opening a File within my WEB-INF folder

[JohnWilliam Fitz]

Hi.

I have a file in my WEB-INF folder that I wish to open as a File object in my servlet. When I try...

File f = new File("/somepath/somefile");

...the path it tries to open is relative to the root of the OS file system, not my web application. So at the moment I open the file like this...

File f = new File("/opt/tomcat/webapps/test/WEB-INF/book.xml");

...needlesss to say that's rather ugly and unportable.

So, can anyone inform me how to open a File in my WEB-INF folder using a path that is relative to my context root?

Thanks!

John

[Bauke Scholtz]

When specifying relative paths, the java.io API relies on the current working directory which is not per se uniform in all environments. A bad practice thus. you should always specify absolute file system paths.

Make use of ServletContext#getRealPath() to convert a relative web path to an absolute file system path and use it in java.io stuff.

[Saifuddin Merchant]

File f = new File("/somepath/somefile"); 

This doesn't look like a relative path to me ... Looks like an absolute path starting at root.
(Assuming you are on a Unix like system since where you root starts with a '/')

[Surya Kant]

The url given in File object will be with respect to your application server.You can access files under WEB-INF as servlet stream.You can google on the same.

[David O'Meara]

Bauke Scholtz wrote:When specifying relative paths, the java.io API relies on the current working directory which is not per se uniform in all environments. A bad practice thus. You should always specify absolute file system paths.

Make use of ServletContext#getRealPath() to convert a relative web path to an absolute file system path and use it in java.io stuff.

what he said

[JohnWilliam Fitz]

Sam Mercs said: >>"This doesn't look like a relative path to me ... Looks like an absolute path starting at root.
(Assuming you are on a Unix like system since where you root starts with a '/')"<<

Thanks for your reply Sam.

Actually I said "relative to my context root", not "relative path". Perhaps you are familiar with the use of ServletContext#getResource(String path), where the dox say "Returns a URL to the resource that is mapped to a specified path. The path must begin with a "/" and is interpreted as relative to the current context root. "

Fortunately I got some useful replies from other users, and I am on my way. Thank you all for quick and helpful replies!! This forum is great.

[Bauke Scholtz]

As said, use ServletContext#getRealPath().

[David O'Meara]

I prefer getResourceAsStream rather than getRealPath, since the latte does work if your app is packaged in a WAR file

[Bauke Scholtz]

I prefer getResourceAsStream rather than getRealPath

That only works if the path to the resource is covered by the classpath.