How to write relative paths within a properties file

Question

I've looked all over the site but nothing answers this. I would like to know how to write a relative path WITHIN a .properties file. This is for a project using Maven and the STS IDE.

My .properties file itself is being found and read just fine. But, I am trying to create a relative path within the file itself and it's not working.

In the .properties file I have this entry:

XML_PROPERTIES=C:/projects/myProject/project-server/project-webapp/src/main/config/gs/myXmlFile.xml

I want to use a relative path here. I've tried:

XML_PROPERTIES=../myXmlFile.xml

and

XML_PROPERTIES=../src/main/config/gs/myXmlFile.xml

and neither of those work.

I've also tried to use expression language to get the project directory like this:

XML_PROPERTIES=${basedir}/src/main/config/gs/myXmlFile.xml

The only things that works is the complete path. Without it, I get errors that look similar to this:

Java Global Settings: XML properties file [../src/main/config/gs/agl_gs_NT.xml] not found.

Please let me know if I can provide any more details and I appreciate any responses.

Answer 1

Use the the maven resources plugin to filter your property value. Maven has several built in properties that should allow you to insert the correct path.