Spring Boot access static resources missing scr/main/resources

Just use Spring type ClassPathResource.

File file = new ClassPathResource("countries.xml").getFile();

As long as this file is somewhere on classpath Spring will find it. This can be src/main/resources during development and testing. In production, it can be current running directory.

EDIT: This approach doesn't work if file is in fat JAR. In such case you need to use:

InputStream is = new ClassPathResource("countries.xml").getInputStream();

While working with Spring Boot application, it is difficult to get the classpath resources using resource.getFile() when it is deployed as JAR as I faced the same issue. This scan be resolved using Stream which will find out all the resources which are placed anywhere in classpath.

Below is the code snippet for the same -

ClassPathResource classPathResource = new ClassPathResource("fileName");
InputStream inputStream = classPathResource.getInputStream();
content = IOUtils.toString(inputStream);

To get the files in the classpath :

Resource resource = new ClassPathResource("countries.xml");
File file = resource.getFile();

To read the file onStartup use @PostConstruct:

@Configuration
public class ReadFileOnStartUp {

    @PostConstruct
    public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {

        //Gets the XML file under src/main/resources folder
        Resource resource = new ClassPathResource("countries.xml");
        File file = resource.getFile();
        //Logic to read File.
    }
}

Here is a Small example for reading an XML File on Spring Boot App startup.

I use spring boot, so i can simple use:

File file = ResourceUtils.getFile("classpath:myfile.xml");