Question

Im developing desktop java application using maven.
I got a *.properties file that I need to retrive during execution (src/resources/application.properties).
The only thing comes to my mind is to use:

private Properties applicationProperties;
applicationProperties.load(new BufferedInputStream(new FileInputStream("src/resources/application.properties")));

This would work if I run my application directly from IDE.
I want to to keep outpout hierarchy clear, so I set maven to copy resources folder dircetly to target folder (which is a basedir for the output application). This way application.properties file won’t load (since I have target/resources/application.properties but not target/src/resources/application.properties).

What is the best way to manage resources so they work both when I debug from IDE and run builded jar file directly?

Answer 1

Don’t expect files to be in the src folder – it doesn’t exist at runtime. The properties files go to /bin. But don’t rely on that either. Because FileInputStream takes absolute paths only.

When you need a classpath-relative path, use:

InputStream is = YourClass.class.getResourceAsStream("/a.properties")`

(maven sends files from /src/main/resources to the root of the classpath)