URL to load resources from the classpath in Java

Question

In Java, you can load all kinds of resources using the same API but with different URL protocols:

file:///tmp.txt
http://127.0.0.1:8080/a.properties
jar:http://www.foo.com/bar/baz.jar!/COM/foo/Quux.class

This nicely decouples the actual loading of the resource from the application that needs the resource, and since a URL is just a String, resource loading is also very easily configurable.

Is there a protocol to load resources using the current classloader? This is similar to the Jar protocol, except that I do not need to know which jar file or class folder the resource is coming from.

I can do that using Class.getResourceAsStream("a.xml"), of course, but that would require me to use a different API, and hence changes to existing code. I want to be able to use this in all places where I can specify a URL for the resource already, by just updating a property file.

Answer 1

I dont know if there is one already, but you can make it yourself easilly.

That different protocols example looks to me like a facade pattern. You have a common interface when there are different implementations for each case.

You could use the same principle, make a ResourceLoader class which takes the string from your properties file, and checks for a custom protocol of ours

myprotocol:a.xml
myprotocol:file:///tmp.txt
myprotocol:http://127.0.0.1:8080/a.properties
myprotocol:jar:http://www.foo.com/bar/baz.jar!/COM/foo/Quux.class

strips the myprotocol: from the start of the string and then makes a decision of which way to load the resource, and just gives you the resource.

Answer 2

(Similar to Azder's answer, but a slightly different tact.)

I don't believe there is a predefined protocol handler for content from the classpath. (The so-called classpath: protocol).

However, Java does allow you to add your own protocols. This is done through providing concrete implementations java.net.URLStreamHandler and java.net.URLConnection.

This article describes how a custom stream handler can be implemented: http://java.sun.com/developer/onlineTraining/protocolhandlers/.

Answer 3

An extension to Dilums's answer since I cannot post comments yet...

Without changing code, you likely need pursue custom implementations of URL related interfaces as Dilum recommends. To simplify things for you, I can recommend looking at the source for Spring Framework's Resources. While the code is not in the form of a stream handler, it has been designed to do exactly what you are looking to do and is under the ASL 2.0 license, making it friendly enough for re-use in your code with due credit.

Answer 4

Intro and basic Implementation

First up, you're going to need at least a URLStreamHandler. This will actually open the connection to a given URL. Notice that this is simply called Handler; this allows you to specify java -Djava.protocol.handler.pkgs=org.my.protocols and it will automatically be picked up, using the package name as the supported protocol (in this case "classpath").

Usage

new URL("classpath:org/my/package/resource.extension").openConnection();

Code

package org.my.protocols.classpath;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLConnection;
import java.net.URLStreamHandler;

/** A {@link URLStreamHandler} that handles resources on the classpath. */
public class Handler extends URLStreamHandler {
    /** The classloader to find resources from. */
    private final ClassLoader classLoader;

    public Handler(ClassLoader classLoader) {
        this.classLoader = classLoader;
    }

    @Override
    protected URLConnection openConnection(URL u) throws IOException {
        final URL resourceUrl = classLoader.getResource(u.getPath());
        return resourceUrl.openConnection();
    }
}

Launch issues

If you're anything like me, you don't want to rely on a property being set in the launch to get you somewhere (in my case, I like to keep my options open like Java WebStart - which is why I need all this).

Workarounds/Enhancements

Manual code Handler specification

If you control the code, you can do

new URL(null, "classpath:some/package/resource.extension", new org.my.protocols.classpath.Handler(ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()))

and this will use your handler to open the connection.

But again, this is less than satisfactory, as you don't need a URL to do this - you want to do this because some lib you can't (or don't want to) control wants urls...

JVM Handler registration

The ultimate option is to register a URLStreamHandlerFactory that will handle all urls across the jvm:

package my.org.url;

import java.net.URLStreamHandler;
import java.net.URLStreamHandlerFactory;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

class ConfigurableStreamHandlerFactory implements URLStreamHandlerFactory {
    private final Map<String, URLStreamHandler> protocolHandlers;

    public ConfigurableStreamHandlerFactory(String protocol, URLStreamHandler urlHandler) {
        protocolHandlers = new HashMap<String, URLStreamHandler>();
        addHandler(protocol, urlHandler);
    }

    public void addHandler(String protocol, URLStreamHandler urlHandler) {
        protocolHandlers.put(protocol, urlHandler);
    }

    public URLStreamHandler createURLStreamHandler(String protocol) {
        return protocolHandlers.get(protocol);
    }
}

To register the handler, call URL.setURLStreamHandlerFactory() with your configured factory. Then do new URL("classpath:org/my/package/resource.extension") like the first example and away you go.

JVM Handler Registration Issue

Note that this method may only be called once per JVM, and note well that Tomcat will use this method to register a JNDI handler (AFAIK). Try Jetty (I will be); at worst, you can use the method first and then it has to work around you!

License

I release this to the public domain, and ask that if you wish to modify that you start a OSS project somewhere and comment here with the details. A better implementation would be to have a URLStreamHandlerFactory that uses ThreadLocals to store URLStreamHandlers for each Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader(). I'll even give you my modifications and test classes.

Now give me lots of up-votes! :)