How to make directory public on Grails?

Question

Hi all, my Grails app generates files in a folder (e.g. "output"). How can I make that folder public, in order to expose the output files through URLs like:

http://localhost:8080/MyGrailsApp/output/myOutputFile1.xml
http://localhost:8080/MyGrailsApp/output/myOutputFile2.xml

Cheers!

Answer 1

Two ways you could do this. First is read the documentation for whatever your application server is and enable directory listing on whatever directory your xml files are stored in. If you need to be application server agnostic the second option could be to create a simple controller that uses URL mapping to automatically load and return the requested file. For documentation and examples of URL mapping in grails see http://www.grails.org/URL+mapping

Answer 2

This code is not perfect or tested, just typed it in here, but it should get you headed in the right direction

create a controller called OutputController.groovy

def viewFile = {

    // add checks to ensure fileName parameter has no "/" or ".." to
    // prevent directory transversal

    def file = new File(OUTPUT_FILE_PATH + params?.fileName)

    if (file.exists()) {
        render(text: file.newInputStream().text, contentType: "text/plain",
                       encoding: "UTF-8")
    } else {
        render "FILE NOT FOUND: ${params?.fileName}"
    }
}

update url mappings file

mappings {
  "/output/$fileName?" {
      controller = "output"
      action = "viewFile"
  }
}