Is there a way to use java.util.Preferences under Windows without it using the Registry as the backend?

Question

I want to use the java.util.Preferences API but I don't want my program to attempt to read or write to the Windows registry. How would I go about this?

Answer 1

It is always possible to extend java.util.prefs.AbstractPreferences.

An alternative could be to use The Configuration package of Apache Commons allows you to read and write configuration data from/to different sources.

Answer 2

I trust you have read the read/write to Windows Registry using Java and you then want to have another back-end than the registry when using the java.util.Preferences API

As this gentleman, you could extend the Preference API

As specified in this java sun article:

Because the Preferences API is back-end neutral, you need not care whether the data are stored in files, database tables, or a platform-specific storage such as the Windows Registry.

An example of such an extension through a new PreferenceFactory can be seen here.

That is better, IMO, than to use another API.