Question

In ASP.NET I have .config XML files which configure my applications. It is nice to be able to log on to the server and simply edit the XML when a configuration needs to change. The application self-detects this and restarts automatically.

How can I get the same convenience with Spring MVC?

(Currently I export my MVC applications to .war files which are deployed in Tomcat Web Application Manager. If I need to change settings in for instance root-context.xml I need to export, undeploy and deploy the application again. A tedious and risky operation.)

Answer 1

you could store the spring-configuration outside of your war (f.e. in the conf folder of your tomcat).

following snippet from web.xml tells spring where to find the configuration file:

<context-param>
    <param-name>contextConfigLocation</param-name>
    <param-value>file:/foo/bar/root-context.xml</param-value>
</context-param>

or you could move things, which you need to change often from your root-context.xml to a properties-file and place it then outside the war.

define a properties-placeholder in your spring-configuration to access the properties-file:

<context:property-placeholder location="file:/foo/bar/root-context.properties />