servlet reading properties file

[Peter Straw]

Hi,
I am trying to get my servlet to load a properties file in the servlets init() method.
However the servlet complains that it cannot find the file. Does anyone know what directory the file should be in please? I am running tomcat, my web app is in a directory called 'helpdesk'. Many thanks...

[Balaji Loganathan]

Try to change ur web.xml to look like this
<servlet>
<servlet-name>xyz</servlet-name>
<servlet-class>xyzServlet</servlet-class>
<init-param>
<param-name>properties</param-name>
<param-value>/WEB-INF/conf/helpdesk.properties</param-value>
</init-param>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

put ur properties file at web-inf\conf\ directory.
Later in ur servlet u can read the init parameter like this.
String filename = getServletContext().getInitParameter("properties");

Hope this hlep

[Pearlo Muthukumaran]

Is the following an alternative for the same?Please clarify:
Properties prop = new Properties();
prop.load(<FileInputStream> ;
and then reading the values using the usual
looping
Regards

[Ken Robinson]

The code below is from production code I have running at works fine. The object sc is the ServletContext.

Properties prop = new Properties();
try{
  prop.load(sc.getResourceAsStream(sc.getInitParameter(LOG_NAME_PARAM)));
}
catch(java.io.IOException e){
  //Put Error Handling Code Here
}

As in the example above, put the name of the .properties file as a parameter. I am using a ServletContextListener, so my parameter must be a context parameter. However, you could easily use a servlet with a servlet parameter.
Use the ServletContext.getResourceAsStream method as this allows the file to be found regardless of deploy type (.war or non-jar). Since this returns a stream and a properties object can load from a stream, it is a good match.

[Tim Holloway]

The usual problem people have is because relative file paths don't work in a servlet environment.
However, it you use the Java Properties services, you can read the properties simply by naming them as though they were a Java class (which they might be anyway!).
for example, "com.mywebsite.myapp.Global" is a valid name for the resource contained in the file "WEB-INF/classes/com/mywebsite/myapp/Global.properties".

[Ken Robinson]

The example I have listed works. As stated, it is in a production environment. Using the method you have just listed seems to have limitations. I would suggest leveraging what the system is required to do and what the Properties object, by design, provides to you.
While the getRealPath method has issues with getting a stream of a resource, I have never had an issue with getting a file using getResourceAsStream.
Think about it, packages such as STRUTS and Log4J must be able to get to their config files, which are usually stored under the WEB-INF directory. A relative path is supposed to work in the current context. If it does not, I doubt the product would have passed J2EE certification.