Gradle or Groovy - how to convert URL to file?

Question

In Gradle I have a file stored on the Internet that I would like to access. But I can't figure out how to convert a URL to a File in Gradle. I need the url to be converted to a file so I can pass it to tasks as a file. Here is what I have so far:

allprojects {
    afterEvaluate { project ->
      String file = new URL('http://techslides.com/demos/samples/sample.json').file
    }
}

this is definetly not what i want. The file variable ends up being: demos/samples/sample.json so it looks like it's just taking the path from the url itself.

I need the actual sample.json to be stored in a File object. I would also prefer if possible to not have to write the file to local storage where it is accessible to other people as its a secure file.

Answer 1

The simplest way to do this:

def fileLocation = 'file://techslides.com/demos/samples/sample.json'
def fileURL = new URL(fileLocation)
def remoteFile = new File(fileURL.toURI())

See: File(URI uri)

Replace fileLocation with valid value for your task.

Answer 2

As of May 4, 2018, Gradle 4.8 RC1 or later, if you are facing this problem using checkstyle, you can use

checkstyle {
    toolVersion = "8.13"
    config project.resources.text.fromUri("${someUrl}/checkstyle.xml")
}

See https://github.com/gradle/gradle/issues/2663