Inject File from classpath using Spring Environment

Question

My problem: how can I inject a File in my class using the Environment variable?

I specify in a properties the path of a file I need to read:

myFile.path=classpath:myFile.json

I used to have an XML application context defining a property-placeholder for that properties.file and then I simply could inject my file using the @Value :

@Value("${myFile.path}")
private File myFile;

Yet, now I'd like to do something like:

@Inject
private Environment environment;

private File myFile;

@PostConstruct
private void init() {
    myFile = environment.getProperty("myFile.path", File.class);
}

But an Exception is thrown:

Caused by: java.io.FileNotFoundException: 
    classpath:myFile.json (No such file or directory)

I also tried something like myFile = environment.getProperty("myFile.path", Resource.class).getFile(); but an other exception is thrown.

How can I achieve to inject my file knowing that the path defined in the properties can be absolute or classpath relative?

Answer 1

You can try injecting the ResourceLoader , and use it to load the referenced classpath resource:

@Autowired
private ResourceLoader resourceLoader;

...

@PostConstruct
private void init() {
    String resourceReference = environment.getProperty("myFile.path");
    Resource resource = resourceLoader.getResource(resourceReference);
    if (resource != null) {
        myFile = resource.getFile();
    }
}