Get root directory of application

[Dave]

How do I access the root directory of an application?

Say I want to access a file which is stored in the highest-level directory
of the application. How do I access this with a relative path rather than an
absolute path?

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

How do I access the root directory of an application?

Say I want to access a file which is stored in the highest-level directory
of the application. How do I access this with a relative path rather than an
absolute path?

Swing or Web application ?

 

[Andrew Thompson]

How do I access the root directory of an application?

You 'shouldn't' need to...

Say I want to access a file which is stored in the highest-level directory
of the application. ...

Say instead, ..what are you trying to achieve
by that?

(Don't tell us what you *want* to do, but what
you are trying to *achieve* and you will get
better answers.)

Andrew T.

 

[John W]

This might work:

String path = (new File (".")).getCanonicalPath();

 

[Andrew Thompson]

John W wrote:

Please refrain from top-posting.

This might work:

String path = (new File (".")).getCanonicalPath();

Only at random. The current directory is rarely the
root directory of real world applications.

Andrew T.

 

[Dave]

You 'shouldn't' need to...


Say instead, ..what are you trying to achieve
by that?

(Don't tell us what you *want* to do, but what
you are trying to *achieve* and you will get
better answers.)

I am trying to load a Castor JDO mapping file from a specific directory
within the application structure without using absolute paths.

The DRIVER String final field is "mapping.xml", and it only works when I
have the XML file in the same directory as the compiled class file for this
class. I would like it to be in [app_root]/mapping, but I am unsure how to
represent this as a relative path.

/* Sample code below */

org.castor.jdo.conf.Driver driverConf = JDOConfFactory.createDriver(DRIVER,
CONNECT, USERNAME, PASSWORD);

org.castor.jdo.conf.Mapping mappingConf = null;
try {
mappingConf =
JDOConfFactory.createMapping(getClass().getResource(MAPPING).toString());
} catch (NullPointerException e) {
LOG.error("NullPointerException - JDO XML Mapping file not found.");
e.printStackTrace();
return false;
}


TIA.

 

[Dave]

Swing or Web application ?

SWT application.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Dave wrote:
...

I am trying to load a Castor JDO mapping file .. (snip)
.. without using absolute paths.

Put it in a jar and add the jar to the classpath,
then use getResource() to locate it. You never
need to worry about the actual path.

Andrew T.

 

[Dave]

Dave wrote:
..

Put it in a jar and add the jar to the classpath,
then use getResource() to locate it. You never
need to worry about the actual path.

Sounds good for production, but time consuming when I'm constantly modifying
the file during development.

Thanks.

 

[Andrew Thompson]

...
Sounds good for production, but time consuming when I'm constantly modifying
the file during development.

Use ant for your development needs, and a
build is but a click and a few moments away..

Andrew T.

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

SWT application.

So how do you define "root directory" then?

The directory where the .jar file is located?

Thomas

 

[Nigel Wade]

How do I access the root directory of an application?

Say I want to access a file which is stored in the highest-level directory
of the application. How do I access this with a relative path rather than an
absolute path?

I think this is right. If it's not I'm sure some helpful soul will correct me.

You get the path to the base of the class hierarchy by specifying a resource
which has a root "/", e.g.

URL root = getClass().getResource("/");

For example, if you have a class Xyz.class in the package "foo.bar", so your
class file is located in /some/base/dir/foo/bar/Xyz.class, then the resource
"/resources/filename" would be the path /some/base/dir/resources/filename.

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Dave wrote on 10.01.2007 16:29:

Sounds good for production, but time consuming when I'm constantly modifying
the file during development.

getResource() works perfectly fine without jars as well. I used it all the time,
and have no problems from within the IDE (NetBeans) or when running my app from
a jar file

Thomas

 

[Andrew Thompson]

Dave wrote on 10.01.2007 16:29: ....
getResource() works perfectly fine without jars as well. ...

I must remember that. (It has been mentioned
before, and I keep forgetting, mostly because ant
builds seem to make it ..redundant.)

Andrew T.

 

[Thomas Kellerer]

Andrew Thompson wrote on 10.01.2007 18:34:

I must remember that. (It has been mentioned
before, and I keep forgetting, mostly because ant
builds seem to make it ..redundant.)

In my case: NetBeans makes the .jar file redundant

 

[=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Arne_Vajh=F8j?=]

How do I access the root directory of an application?

Say I want to access a file which is stored in the highest-level directory
of the application. How do I access this with a relative path rather than an
absolute path?

As several has pointed out then you need to define carefully what
is the root of an application.

Regarding finding the path to the code being executed then I have
the code snippet attached below.

Arne

=============================================

private String getPath(Class cls) {
String cn = cls.getName();
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(cn,".");
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer("");
boolean first = true;
while(st.hasMoreTokens()) {
if(first) {
first = false;
} else {
sb.append("/");
}
sb.append(st.nextToken());
}
sb.append(".class");
String path =
getClass().getClassLoader().getResource(sb.toString()).getPath();
int ix = path.indexOf("!");
if(ix >= 0) {
path = path.substring(0, ix);
int ix2 = path.lastIndexOf("/");
return path.substring(6, ix2 + 1);
} else {
int ix2 = path.lastIndexOf("/");
return path.substring(1, ix2 + 1);
}
}