How not to hard-code file location in java?

[Sandeep Swaminathan]

I'm using a Logger class to log the errors occuring. But while creating a file I'm hard-coding the file location. which I'm not supposed to do. How do I specify a path which I don't want to hard-code in java?

public class Logger
{
	public void writeError(TO to, String errorMessage)
			
	{
		try
		{
			File file = new File("D:/Logger/errorFile.txt");
			BufferedWriter fileWriter = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(file,
					true));
			if (file.exists())
			{
				fileWriter.newLine();
				fileWriter.write("Student Id:");
				fileWriter.write(to.getStudentID());
				fileWriter.newLine();
				fileWriter.write("first name:");
				fileWriter.write(to.getFirstName());
				fileWriter.newLine();
				fileWriter.write("lastName:");
				fileWriter.write(to.getLastName());
				fileWriter.flush();
			}

		}
		catch (FileNotFoundException e)
		{
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
		catch (IOException e)
		{
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

	}
}

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Use Properties File or log4j (properties)

[Sandeep Swaminathan]

Yep! But I was asked to use only flat files..

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Sandeep Swaminathan wrote:But I was asked to use only flat files..

what do you mean by flat files ? if you dont want to use properties file then go for Constant class

example:

    

public class Constants
{
    private Constants()//prevent subclasses
   {
   }

    public static String logFileLocation = "D:/Logger/errorFile.txt";


}

Hope this helps

[Mike Simmons]

Hm, I would describe that Constants class as being hard-coded. You can't change the file location without recompiling. That's presumably what Sandeep is trying to avoid.

But Sandeep, I would say that a properties file is a flat file. To most of us, anyway. And a log4j.properties file is a kind of properties file, thus also a flat file. So probably this is what you need to do. If you think that's incorrect, then you should answer SV's question: what do you mean by flat files?

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

Flat file contains one record per line . single field can be separated by delimiters such as commas,etc...

properties file contains key/value per line . so as Mike mentioned properties file is a Perfect Flat File

[Rob Spoor]

The properties file should only contain the location for the actual log file.

[Seetharaman Venkatasamy]

[salvin francis]

What happens if you do this :

public static String logFileLocation = "errorFile.txt";