how to access properties file

Hi

I need to use a properties file to replace variables in a Java program and a servlet.

Eg. of Java program:
****************************************************

public class SendResponseThread implements Runnable
{
    Thread responseThread;
    String dirName;
    File destFolder;
    boolean dirCreated = false;
 
    private final static SimpleDateFormat dateFormatForFileName =
            new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd-HHmmss-SSS");
    Date now = new Date();
 
    SendResponseThread()
    {
        /*
        dirName = "c:\\Transmission";
        destFolder = new File("c:\\TransmissionResponded");
        */
 
        dirName = "@TRANSMISSION_RCVD_FOLDER@";
        destFolder = new File("@TRANSMISSION_RESPONDED_FOLDER@");
 
        dirCreated = destFolder.mkdir();
        if(dirCreated)
        {
            System.out.println( destFolder + " created !");
        }else
        {
            System.out.println( "FATAL : " + destFolder + " did not create !");
        }
        responseThread = new Thread(this, "SendResponseThread");
        responseThread.start();
    }
 
    public void run()
    {
        File srcFolderFile = new File(dirName);
        String destFolderName = destFolder.getName();
        File destFolderFile = new File("c:\\" + destFolderName);
        //while(responseThread == Thread.currentThread())
        while(true)
        {
            if(srcFolderFile.isDirectory())
            {
                File srcFiles[] = srcFolderFile.listFiles();
                if(srcFiles.length > 0){
                    for(int i=0; i < srcFiles.length; i++)
                    {
                        System.out.println("f.getName() :" + srcFiles[i].getName());
                        // Move file to new directory
                        try{
 
                        now = new Date();
 
                        //boolean success = srcFiles[i].renameTo(new File(destFolderFile+"\\"+srcFiles[i].getName()));
                        boolean success = srcFiles[i].renameTo(new File(destFolderFile+"\\"+srcFiles[i].getName() + dateFormatForFileName.format(now)));
                        if (!success) {
                            System.out.println(srcFiles[i].getName() + " file was not successfully moved !");
                        }
                        }catch(Exception e){
                            e.printStackTrace();
                        }
                    }
                }
                try
                {
                    Thread.sleep((new Long("@intervalTime@")).longValue());
                }
                catch(InterruptedException ie)
                {
                    System.out.println("SendResponseThread interrupted." + ie.getMessage());
                }
                catch(Throwable a)
                {
                   a.printStackTrace(System.out);
                }
            }
        }
    } // end run method
}  // end class

****************************************************
The servlet:

package servlets;
 
import java.io.*;
import javax.servlet.*;
import javax.servlet.http.*;
import org.jdom.Document;
import org.jdom.JDOMException;
import org.jdom.input.SAXBuilder;
import utils.AppConstants;
 
 
public class AcceptAndSaveTransmittedFile extends HttpServlet {
 
 
static int fileCounter = 0;
        File parentDir;
 
    public void init() throws ServletException
    {
fileCounter = 0;
            //parentDir = new File("c:\\Transmission");
            parentDir = new File("@TRANSMISSION_RCVD_FOLDER@");
            parentDir.mkdir();
 
            // Invoke thread
            SendResponseThread p = new SendResponseThread();
    }
 
    protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException
    {
        handleRequest(request, response);
    }
 
    protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response)
            throws ServletException, IOException
    {
        handleRequest(request, response);
    }
 
 
public void handleRequest(HttpServletRequest request,HttpServletResponse response)
throws ServletException,IOException
{
            PrintWriter pw = response.getWriter();
 
            // get the message body from the request object
            String xml = request.getParameter("xml");
            System.out.println("Got this XML From client : \n" + xml);
            Document docXML = null;
            try
            {
                docXML = getDocumentFromString(xml);
                response.setStatus(HttpServletResponse.SC_OK);
            }
            catch (JDOMException e)
            {
                System.out.println("Caught JDOM Exception" + e.getMessage());
                response.sendError(HttpServletResponse.SC_BAD_REQUEST, "XML Was not posted or was malformed");
                return;
            }
 
            pw.println("<html><head></head><body><h3>Saved XML file </h3></body></html>");
 
            // Copy the jdom document and save it in folder
            String fileName = "FileName" + fileCounter + ".xml";
 
            File fileReceived = new File(parentDir,fileName);
            FileOutputStream foup = new FileOutputStream(fileReceived);
 
            byte buf[] = xml.getBytes();
            for(int i=0;i<buf.length;i++) {
                foup.write(buf[i]);
            }
            foup.flush();
            foup.close();
 
            fileCounter++;
}
 
 
    private Document getDocumentFromString(String input) throws JDOMException, IOException
    {
        if (input == null || input.trim().length() == 0)
        {
            throw new JDOMException("The posted string is empty");
        }
        SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder(false);
        // TODO to be removed later on so that it validates against dtds or schemas
        builder.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/nonvalidating/load-external-dtd", false);
        Document doc = builder.build(new StringReader(input));
        return doc;
    }
 
}

********************************************************************
I want to put the stuff between @xyz@ in the above programs in a properties file and access them - how do i do it?

I want to stuff @xyz@ in the servlet to come from a init-param of the servlet defined in web.xml .

Question:
Where should I put the properties file ?
How do i access it(the variavles in the properties file) from java program?
Do i need to put the properties file in the classpath?

Thanks
Kawa

[EDIT code tags added by Dave]
[ February 10, 2005: Message edited by: David O'Meara ]

http://wiki.apache.org/jakarta-tomcat/HowTo

Third item on the page. It should answer all of your questions.

Here's a pointer for you: SimpleDateFormat isn't thread safe! It should be but is not.

Don't make it a static final, create a new one each time you need it, or as a method variable (NOT an instance variable, this is a servlet we're talking about).

Just be glad you're not learning this the hard way!

and after 56 posts it's time for you to experiment with UBB's code tags