CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaxmltomcatservletsweb-applications
shrth
shrth

Reputation: 223

where to keep an XML that should be editable and downloadable?

So I have a web app (using apache tomcat server,servlets,eclipse IDE). I wrote code to allow user to edit the XML file via UI. So I used the following code to access the XML through java 

 String fileName = "/MyXML.xml"; 
 String path = this.getClass().getResource(fileName).toString();

This works fine. I am able to edit the file through UI.

Now I want to let the client download the file. But I am not able to access the file while I am trying to download. However, if I keep the file inside webapps folder, then I can access the file using the following

ServletContext ctx = getServletContext();
InputStream is = ctx.getResourceAsStream("/MyXML.xml");

(Thanku Mr.MK Yong- http://www.mkyong.com/servlet/servlet-code-to-download-text-file-from-website-java/)

But then If i keep it inside webapp folder, how do I access the file for editing the XML ?

So basically I am either able to edit the file, or I am able to download the file(from webapp folder), or I am able to do both on two different copies of the file. I want to edit the XMl file and be able to download the same. So where do I keep the file and how do I access it?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 40

Answers (2)

Stefan
Stefan

Reputation: 12462

If the file is in your 'webapp' folder (I think you mean your application root), then it is already accessiable to everyone by calling hxxp://domainname/appname/MyXML.xml. I would suggest you not to store files that can be edited, inside your app folders, since they will be overwritten if you redeploy your application.

Put them in an external directory and load the contents like you would do with all other files. Doing this you can take control over file permissions easily, too.

Upvotes: 1

Aeseir
Aeseir

Reputation: 8434

You should store it in the local resource folder as it is essentially a dynamic resource.

The other thing i recommend is if you know the parameters that will be changed then have a template in resource folder and store the changes in database.

Personally i have it the second way.

e.g.

/yourapp/resource/config_file/xmltemplate.xml

Parameters that can change:

userLocation
folderLocation
colorBase

Stored them in the table:

Table: UserCongifStorage
Columns: userLocation, folderLocation, colorBase

So when i need to use the data from row 1 the logic is:

read in the xml file into a string, replace the variables with data retrieved from database, output it as xml to resource folder.

Then you read for usage.

Hope that helps

Upvotes: 1

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