<mvc:resources> or how can i get and use the file from my application?

[yoolyaka]

Hello all!
I need to use some file from my application in it, how can i do this?
I tried to do this with <mvc:resources> but it didn't work... Maybe i doing smth wrong, please help me.

My needed file is located in the src\main\webapp\META-INF\resources\file.xsl

In the code i try to get this file by:

ApplicationContext appContext = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath:/WEB-INF/spring/root-context.xml");
Resource resource = appContext.getResource("classpath:/META-INF/resources/file.xsl");

But on the log:

java.io.FileNotFoundException: class path resource [META-INF/resources/file.xsl] cannot be opened because it does not exist
	at org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource.getInputStream(ClassPathResource.java:158)

getFileFromDb-servlet.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
	   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
       xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
       xmlns:mvc="http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc"
       xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans 
       http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
       http://www.springframework.org/schema/context 
       http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd
        http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc
 		http://www.springframework.org/schema/mvc/spring-mvc-3.0.xsd">

    <context:annotation-config />
	
    <mvc:annotation-driven/>
    
    <!-- Handles HTTP GET requests for /resources/** by efficiently serving up static resources -->
 	<mvc:resources location="/, classpath:/META-INF/resources/" mapping="/resources/**"/>
 	<!-- Allows for mapping the DispatcherServlet to "/" by forwarding static resource requests to the container's default Servlet -->
 	<mvc:default-servlet-handler/>
</beans>

root-context.xml

...
<import resource="classpath:WEB-INF/getFileFromDb-servlet.xml" />
...

web.xml

<servlet>
        <servlet-name>getFileFromDb</servlet-name>
        <servlet-class>org.springframework.web.servlet.DispatcherServlet</servlet-class>
        <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
    </servlet>
    <servlet-mapping>
        <servlet-name>getFileFromDb</servlet-name>
        <url-pattern>/getFileFromDb/*</url-pattern>
    </servlet-mapping>

.classpath contains this:

<classpath>
	<classpathentry including="**/*.java" kind="src" output="target/test-classes" path="src/test/java"/>
	<classpathentry including="**/*.java" kind="src" path="src/main/java"/>
	<classpathentry excluding="**/*.java" kind="src" path="src/main/resources"/>
	<classpathentry excluding="**/*.java" kind="src" path="src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/resources"/>
	<classpathentry excluding="**/*.java" kind="src" path="src/main/webapp"/>
	...

Thank you very much!

[Marten Deinum]

And why on earth do you expect mvc:resource to help you getting the file by constructing an ApplicationContext (which you shouldn't do unless you want to cripple your application at runtime)...
The META-INF you mention (the on in src/main/webapp) isn't on the class path so it will never resolve... Use META-INF in src/main/resource instead...

[rohan123]

hi voolyaka,
You are accessing a file located in META-INF and you are specifying "classpath:" as prefix which start looking from location classpath , so its obvious file wont be accessible

[yoolyaka]

yes, you are right, thank you very much! I removed <mvc:resource> from my config files and relocated file.xsl to the folder src\main\resources. Then i successfully get this file by Resource resource = appContext.getResource("classpath:/file.xsl");
Thank you very much!

[Marten Deinum]

You shouldn't do that... You shouldn't create a new application context each time you need the file... Why not simply inject the file instead of (re)loading it over and over....