CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javapropertiesclasspathrelative-path
Bahrom
Bahrom

Reputation: 4862

Which path should I use when calling a java properties file?

Basically I have the model of my project set up this way:

ModelFolder
-----src
-----bin, etc.
-----PropertiesFolder1
--------File1.properties
--------File2.properties, etc.
-----PropertiesFolder2
--------File1.properties
--------File2.properties, etc.
-----MainPropertiesFile1.properties
-----MainPropertiesFile2.properties

I am trying to use it with my View, which is a Dynamic Web Project, and I got the properties files to finally load in my Web Project after changing 

foo.load(new FileInputStream("foo.properties"));

to

foo.load(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("foo.properties"));

and exporting the project to a JAR file, which I then included in WEB-INF/lib. However, I had to add another method to the Model, and when I tried testing that method, the Model was not able to read my properties file. I know that I can use FileInputStream with the full path to get the properties file working in the Model and the View, but are there any alternatives?

I don't want to keep changing the full path every time I switch computers (I use H:\username\...\Java\Workspace at work, whereas at home it's just C:\Java\Workspace).
I also don't want to have to move my properties files to different folders; and finally I don't want to change the way I load the properties file every time I test my Model or my View.
Is there a way to accomplish this?

This is driving me crazy, I've tried all of the following:

try 
    {
         foo.load(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("foo.properties"));
        //foo.load(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("foo.properties"));
        //foo.getClass().getResourceAsStream("foo.properties");
        //foo.load(new FileInputStream("foo.properties"));

    } catch (IOException ex)
      {
          al.logIntoProgrammerLog(ex);
      }

All of those lines either work in the model or the view. Is there any way I can call those properties files via a relative path in the model, and then somehow properly connect the model with the view so that all the files are found and loaded?
Any help would be greatly appreciated; I am new to Java, so I might be missing something really simple. Thank you.

EDIT:
Sorry for not clarifying this, the Model is a Java Project, whereas the View is a Dynamic Web Project running on local Tomcat Server v6.0.

Better (I hope) explanation:

My View has a LoginServlet with the following doPost method: 

protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException
{
   String username = request.getParameter("usernameField");
   String password = request.getParameter("passwordField");
   ActivityLogger al = new ActivityLogger();

   LoginController l_c = new LoginController();

   //loginUser method will call my UserStorage class and 
   //will return true if UserStorage finds the User with those credentials in the db
   //UserStorage is using a prepared sql statement stored in a properties file to find the User
   //That properties file is not being read unless I specify the full path to it.
   //Both Login and UserStorage are in the Model
   if(l_c.loginUser(username, password))
   {
      //take user to welcome page
   }
   else
      //display error
}

Thanks again

Upvotes: 4

Views: 2376

Answers (2)

paulk23
paulk23

Reputation: 465

Take a look at this thread for possible solutions for sharing a .properties file. But I would suggest that you review this approach to see if it's really what you want. More specifically, if your .properties file contains SQL queries, then are you sure you need it in your View? Sounds like you may want to make a clean separation there.

Upvotes: 2

paulk23
paulk23

Reputation: 465

If you are in a web application, you should be able to get the path (relative path in the context of the webapp, so it will work on any machine) by using the ServletContext's getResourceAsStream(). For example, if you wanted to get the path from your servlet's doGet() method:

public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
  InputStream in = getServletContext().getResourceAsStream(<path>);
}
  • where <path> would be the relative path to your .properties file (i.e. /WEB-INF/foo.properties, or wherever that properties file is located... look in your deployment folder to find out for sure)

But in re-reading your post it seems like perhaps your "Model" is not a webapp and your "View" is a webapp? Maybe you could clarify whether these are two different applications - and possibly one being a webapp running within a servlet container (i.e. Tomcat, Glassfish, etc) and one being a standalone app? If that's the case then this is more of a shared file issue than a 'cannot find resource' issue. A bit of clarification about the nature of your application(s) would help steer the correct response...

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions