Create a File object in memory from a string in Java

Question

I have a function that accepts File as an argument. I don't want to create/write a new File (I don't have write access to filesystem) in order to pass my string data to the function. I should add that the String data don't exist in a file (so I cannot read my data from a file).

Can I use Streams and "cast" them to File objects?

Answer 1

Usually when a method accepts a file, there's another method nearby that accepts a stream. If this isn't the case, the API is badly coded. Otherwise, you can use temporary files, where permission is usually granted in many cases. If it's applet, you can request write permission.

An example:

try {
    // Create temp file.
    File temp = File.createTempFile("pattern", ".suffix");

    // Delete temp file when program exits.
    temp.deleteOnExit();

    // Write to temp file
    BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(temp));
    out.write("aString");
    out.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
}