JavaEE - WAR - Deployed :: How to read a file from resource directory

Question

I believe the "correct" way one is supposed to do this is getResourceAsStream() but it just doesn't seem to cut it.

My situation:

I have a web application in Java that will be eventually deployed to a few different web servers the possibilities are GlassFish, Tomcat, and WildFly. Currently I'm working on a mac with Netbeans and I have access to WildFly and GlassFish. The project is mavenized

What I need to do is read and write two different Excel files. One serves as a "template" and one serves as the output file. The application previously ran standalone and I'm trying to wrap it into a JSF web site.

I need to obtain an FileInputStream for my one of the methods and eventually create an output file which will be served back to the user via http.

From what I gather the appropriate way to do this is supposed to be:

XLSX File

/src/main/resources/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx

Location once compiled into WAR file :: WildFly

/usr/local/opt/wildfly-as/libexec/standalone/deployments/fleetForecast-1.0-SNAPSHOT.war/WEB-INF/classes/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx

Location once compiled into WAR file :: GlassFish

~/devel/fleetforecast/target/fleetForecast-1.0-SNAPSHOT/WEB-INF/classes/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx

Java Code

I think I've maybe managed to get an input stream to the file with the command:

InputStream is1 = getClass().getResourceAsStream("ANALYSIS_template.xlsx");

I've also tried ("/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx") by the way which behaves similarly. When I try to read from this input stream

try {
        is1.read();
    } catch (IOException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(FleetBean.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }

I get a java.lang.NullPointerException.

Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
    at org.mitre.fleetforecast.bean.FleetBean.<init>(FleetBean.java:57)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:62)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:408)
    at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:433)
    at com.sun.faces.mgbean.BeanBuilder.newBeanInstance(BeanBuilder.java:186)
    ... 76 more

Any assistance offered or thought of would be greatly appreciated.

You definitely do not want to use absolute paths or paths containing things like `/usr/local` or `src/main`... Check out [this](http://www.jugsardegna.org/vqwiki/jsp/Wiki?LoadResourcesOnJ2EEWebApplications). — jahroy, May 22 '14 at 17:45
My java code is not using absolute paths -> i was just pointing out where they are on the filesystem — poosliver, May 22 '14 at 23:27

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered May 23 '14 at 01:11

In the end it looks like this is the code that did the trick. I have NO idea why but apparently it worked and I'm not complaining.

InputStream inputStream = getClass().getClassLoader()
                         .getResourceAsStream("/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx");
BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(inputStream));

I made a new project form scratch and this code worked. Thanks for the help guys!

score 2 · Answer 2 · 2014-05-22T18:57:13.117

2

What about something like this :

InputStream is1 = URLClassLoader.getSystemResourceAsStream("/classes/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx");

or

InputStream is1 = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/classes/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx"));

Edit :

Use this when you are accessing the file from a servlet container

InputStream is1 = ServletContext.getResourceAsStream("/WEB-INF/classes/ANALYSIS_template.xlsx") ;

edited May 22 '14 at 18:57

answered May 22 '14 at 17:46

Sorry neither of these seem to be working – Jeef May 22 '14 at 18:52
1

Thanks but I'm still stuck. Perhaps after lunch divine inspiration. Everything you've suggested is what the internet says is the right way to go. I wonder if something else sketchy is going on... – Jeef May 22 '14 at 19:09
1

This was helpful but in the end it wasn't the right code. I still voted you up for assistance – Jeef May 23 '14 at 01:11
Thanks for up-voting. – May 27 '18 at 16:19

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 06 '15 at 13:43

1

If you want to get the java File object, you can try this:

String path = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResource("language/file.xml").getPath();
File f = new File(path);
System.out.println(f.getAbsolutePath());

answered Mar 06 '15 at 13:43

lidox

1,901
3
21
40

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 22 '14 at 19:09

0

Is this potentially an issue with the relative path to the file vs the absolute path to the file? Can you attempt to use FileInputStream and use the absolute path? If that works then you may just have to tinker with the relative path?

answered May 22 '14 at 19:09

Ryan D

1,023
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Thats a good idea. I'll try it out tomorrow morning. – Jeef May 22 '14 at 23:26

JavaEE - WAR - Deployed :: How to read a file from resource directory

4 Answers4