open resource with relative path in Java

I had problems with using the getClass().getResource("filename.txt") method. Upon reading the Java docs instructions, if your resource is not in the same package as the class you are trying to access the resource from, then you have to give it relative path starting with '/'. The recommended strategy is to put your resource files under a "resources" folder in the root directory. So for example if you have the structure:

src/main/com/mycompany/myapp

then you can add a resources folder as recommended by maven in:

src/main/resources

furthermore you can add subfolders in the resources folder

src/main/resources/textfiles

and say that your file is called myfile.txt so you have

src/main/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt

Now here is where the stupid path problem comes in. Say you have a class in your com.mycompany.myapp package, and you want to access the myfile.txt file from your resource folder. Some say you need to give the:

"/main/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt" path

or

"/resources/textfiles/myfile.txt"

both of these are wrong. After I ran mvn clean compile, the files and folders are copied in the:

myapp/target/classes 

folder. But the resources folder is not there, just the folders in the resources folder. So you have:

myapp/target/classes/textfiles/myfile.txt

myapp/target/classes/com/mycompany/myapp/*

so the correct path to give to the getClass().getResource("") method is:

"/textfiles/myfile.txt"

here it is:

getClass().getResource("/textfiles/myfile.txt")

This will no longer return null, but will return your class. I hope this helps somebody. It is strange to me, that the "resources" folder is not copied as well, but only the subfolders and files directly in the "resources" folder. It would seem logical to me that the "resources" folder would also be found under "myapp/target/classes"

Supply the path relative to the classloader, not the class you're getting the loader from. For instance:

resourcesloader.class.getClassLoader().getResource("package1/resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks").toString();

When you use 'getResource' on a Class, a relative path is resolved based on the package the Class is in. When you use 'getResource' on a ClassLoader, a relative path is resolved based on the root folder.

If you use an absolute path, both 'getResource' methods will start at the root folder.

resourcesloader.class.getClass()

Can be broken down to:

Class<resourcesloader> clazz = resourceloader.class;
Class<Class> classClass = clazz.getClass();

Which means you're trying to load the resource using a bootstrap class.

Instead you probably want something like:

resourcesloader.class.getResource("repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks").toString()

If only javac warned about calling static methods on non-static contexts...

Doe the following work?

resourcesloader.class.getClass().getResource("/package1/resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks")

Is there a reason you can't specify the full path including the package?

In Order to obtain real path to the file you can try this:

URL fileUrl = Resourceloader.class.getResource("resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks");
String pathToClass = fileUrl.getPath;    

Resourceloader is classname here. "resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks" is relative path to the file. If you had your guiclass in ./package1/java with rest of folder structure remaining, you would take "../resources/repository/SSL-Key/cert.jks" as relative path because of rules defining relative path.

This way you can read your file with BufferedReader. DO NOT USE THE STRING to identify the path to the file, because if you have spaces or some characters from not english alphabet in your path, you will get problems and the file will not be found.

BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
                        new InputStreamReader(fileUrl.openStream()));

One of the stable way to work across all OS would be toget System.getProperty("user.dir")

String filePath = System.getProperty("user.dir") + "/path/to/file.extension";

Path path = Paths.get(filePath);
if (Files.exists(path)) {
    return true;
}