java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [WEB-INF/classes/library.properties] cannot be opened because it does not exist

Question

In my Spring application, I have a simple properties file located in folder WEB-INF\classes so that it, the DispatcherServlet and various other config files are in the classpath.

The props file is defined in the DispatcherServlet as:

<bean id="propertiesFactory" class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertiesFactoryBean">
        <property name="location">            
           <value>/WEB-INF/classes/library.properties</value>
        </property>
    </bean>

The propertiesFactory bean is injected into a controller:

@Autowired 
private Properties propertiesFactory;

And used in a one of the controller's methods as:

if (adminPassword.equals(propertiesFactory.getProperty("adminPassword"))) {           

This all works perfectly, except for a test program as follows which has line:

ConfigurableApplicationContext context = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("library-servlet.xml");

Which throws a BeanCreationException:

Injection of autowired dependencies failed

Because of:

java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [WEB-INF/classes/library.properties] cannot be opened because it does not exist

But if the whole application can see the props file, why not this one program?

Answer 1

Everything in WEB-INF/classes is added to the root of the classpath. As such, you need to refer to your resource simply as

library.properties

or better yet

classpath:library.properties

in

<property name="location">            
    <value>classpath:library.properties</value>
</property>

You may find it useful to run

System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.class.path"));

and see what was used as classpath entries.