Class path not loading from web-inf/classes

[martsecurit]

Hello.

I have been asked to start a new issue for this.

Using AS 7.1.1 final

I have a file stored in web-inf/classes dir for simple loading to the class path.

This file is stored in

EAR/WAR/web-inf/classes

I load the file like this

getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("/myfile.ext");

Then I get a file not found exception from JBOSS because it cannot load the file from this location

vfs:/C:/jboss-7.1.1/bin/content/ear/war/WEB-INF/classes/myfile.ext

There is not bin/content directory.

It suprises me that this does not work out of the box. Most of my daily work is with WebSphere which has no problems with this.

Normally web-inf/classes is loaded onto the class path.

Any ideas what the issue is? Seems like a bug to me as the location it is searcing in bin/content does not even exist. It obviously finds the file on the class path.

thanks for reading

cheers

[sfcoy]

Martin Thorpe wrote:

...

getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("/myfile.ext");

...

This returns a URL. What are you doing with this URL?

[martsecurit]

Hello thanks for your response.

Yes it does but the URL is incorrect as it is pointing to bin/content which does not exist.

From this URL I am reading the path to create a file

new File(myURL.getPath())

Works like a charm in WebSphere 6.1, 7 and 8.

cheers

[sfcoy]

I know this works in other servers (I use them too), but it's not required to. An application server can feasibly deploy your archives without unpacking them at all. Where will your java.io.File be then?

You should be using something like java.lang.ClassLoader#getResourceAsStream(java.lang.String) instead.

This is completely portable and will work everywhere.

[martsecurit]

Thanks for your response.

Where are the compiled java classes (servlets, filters etc) for the WAR being loaded from then?  It is web-inf/classes surely? Will JBoss only load .class files from that directory?

If that is the case what is the standard approach, when working with JBoss, regarding locations to store and load .properties files and the such from the class path?

I mean local to a WAR application not global to the server also.

Thanks for reading.

[martsecurit]

Hello Stephen, all.

Ok referring to some docs it states that I should place my files in the web-inf/classes.

see here:

https://docs.jboss.org/author/display/AS7/How+do+I+migrate+my+application+from+AS5+or+AS6+to+AS7

In previous versions of AS, the JBOSS_HOME/server/<servername>/conf/ was available in the  classpath. Hence the properties files in that location were available in  the classpath of the application.

In  AS7, to get those properties available in the classpath, package them  within your application. For example, if you are deploying a .war then  package those properties in WAR WEB-INF/classes/ folder.  If you want  those properties accessible to all components in a .ear,  then package  them at the root of some .jar and place that jar in EAR lib/ folder.

So according to the docs these should be available on the class path. So why is it referring to them found in bin/content?  Still bemused.

regareds

[martsecurit]

Hello

getResourceAsStream works.  But I don't like having to change my code just for a specific container but that is life I guess.

getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("/myFile")

Thanks for your help Stephen

[sfcoy]

Hey Martin

Martin Thorpe wrote:

Hello Stephen, all.

...

So according to the docs these should be available on the class path. So why is it referring to them found in bin/content?  Still bemused.

regareds

You keep trying to think of these things as individual files in your file system. They are not. If you look at the URL returned by your call to:

     getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("/myfile.ext");

you will see that it is not a file://path/to/my/resource.

If you're looking to migrate property files from JBoss AS 5 conf directory, have a look at How to put an external file in the classpath. This still requires the use of getResourceAsStream.

[sfcoy]

Martin Thorpe wrote:

...  But I don't like having to change my code just for a specific container but that is life I guess.

...

The fact that your existing code worked before is just a happy accident. It's not portable in any way.

[martsecurit]

Stephen Coy wrote:

Martin Thorpe wrote:

...  But I don't like having to change my code just for a specific container but that is life I guess.

...

The fact that your existing code worked before is just a happy accident. It's not portable in any way.

Happy accident that it works only between 3 different application servers and 2 releases of Java ;-)

[astempfel]

hello!

what was your solution to load the files/directories correctly? i have the same problem..

regards

angela

[martsecurit]

Hello Angela it is the one that I marked as the correct answer in the post.

getResourceAsStream(java.lang.String)

[astempfel]

thanks for the quick answer! i tried that as well, it returns a org.jboss.vfs.VirtualJarInputStream. How do you access the files/directory then? because reading it with a BufferedReader doesn't work for me

   BufferedReader rdr = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(resourceAsStream));

            String line;

            while ((line = rdr.readLine()) != null) {

                System.out.println("file: " + line);

            }

            rdr.close();

regards

Angela

[martsecurit]

What does not work? do you get an exception?

If I go here I get a load of examples.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=java+getresourceasstream+example

[astempfel]

no exception, but the readline method returns null. so it seems that the directory can't be read...