CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javapropertiesarchitecture
PentaKon
PentaKon

Reputation: 4636

Java: Ways to access Properties object after load

What's the correct way to access the Properties() object after loading it with a .properties file?

One way I've used in the past is to just store each Properties object in a static variable in a utility class and access it through there. However I've been thinking that it might be better to actually create a wrapper class with some utility functions? Not sure if that would be helpful. Most examples I've found just concern themselves with how one loads a properties file but not what should happen after that.

Is there a generally approved way to do it and what are its pros and cons?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 123

Answers (2)

Robin Jonsson
Robin Jonsson

Reputation: 2851

Just like Rob Conklin said, it's probably good to keep a level of abstraction in order to (in the future) be able to switch out the properties-file based storage.

However, you can set merge your properties with System.getProperty() to get easy access from wherever in your program

FileInputStream propFile = new FileInputStream("myProperties.properties");
Properties p = new Properties(System.getProperties());
p.load(propFile);
// set the system properties
System.setProperties(p);

Whichever properties you set latest will override the others (if the names collides)

You can then later access the property simply with System.getProperty("propName");

Upvotes: 1

Rob Conklin
Rob Conklin

Reputation: 9456

Do yourself a huge favor, and create a DAO around your properties file access. In most systems I've worked on, we always wished we had this abstraction, it allows properties files to become database driven at some future point.

You can cache it inside the DAO as a static variable, but that becomes hidden from the client.

Upvotes: 0

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