Question

I have created a Dynamic Web Project in Eclipse and I have a following Java statement that needs to read a config file:

 Document doc= new SAXReader().read(new File(ConstantsUtil.realPath+"appContext.xml"));

Basically, ConstantsUtil.realPath will return an empty string.

I tried putting “appContext.xml” under both “src” folder and under “WEB-INF” folder. However, I will always get the following error:

 org.dom4j.DocumentException: appContext.xml (The system cannot find the file specified)

I am really confused: in Eclipse, where is the correct place to put my config xml file?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Your concrete problem is caused by using new File() with a relative path in an environment where you have totally no control over the current working directory of the local disk file system. So, forget it. You need to obtain it by alternate means:

1. Straight from the classpath (the src folder, there where your Java classes also are) using ClassLoader#getResourceAsStream():

   Document doc= new SAXReader().read(Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("appContext.xml"));
   

2. Straight from the public webcontent (the WebContent folder, there where /WEB-INF folder resides) using ServletContext#getResourceAsStream():

   Document doc= new SAXReader().read(servletContext.getResourceAsStream("/WEB-INF/appContext.xml"));
   

   The ServletContext is in servlets available by the inherited getServletContext() method.

See also:

• Where to place and how to read configuration resource files in servlet based application?
• getResourceAsStream() vs FileInputStream
• What does servletcontext.getRealPath("/") mean and when should I use it