@PropertySource in a Jar for an external file on the classpath

I'm trying to use the Spring framework's @PropertySource annotation in a Jar to load a properties file from outside the jar, but it's not finding the file.

I need the properties file to be external to the Jar so it can be edited. I don't know the exact location where the file will be, I figured I could just have it anywhere on the classpath.

I'm using the following annotation on my Config class.

@PropertySource('classpath:stc.properties')

And placed stc.properties in the same directory as the created Jar file. I tried specifying the classpath explicitly in the java command, but it still cannot find the file:

java -cp . -jar stc.jar
Exception in thread "main" org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanDefinitionStoreException: Failed to load bean class: com.example.stc.Config; nested exception is java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [stc.properties] cannot be opened because it does not exist
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassParser.parse(ConfigurationClassParser.java:162)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.processConfigBeanDefinitions(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:299)
        at org.springframework.context.annotation.ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.postProcessBeanDefinitionRegistry(ConfigurationClassPostProcessor.java:243)
        at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanDefinitionRegistryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:254)
        at org.springframework.context.support.PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(PostProcessorRegistrationDelegate.java:94)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.invokeBeanFactoryPostProcessors(AbstractApplicationContext.java:609)
        at org.springframework.context.support.AbstractApplicationContext.refresh(AbstractApplicationContext.java:464)
[...]

Etc.

I've also tried using ./ as the classpath, and tried specifying the classpath (with both variants) in the Class-Path attribute of the jar's manifest, but it always gives the same results.

Assuming you have two files, one for local one for production

@PropertySources({
        @PropertySource("classpath:application.properties"),
        @PropertySource(value = "${ws.properties}", ignoreResourceNotFound = true)

})

And in tomcat or your jar file , pass on this parameter

-Dws.properties=file:/path-to.properties

I added this in setenv.sh

APPLICATION_OPTS="-Dlog4j.configurationFile=file:$PATH/log4j2.xml -Dlog4j.debug=true -Dapplication.properties=file:$PATH/application.properties

This is possible with Spring 4 only

Use a variable (System or Environment) to have the value of the file and you could refer your file like this:

@PropertySource("file:${MY_PATH}/application.properties")

My environment was:

OS: Windows | Container: Tomcat | Java: 7 | Spring: 4.2.4 | Springboot 1.3.1 | Maven

Step 1 a (war):

Add the file externalised properties file to JVM system properties.

As am running this off tomcat; I done this by creating setenv.bat in <TOMCAT_HOME>/bin/setenv.bat

set CATALINA_OPTS=%CATALINA_OPTS% -Dexternal.app.properties=file:<PATH_TO_EXTERNAL_FILE>\application-prod.properties

Step 1 b (jar):

Alternative if you are running from a jar use:

-Dexternal.app.properties=file:<PATH_TO_EXTERNAL_FILE>\application-prod.properties

Note the use of file: at the start on the line.

Step 2: In my application startup class I used annotation @PropertySource to load the specific environment application properties.

@SpringBootApplication
@PropertySources({
        @PropertySource(value = "${external.app.properties.file}", ignoreResourceNotFound = true),
        @PropertySource(value = "classpath:application.properties")
})
public class Application extends SpringBootServletInitializer {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }

    @Override
    protected SpringApplicationBuilder configure(SpringApplicationBuilder application) {
        return application.sources(Application.class);
    }

}

Step 3:

Using externalised properties in project

external/file/path/application-prod.properties

spring.datasource.url.ext=< PRODUCTION_DATASOURCE >

/src/main/resources/application.properties

spring.datasource.url=${spring.datasource.url.ext}

Hope this helps other having the same problem.