Override grails.serverURL and application specific grails.propname settings in application.properties file

Question

I need to override grails.serverURL at runtime WITHOUT having to regenerate the application WAR file. I have tried various ways of setting the grails.serverURL in the application.properties file and cannot get it to work.

Here is the environment specific portion of the Config.groovy:

environments {
   prod
   {
      grails.serverURL = "http://nonexistentserver.somecompany.com:8080"
      grails.anotherappspecificURL = "xcc://user:[email protected]"
   }

Basically, our application.properties looks like this:

---

grails.env=prod
grails.war.deployed=true
app.grails.version=1.0.4
app.name=myapp

---

Below is one of the ways I have tried to override the settings. These are defined in the Config.groovy file

---

grails.serverURL=http://webserver1.somecompany.com:8080
grails.anotherappspecificURL=xcc://admin:[email protected]

---

Any help with getting this to work without having to make code changes would be greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Allen

Answer 1

The proper way to override values in Config.groovy is to use an external properties file, see:

http://grails.org/doc/1.1.x/guide/3.%20Configuration.html#3.4%20Externalized%20Configuration

Specify an external properties file in Config.groovy, for example:

grails.config.locations = [ "classpath:app-config.properties"]

In the properties file (can be stored in grails-app/conf/) specify the override value:

grails.serverURL=http://webserver1.somecompany.com:8080

Anytime you need to change the serverURL once the war is deployed just modify the properties file in /WEB-INF/classes/app-config.properties and reload the context.

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply. I thought that might be what you were referring to. will try that and post back. The grails docs should be a little more clearer regarding the fact that application.properties not being the place to put values that you are trying to override.