Locating a file from servlet using a relative path

[Michael Mendelson]

Hi! I'm running Tomcat, and would like my servlet to locate a file (for reading) which lives in the same directory as the servlet. This works fine when I run the class as a non-servlet, but when I deploy as a servlet, the file cannot be found. If I use the complete path, it works fine.
Why is this happening, and how can I fix it? I would rather not hard-code an absolute path into my app.
Here's that code, in the interest of full disclosure:

static final String inifile = "HelloWorld.ini";
BufferedReader f = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(inifile));

Thanks, team!

[William Brogden]

That usage requires that the JVM's "current directory" be the WEB-INF/classes directory so it obviously can't work.
I like to pass a "working directory" to servlets in the initialization parameters, then you can address resources such as your ini file relative to that directory. This avoids hard coding a directory path.
Bill

[Michael Mendelson]

Thanks Bill!
It seems that for Tomcat, this is done by editing the WEB-INF/web.xml file. I'll look into it!

[maha anna]

Michael,
Yes. We need to modify the ../WEB-INF/web.xml file and in Servlet's init(..) method get the value of the init parameters.
A related discussion :
http://www.javaranch.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/001790.html
regds
maha anna
[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited April 20, 2001).]

[Michael Mendelson]

I have been having trouble getting InitParameters to work, though. Even Maha's example, the SnoopServlet that comes with Tomcat, doesn't seem to return anything, even after I uncommented the lines in the XML file.
This should be very straight-forward. Am I missing something?
Another thing - I assume that it is also possible to use getInitParameter("name") in the doGet method, instead of using init?

[maha anna]

Michael,
I made a small test for you. We can get the init params. I used two params 'Name' and 'Forum' with values 'Michael' and 'Servlet and JSP' in ROOT/web-inf/web.xml file and when we invoke the snoopservet like http://localhost/servlet/snoop it prints the following in browser. Please check and let us know the results.

// Output in browser....

Snoop Servlet
Servlet init parameters:
   Forum = Servlet and JSP
   Name = Michael
//   ..ROOT/web-inf/web.xml file........
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.2//EN" "http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-app_2_2.dtd">
<web-app>
<servlet>
      <servlet-name>snoop</servlet-name>
      <servlet-class>SnoopServlet</servlet-class>
      <init-param>
        <param-name>Name</param-name>
        <param-value>Michael</param-value>
      </init-param>
      <init-param>
        <param-name>Forum</param-name>
        <param-value>Servlet and JSP</param-value>
      </init-param>
 </servlet>
  
  <servlet-mapping>
      <servlet-name>snoop</servlet-name>
      <url-pattern>/snoop</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>
//ROOT/web-inf/classes/SnoopServlet.java ......
public class SnoopServlet extends HttpServlet {
    public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException
    {
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        response.setContentType("text/plain");
        out.println("Snoop Servlet");
out.println();
out.println("Servlet init parameters:");
Enumeration e = getInitParameterNames();
while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
    String key = (String)e.nextElement();
    String value = getInitParameter(key);
    out.println("   " + key + " = " + value);
}
out.println();
 }
}

[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited January 20, 2001).]

[Michael Mendelson]

Anna, thanks for posting that test. I went ahead and set it up. My results were not encouraging:

Snoop Servlet
Servlet init parameters:

I know that web.xml is being parsed correctly, because it took a few tries. Web.xml is located in d:/java/code/Basic/WEB-INF/
I set the servlet up in a project called /basic. Here's its entry in server.xml:

      <Context path="/basic" 
        docBase="d:/java/code/Basic" 
reloadable="true"
debug="10" >
      </Context>

Perhaps there's something strange about this definition. Other than that, I'm stumped! Perhaps it's something about the way Tomcat is set up...

[maha anna]

Michael,
I simulated your situation in my machine and got the results correct. So please read the foll carefully.
1. Tomcat 3.1
2. Windows platform
3. created c:\java\code\basic
4. created c:\java\code\basic\WEB-INF dir
5. copy the foll code as SnoopServlet.java in my post above to c:\java\code\basic\WEB-INF\SnoopServlet.java and compile and keep the SnoopServlet.class file ready

/* $Id: SnoopServlet.java,v 1.3 1999/10/15 21:31:49 duncan Exp $
 *
 */
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
/**
 *
 *
 * @author James Duncan Davidson <[e-mail]>
 * @author Jason Hunter <[e-mail]>
 */
public class SnoopServlet extends HttpServlet {
    public void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
        throws ServletException, IOException
    {
        PrintWriter out = response.getWriter();
        response.setContentType("text/html");
        out.println("<h1> Snoop Servlet </h1>");
out.println();
out.println("Servlet init parameters:");
Enumeration e = getInitParameterNames();
while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
    String key = (String)e.nextElement();
    String value = getInitParameter(key);
    out.println("   " + key + " = " + value);
}
out.println();
 }
}

6. save the foll as c:\java\code\basic\WEB-INF\web.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE web-app PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems, Inc.//DTD Web Application 2.2//EN" "http://java.sun.com/j2ee/dtds/web-app_2_2.dtd">
<web-app>
<servlet>
      <servlet-name>snoop</servlet-name>
      <servlet-class>SnoopServlet</servlet-class>
      <init-param>
        <param-name>Name</param-name>
        <param-value>Michael</param-value>
      </init-param>
      <init-param>
        <param-name>Forum</param-name>
        <param-value>Servlet and JSP</param-value>
      </init-param>
 </servlet>
   
  <servlet-mapping>
      <servlet-name>snoop</servlet-name>
      <url-pattern>/snoop</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>
</web-app>

7. Edit c:\jakarta-tomcat\conf\server.xml file and add the foll at end of the file. Also note that c:\ is the dir where I installed timcat 3.1 Basically you have to edit ..\conf\server.xml file. So take care of this.

