How do I use Spring Boot to serve static content located in Dropbox folder?

Question

I have a Spring Boot web application, and I would like to serve static content located in a shared Dropbox directory on my Linode VPS (~/Dropbox/images). I've read that Spring Boot will automatically serve static content from

"classpath:/META-INF/resources/",
"classpath:/resources/",
"classpath:/static/",
"classpath:/public/",

but of course my Dropbox directory is not on the classpath.

Although I could configure Apache to serve the images in my Dropbox folder, I would like to take advantage of Spring Security to restrict access of the static content to authenticated users.

score 81 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 17 '19 at 20:47

81

You can add your own static resource handler (it overwrites the default), e.g.

@Configuration
public class StaticResourceConfiguration extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {
    @Override
    public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {
        registry.addResourceHandler("/**").addResourceLocations("file:/path/to/my/dropbox/");
    }
}

There is some documentation about this in Spring Boot, but it's really just a vanilla Spring MVC feature.

Also since spring boot 1.2 (I think) you can simply set spring.resources.staticLocations.

edited Mar 17 '19 at 20:47

kaliatech

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answered Jan 14 '14 at 21:39

Dave Syer

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I'm not finding the super class WebMvcAdapter in your example above. Which Spring JAR contains that class? – Shannon Kendrick Jan 14 '14 at 23:20
I extended WebMvcConfigurerAdapter instead. – Shannon Kendrick Jan 15 '14 at 03:05
7

As @kaliatech mentioned, don't forget the trailing slash on the Resource Location path. – 1in9ui5t May 07 '15 at 18:57
1

To leave default resources mapping and add dropbbox folder as addition resources is recomended rename resourceHandler path, for sample: registry.addResourceHandler("/files/**").addResourceLocations("file:/path/to/my/dropbox/"); – Dmitry Stolbov Nov 30 '16 at 06:17
link for page not found. Since this is the accepted answer with a significant amount of votes may I suggest an update on this? – PaulB Jul 19 '17 at 17:59
It even works for relative directory with "file:./dir/" – Ondřej Stašek Mar 27 '19 at 13:43
Make sure that the `addResourceLocations` paths ends with `/`, otherwise, it causes 404 – NevinJ Apr 22 '19 at 06:38
FYI this has at least one caveat: it will not map `/` to `/index.html` WelcomePageHandlerMapping uses `resource.static-locations` so it's harder to simulate via code. – zeratul021 Mar 09 '20 at 19:59
1

Is this still the best way to do this in 2020? Given "WebMvcConfigurerAdapter" is deprecated in newer versions of spring. – z atef Nov 13 '20 at 07:28
`WebMvcConfigurerAdapter` was only deprecated in favour of its interface (read the javadocs). So it's the same. – Dave Syer Feb 18 '21 at 09:48

score 35 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Springboot (via Spring) now makes adding to existing resource handlers easy. See Dave Syers answer. To add to the existing static resource handlers, simply be sure to use a resource handler path that doesn't override existing paths.

The two "also" notes below are still valid.

. . .

[Edit: The approach below is no longer valid]

If you want to extend the default static resource handlers, then something like this seems to work:

@Configuration
@AutoConfigureAfter(DispatcherServletAutoConfiguration.class)
public class CustomWebMvcAutoConfig extends
                    WebMvcAutoConfiguration.WebMvcAutoConfigurationAdapter {

  @Override
  public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {
    String myExternalFilePath = "file:///C:/Temp/whatever/m/";

    registry.addResourceHandler("/m/**").addResourceLocations(myExternalFilePath);

    super.addResourceHandlers(registry);
  }

}

The call to super.addResourceHandlers sets up the default handlers.

Also:

Note the trailing slash on the external file path. (Depends on your expectation for URL mappings).
Consider reviewing the source code of WebMvcAutoConfigurationAdapter.

Awesome, thanks for this! I'd also mention that it's important to include the trailing /** on the resource handler mapping as well, I forgot to add that and I kept getting 404 errors — Trevor, Feb 10 '16 at 18:20
This solution goes in the right direction, however it's not possible to inherit from WebMvcAutoConfigurationAdapter because the constructor arguments are not all public. — Geoffroy Warin, Feb 21 '17 at 17:46
@GeoffroyWarin This answer was originally written for older versions. I edited it just now to indicate that. See Dave Syer's answer. To add to existing resource handlers simply be sure not to override existing resource paths. — kaliatech, Feb 22 '17 at 13:47

asmaier · Answer 3 · 2015-05-15T10:23:49.550

Based on @Dave Syers answer I add the following class to my Spring Boot project:

@Configuration
public class StaticResourceConfiguration extends WebMvcConfigurerAdapter {

 private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(StaticResourceConfiguration.class);

 @Value("${static.path}")
 private String staticPath;

 @Override
 public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {

    if(staticPath != null) {
        LOG.info("Serving static content from " + staticPath);
        registry.addResourceHandler("/**").addResourceLocations("file:" + staticPath);
    }
 }

 // see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27381781/java-spring-boot-how-to-map-my-my-app-root-to-index-html
 @Override
 public void addViewControllers(ViewControllerRegistry registry) {
    registry.addViewController("/").setViewName("redirect:/index.html");
 }
}

This allows me to start my spring boot app with the parameter --static.path like

java -jar spring-app-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar --static.path=/path/to/my/static-files/

This can be very handy for development and testing.

