Spring application context external properties?

Question

i have a Spring application and its working well so far. Now i want the properties file in an external config folder and not in the packed jar to change things without the need to repack. This is what i got:

<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
<!-- <property name="locations" value="classpath:/springcontext.properties"/>  -->
<property name="locations" value ="config/springcontext.properties" />

The outcommented one is working and the other one i dont get to work :/ Can someone help?

Edit: Thx 4 comments so far.

Maybe my question wasnt clear enough :). I perform a Maven build and everything will be packaged and i want this folder to be NOT in the package nut next to the outcomming jar and in this folder i want the properties file. possible?

Try with a singular `location`, although `locations` should work. Also try removing the leading `/` from the classpath reference. — Dave Newton, Nov 25 '11 at 14:21
@DennisIch How did you end up fixing this ? I am facing a similar question — happybuddha, Jul 02 '13 at 19:06
and just copy it to the application folder should work ;). Im using a mvn "ant task" for the copy job. — Dennis Ich, Jul 07 '13 at 13:43

masted · Answer 1 · 2014-12-24T14:18:31.570

48

You can try something like this:

<context:property-placeholder 
        location="${ext.properties.dir:classpath:}/servlet.properties" />

And define ext.properties.dir property in your application server / jvm, otherwise the default properties location "classpath:/" (i.e., classes dir of .jar or .war) would be used:

-Dext.properties.dir=file:/usr/local/etc/

BTW, very useful blog post.

edited Dec 24 '14 at 14:18

answered Nov 29 '11 at 08:14

masted

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score 13 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 25 '11 at 17:24

13

You can use file prefix to load the external application context file some thing like this

  <context:property-placeholder location="file:///C:/Applications/external/external.properties"/>

answered Nov 25 '11 at 17:24

Prasanna Talakanti

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Also works as `location` property of `PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer` – Joaquín L. Robles Jun 23 '15 at 21:28

fmucar · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-25T14:44:40.897

12

<context:property-placeholder location="classpath*:spring/*.properties" />

If you place it somewhere in the classpath in a directory named spring (change names/dirs accordingly), you can access with above

<property name="locations" value ="config/springcontext.properties" />

this will be pointing to web-inf/classes/config/springcontext.properties

edited Nov 25 '11 at 14:44

answered Nov 25 '11 at 14:38

fmucar

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its not a web application its a standalone with some command line functionality and for that i need it outside the jar. – Dennis Ich Dec 02 '11 at 14:55
Well then it is right next to your jar file if it is not a web project – fmucar Dec 05 '11 at 09:17

Sridhar · Answer 4 · 2017-03-20T10:35:50.983

This blog can help you. The trick is to use SpEL (spring expression language) to read the system properties like user.home, to read user home directory using SpEL you could use
#{ systemProperties['user.home']} expression inside your bean elements. For example to access your properties file stored in your home directory you could use the following in your PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer, it worked for me.

 <bean id="propertyConfigurer" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
    <property name="locations">
        <value>file:#{ systemProperties['user.home']}/ur_folder/settings.properties</value>
    </property>
</bean>

Thanks this help for me – Devendra Singraul Nov 29 '18 at 13:58 — Devendra Singraul, Nov 29 '18 at 13:58

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited May 08 '15 at 14:59

This question is kind of old, but wanted to share something which worked for me. Hope it will be useful for people who are searching for some information accessing properties in an external location.

This is what has worked for me.

Property file contents:

PROVIDER_URL=t3://localhost:8003,localhost:8004

applicationContext.xml file contents: (Spring 3.2.3)

Note: ${user.home} is a system property from OS.

<context:property-placeholder system-properties-mode="OVERRIDE" location="file:${user.home}/myapp/latest/bin/my-env.properties"/>

<bean id="appsclusterJndiTemplate" class="org.springframework.jndi.JndiTemplate">
    <property name="environment">
        <props>
            <prop key="java.naming.factory.initial">weblogic.jndi.WLInitialContextFactory</prop>
            <prop key="java.naming.provider.url">${PROVIDER_URL}</prop>
        </props>
    </property>
</bean>

${PROVIDER_URL} got replaced with the value in the properties the file

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 25 '11 at 14:28

2

One way to do it is to add your external config folder to the classpath of the java process. That's how I've often done it in the past.

answered Nov 25 '11 at 14:28

pap

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It seems Spring's `property-placeholder` isn't capable of loading property-files outside of the package where application context is defined (see http://forum.springsource.org/showthread.php?87994-Classpath*-in-context-property-placeholder-doesnt-pick-system-classpath&p=295698#post295698). How did you achieve loading external property-files? – Tuukka Mustonen Jan 03 '12 at 15:43
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Umm... adding what into manifest file? The `MANIFEST.MF` file resides inside a package, so how could it help? – Tuukka Mustonen Jan 03 '12 at 17:40

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 21 '17 at 15:26

1

<context:property-placeholder location="file:/apps/tomcat/ath/ath_conf/pcr.application.properties" />

This works for me. Local development machine path is C:\apps\tomcat\ath\ath_conf and in server /apps/tomcat/ath/ath_conf

Both works for me

answered Sep 21 '17 at 15:26

fjkjava

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Spring application context external properties?

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