<Context path="/basic" docBase="c:\java\code\basic" debug="0" reloadable="false" > 
</Context>

8. Now load the server fresh from dos prompt
9. From any browser type this.

<A HREF="http://localhost:8080/basic/servlet/snoop" TARGET=_blank rel="nofollow">http://localhost:8080/basic/servlet/snoop</A>  

[In my previous post I said as http://localhost/servlet/snoop because I use the 80 (http) port and called invoked the SnoopServlet from ..root/WEB-INF/classes dir.So don't confuse with this. If you are using the default 8080 port STEP 9 will work. ]
10. You will get the output as following with 'Snoop Servlet' in BIG LETTERS.

Snoop Servlet 
Servlet init parameters: Forum = Servlet and JSP Name = Michael 

Don't give up! Try it. Let's find out what's missing!
regds
maha anna

[This message has been edited by maha anna (edited January 23, 2001).]

[Michael Mendelson]

OK Maha, I finally figured it out! Of course, it was something simple.
I was accessing the servlet by its default name, http://localhost/basic/servlet/SnoopServlet, rather than by its mapped name (defined in WEB.XML), http://localhost/basic/snoop.
So the program was running, but those parameters were not coming through. Can you duplicate this?
Being new to this game, I didn't imagine that there was a difference. So now my big question is WHY? Can you shed any light on this? Does Tomcat work this way by design?
Thanks yet again for your help.

[maha anna]

What are you getting in browser ? 404/500 (status codes)error? or blank page?
Why are you giving http://localhost/basic.... instead of http://localhost:8080/basic.... ?
Did you edit the c:/jakarta-tomcat/conf/server.xml file to modify the port from 8080(the default) to 80(http port)? If the port is 80, then we can omit the port number when we call from browser. Example :http://localhost/basic/snoop
Did you do all the steps same as above?
Regarding your question, web.xml's configuration takes precedence over the plain .../basic/servlet/SnoopServlet format.
In other words, the container tries to map like this.
1. url pattern defined in web.xml matches or not
2. any servlet name matches with your browser url's servletname
3. if no match at all in web.xml, then the default ../basic/servlet/SnoopServlet will be invoked. In this case no way to send init params.
Did you edit c:/java/code/basic/WEB-INF/web.xml file and put the entries which I showed in previous post?
regds
maha anna
regds
maha anna

[Michael Mendelson]

Neither 404 nor a blank page.
If I invoke the servlet as http://localhost/basic/servlet/SnoopServlet

Snoop Servlet 
Servlet init parameters: 

If I invoke the servlet as http://localhost/basic/snoop, I get:

Snoop Servlet 
Servlet init parameters: Forum = Servlet and JSP Name = Michael 

Why are you giving http://localhost/basic.... instead of http://localhost:8080/basic.... ?
Did you edit the c:/jakarta-tomcat/conf/server.xml file to modify the port from 8080(the default) to 80(http port)?

yes. Thanks for showing me that

All the stuff you suggested to do worked fine. My only problem was that I was invoking the servlet in the way I outlined above.
Thanks,
Michael

[This message has been edited by Michael Mendelson (edited January 28, 2001).]

[Frank Carver]

This is deliberate behaviour.
Imagine you have several "applications" each based on the same servlet (say a general purpose membership list servlet in use for a number of different clubs) You need to be able to set up the different servlet mappings so that they each get different initialization parameters:

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>chess</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>MembershipServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>Organization</param-name>
    <param-value>Chess Club</param-value>
  </init-param>
</servlet>
 
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>java</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>MembershipServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>Organization</param-name>
    <param-value>Java Programmers Club</param-value>
  </init-param>
</servlet>

Running a servlet via /servlet/ClassName is really just a special case defined as having no initialization parameters, so you don't have to set up the container if you don't need to. It's good practice to write your servlet to supply default values in case any of the parameters aren't supplied, so this then becomes a perfectly valid way of calling your servlet.

[Michael Mendelson]

Thanks Frank for your reply. Now it all makes sense. Besides, I was beginning to think this was just a running dialogue between myself and Maha! This gives me hope that someone else might benefit from my learning curve!
Since I have the attention of at least two moderators of this forum, You're Doing a Great Job! With way over 1000 posts apiece, I'm amazed that either of you find time to actually work!
Thanks.

[maha anna]

Glad to know that we finally made it!
regds
maha anna