How can I write maven build to add resources to classpath?

Question

I am building a jar using maven with simple maven install. If I add a file to src/main/resources it can be found on the classpath but it has a config folder where I want that file to go but moving it inside the config folder makes it disappear from the classpath.

Answer 1

A cleaner alternative of putting your config file into a subfolder of src/main/resources would be to enhance your classpath locations. This is extremely easy to do with Maven.

For instance, place your property file in a new folder src/main/config, and add the following to your pom:

 <build>     <resources>         <resource>             <directory>src/main/config</directory>         </resource>     </resources>  </build> 

From now, every files files under src/main/config is considered as part of your classpath (note that you can exclude some of them from the final jar if needed: just add in the build section:

    <plugins>         <plugin>             <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>             <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>             <configuration>                 <excludes>                     <exclude>my-config.properties</exclude>                 </excludes>             </configuration>         </plugin>     </plugins> 

so that my-config.properties can be found in your classpath when you run your app from your IDE, but will remain external from your jar in your final distribution).