans:property name="location">
     <beans:value>application.properties</beans:value> 
    </beans:property>
    <beans:property name="ignoreUnresolvablePlaceholders">
    <beans:value>true</beans:value>
    </beans:property>
</beans:bean>
</beans:beans>

application.properties:

order=2
companyName=Unknown

Project structure:

src
|
 ---main
|  |
|   ---java
|  |
|   ---resources
|  |
|   ---webapp
|      |
|       ---application.properties
|      |
|       ---resources
|      |   |
|      |    ---application.properties    
|      |
|       ---WEB-INF
|          |
|           ---application.properties 
|          |
|           ---web.xml
|          |
|           ---classes (empty)
|          |
|           ---spring
|          |   |
|          |    ---application.properties
|          |   |
|          |    ---root-context.xml
|          |   |
|          |    ---appServlet
|          |       |
|          |        ---servlet-context.xml
|          |       |
|          |        ---application.properties
|          |
|           ---views (...)
|
 ---test

web.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<web-app version="2.5" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_2_5.xsd">

    <!-- The definition of the Root Spring Container shared by all Servlets and Filters -->
    <context-param>
        <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
        <param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/root-context.xml</param-value>
    </context-param>

    <!-- Creates the Spring Container shared by all Servlets and Filters -->
    <listener>
        <listener-class>org.springframework.web.context.ContextLoaderListener</listener-class>
    </listener>

    <!-- Processes application requests -->
    <servlet>
        <servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
        <init-param>
            <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
            <param-value>/WEB-INF/spring/appServlet/servlet-context.xml</param-value>
        </init-param>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>

    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>appServlet</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

</web-app>

I checked, application.properties IS in /WEB-INF/ directory.

But when I start to start server, it gives me an error:

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanInitializationException: Could not load properties; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: Could not open ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/application.properties]

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

I managed to get it working by creating new application.properties file in /src/main/resources Source Folder and copying the content from the old one. Also, I had to change location value to classpath:application.properties I have a question: will this resource file be compiled into jar? Will I be able to change it without recompiling? If no, please share some other ways to load external properties.

Answer 2

From spring-context-3.0.xsd

The location of the properties file to resolve placeholders against, as a Spring resource location: a URL, a "classpath:" pseudo URL, or a relative file path. Multiple locations may be specified, separated by commas. If neither location nor properties-ref is specified, placeholders will be resolved against system properties.

You are not specifying a location that could be resolvable /WEB-INF/application.properties is not a url, pseudo URL (like "file:" or "classpath") or a relative file path. I recommend the classpath approach.

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