Is there a way use 'index.html' instead of '/' directly without redirecting? — Balazs Kelemen, Apr 16 '21 at 10:56

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '15 at 05:59

10

There's a property spring.resources.staticLocations that can be set in the application.properties. Note that this will override the default locations. See org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.web.ResourceProperties.

answered Nov 22 '15 at 05:59

Abhijit Sarkar

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`spring.resources.staticLocations` is deprecated, but you can use `spring.web.resources.staticLocations` instead. – RiZKiT Apr 07 '22 at 14:13

score 9 · Answer 5 · edited Jul 12 '19 at 10:39

9

Based on @Dave Syer, @kaliatech and @asmaier answers the springboot v2+ way would be:

@Configuration
@AutoConfigureAfter(DispatcherServletAutoConfiguration.class)
public class StaticResourceConfiguration implements WebMvcConfigurer  {

  @Override
  public void addResourceHandlers(ResourceHandlerRegistry registry) {
    String myExternalFilePath = "file:///C:/temp/whatever/m/";

     registry.addResourceHandler("/m/**").addResourceLocations(myExternalFilePath);

  }

}

edited Jul 12 '19 at 10:39

Vojtech Ruzicka

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answered Jan 16 '19 at 07:03

s.ijpma

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`@AutoConfigureAfter(DispatcherServletAutoConfiguration.class)` adding this saved my day. Thanks – exexzian Mar 17 '19 at 20:29

Igorski · Answer 6 · 2019-04-02T20:28:21.040

9

OS: Win 10
Spring Boot: 2.1.2

I wanted to serve static content from c:/images

Adding this property worked for me:

spring.resources.static-locations=classpath:/META-INF/resources/,classpath:/resources/,classpath:/static/,classpath:/public/,file:///C:/images/

I found the original value of the property in the Spring Boot Doc Appendix A

This will make c:/images/image.jpg to be accessible as http://localhost:8080/image.jpg

edited Apr 02 '19 at 20:28

answered Apr 02 '19 at 20:22

Igorski

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`spring.resources.static-locations` is deprecated, but you can use `spring.web.resources.static-locations` instead. – RiZKiT Apr 07 '22 at 14:14
is it not spring.web.resources.static-locations instead of spring.resources.static-locations? – Iorweth333 Nov 25 '22 at 16:30

score 8 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 23 '18 at 20:01

8

@Mark Schäfer

Never too late, but add a slash (/) after static:

spring.resources.static-locations=file:/opt/x/y/z/static/

So http://<host>/index.html is now reachable.

edited Mar 23 '18 at 20:01

Leonardo Alves Machado

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answered Mar 23 '18 at 18:46

JC Remy

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score 2 · Answer 8 · answered May 09 '18 at 11:21

To serve from file system

I added spring.resources.static-location=file:../frontend/build in application.properties

index.html is present in the build folder

Use can also add absolute path

spring.resources.static-location=file:/User/XYZ/Desktop/frontend/build

I think similarly you can try adding Dropbox folder path.

Mark Schäfer · Answer 9 · 2017-06-02T11:11:15.993

1

For the current Spring-Boot Version 1.5.3 the parameter is

spring.resources.static-locations

Update I configured

`spring.resources.static-locations=file:/opt/x/y/z/static``

and expected to get my index.html living in this folder when calling

http://<host>/index.html

This did not work. I had to include the folder name in the URL:

http://<host>/static/index.html

edited Jun 02 '17 at 11:11

answered Jun 02 '17 at 10:41

Mark Schäfer

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score 1 · Answer 10 · answered May 31 '18 at 20:20

1

FWIW, I didn't have any success with the spring.resources.static-locations recommended above; what worked for me was setting spring.thymeleaf.prefix:

report.location=file:/Users/bill/report/html/
spring.thymeleaf.prefix=${report.location}

answered May 31 '18 at 20:20

Bill Horvath

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jun 15 '18 at 09:31

1

Note that WebMvcConfigurerAdapter is deprecated now (see WebMvcConfigurerAdapter). Due to Java 8 default methods, you only have to implement WebMvcConfigurer.

answered Jun 15 '18 at 09:31

coseos

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score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Sep 19 '19 at 16:19

You can place your folder in the root of the ServletContext.

Then specify a relative or absolute path to this directory in application.yml:

spring:
  resources:
    static-locations: file:some_temp_files/

The resources in this folder will be available (for downloading, for example) at:

http://<host>:<port>/<context>/your_file.csv

How do I use Spring Boot to serve static content located in Dropbox folder?

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