Read the file from WebContent/IMAGES/ instead of WEB-INF

Question

I have the following structure in a Java Web Application:

TheProject
  -- [WebContent]
  -- -- [WEB-INF]
    -- -- index.jsp
  -- -- [IMAGES]
  -- -- -- image.jpg
  -- [Source Packages]
  ----ImageHandlerServlet.java

In ImageHandlerServlet.java, I am using the following code

    String path = getServletContext().getRealPath("/Images");

Which gives following path. D:\BH\workspace.metadata.plugins\org.eclipse.wst.server.core\tmp0\wtpwebapps\proj\Images

    URL path2 =getServletContext().getResource("/image.jpg");

which returns null.

    InputStream stream = getServletContext().getResourceAsStream("/image.jpg");

which returns null;

I want to read the file from WebContent/IMAGES/ instead of WEB-INF. Using real path it can be achieved. What should I do? I consulted following related posts.

Keep the images folder outside WEB_INF. WEB-INF blocks the direct access of any resource under it. — underdog, May 19 '15 at 09:41
Is it not possible to access the image.jpg from WebContent/Images folder? — bilalhaider, May 19 '15 at 09:49
You need to have a predefined location anyway. Apart from a few static images, why do you store images into `WebContent`? It is not the right location to upload images, if you are dynamically uploading images into that location. — Tiny, May 19 '15 at 11:26

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

The ServletContext#getResource() and getResourceAsStream() take a path relative to web content. From that point on, you've the image actually in /IMAGES/image.jpg.

InputStream stream = getServletContext().getResourceAsStream("/IMAGES/image.jpg");

Noted should be that you should never use getRealPath() nor File API on webcontent resources.

Also noted should be that using a servlet is unnecessary when you intend to serve out images. When putting outside the private /WEB-INF folder, they're this way just publicly accessible as below in JSP:

<img src="${pageContext.request.contextPath}/IMAGES/image.jpg" />

Or in Facelets:

<img src="#{request.contextPath}/IMAGES/image.jpg" />

Or with JSF:

<h:graphicImage value="/IMAGES/image.jpg" />

Read the file from WebContent/IMAGES/ instead of WEB-INF

1 Answers1

See also:

Linked