Questions about properties files

[Julien Martin]

Hello,
I have two questions about properties files.
1. Is it possible to import a properties file from another properties file?
2. Is it possible to have variables in a properties file as described below in code snippet.
Thanks in advance,
Julien.

Code snippet:

var_one=foo
var_two=$var_one bar

The second line would then read "foo bar"

[Ulf Dittmer]

to 1) No. You can load two files into two Properties objects, and merge them using the putAll method, though.

to 2) Not exactly like that. You can use "var_two={0} bar", and then {0} (and {1} etc.) is a variable that you can set programmatically later, but you can't directly reference other properties like in your example.

[Joseph Sillitoe]

Acctually,

1) Yes, kind of. Suppose you have two properties files in the "resources" directory (which also is in the classpath). The names of the files could be:

propfile1.properties

propfile2.properties

The contents of the "propfile1.properties" file could include:

propertyfile.name=propfile2

Then it would be a matter of loading the first properties file, extracting the name of the second one, and then loading that one as well.

 
ResourceBundle firstProps = ResourceBundle.getBundle("resources.propfile1");
String secPropName = firstProps.getString("propertyfile.name");
ResourceBundle secondProps = ResourceBundle.getBundle("resources."+secPropName);

[Jeff Albertson]

Originally posted by Julien Martin:

2. Is it possible to have variables in a properties file as described below in code snippet.

var_one=foo
var_two=$var_one bar

The second line would then read "foo bar"

Ant lets you write property files like that, in Ant syntax, of course:

var_one=foo
var_two=${var_one} bar

I would suggest you check out Ant's API and see if you can reuse some of its functionality.