[[resources]]
= Resources

This chapter covers how Spring handles resources and how you can work with resources in
Spring. It includes the following topics:

* <<resources-introduction>>
* <<resources-resource>>
* <<resources-implementations>>
* <<resources-resourceloader>>
* <<resources-resourceloaderaware>>
* <<resources-as-dependencies>>
* <<resources-app-ctx>>




[[resources-introduction]]
== Introduction

Java's standard `java.net.URL` class and standard handlers for various URL prefixes,
unfortunately, are not quite adequate enough for all access to low-level resources. For
example, there is no standardized `URL` implementation that may be used to access a
resource that needs to be obtained from the classpath or relative to a
`ServletContext`. While it is possible to register new handlers for specialized `URL`
prefixes (similar to existing handlers for prefixes such as `http:`), this is generally
quite complicated, and the `URL` interface still lacks some desirable functionality,
such as a method to check for the existence of the resource being pointed to.




[[resources-resource]]
== The Resource Interface

Spring's `Resource` interface is meant to be a more capable interface for abstracting
access to low-level resources. The following listing shows the `Resource` interface
definition:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	public interface Resource extends InputStreamSource {

		boolean exists();

		boolean isOpen();

		URL getURL() throws IOException;

		File getFile() throws IOException;

		Resource createRelative(String relativePath) throws IOException;

		String getFilename();

		String getDescription();

	}
----
====

As the definition of the `Resource` interface shows, it extends the `InputStreamSource`
interface. The following listing shows the definition of the `InputStreamSource`
interface:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	public interface InputStreamSource {

		InputStream getInputStream() throws IOException;

	}
----
====

Some of the most important methods from the `Resource` interface are:

* `getInputStream()`: Locates and opens the resource, returning an `InputStream` for
  reading from the resource. It is expected that each invocation returns a fresh
  `InputStream`. It is the responsibility of the caller to close the stream.
* `exists()`: Returns a `boolean` indicating whether this resource actually exists in
  physical form.
* `isOpen()`: Returns a `boolean` indicating whether this resource represents a handle
  with an open stream. If `true`, the `InputStream` cannot be read multiple times and
  must be read once only and then closed to avoid resource leaks. Returns `false` for
  all usual resource implementations, with the exception of `InputStreamResource`.
* `getDescription()`: Returns a description for this resource, to be used for error
  output when working with the resource. This is often the fully qualified file name or
  the actual URL of the resource.

Other methods let you obtain an actual `URL` or `File` object representing the
resource (if the underlying implementation is compatible and supports that
functionality).

Spring itself uses the `Resource` abstraction extensively, as an argument type in
many method signatures when a resource is needed. Other methods in some Spring APIs
(such as the constructors to various `ApplicationContext` implementations) take a
`String` which in unadorned or simple form is used to create a `Resource` appropriate to
that context implementation or, via special prefixes on the `String` path, let the
caller specify that a specific `Resource` implementation must be created and used.

While the `Resource` interface is used a lot with Spring and by Spring, it is actually
very useful to use as a general utility class by itself in your own code, for access to
resources, even when your code does not know or care about any other parts of Spring.
While this couples your code to Spring, it really only couples it to this small set of
utility classes, which serve as a more capable replacement for `URL` and can be
considered equivalent to any other library you would use for this purpose.

NOTE: The `Resource` abstraction does not replace functionality.
It wraps it where possible. For example, a `UrlResource` wraps a URL and uses the
wrapped `URL` to do its work.




[[resources-implementations]]
== Built-in Resource Implementations

Spring includes the following `Resource` implementations:

* <<resources-implementations-urlresource>>
* <<resources-implementations-classpathresource>>
* <<resources-implementations-filesystemresource>>
* <<resources-implementations-servletcontextresource>>
* <<resources-implementations-inputstreamresource>>
* <<resources-implementations-bytearrayresource>>



[[resources-implementations-urlresource]]
=== `UrlResource`

`UrlResource` wraps a `java.net.URL` and can be used to access any object that is
normally accessible with a URL, such as files, an HTTP target, an FTP target, and others. All
URLs have a standardized `String` representation, such that appropriate standardized
prefixes are used to indicate one URL type from another. This includes `file:` for
accessing filesystem paths, `http:` for accessing resources through the HTTP protocol,
`ftp:` for accessing resources through FTP, and others.

A `UrlResource` is created by Java code by explicitly using the `UrlResource` constructor
but is often created implicitly when you call an API method that takes a `String`
argument meant to represent a path. For the latter case, a JavaBeans
`PropertyEditor` ultimately decides which type of `Resource` to create. If the path
string contains well-known (to it, that is) prefix (such as `classpath:`), it
creates an appropriate specialized `Resource` for that prefix. However, if it does not
recognize the prefix, it assume the string is a standard URL string and
creates a `UrlResource`.



[[resources-implementations-classpathresource]]
=== `ClassPathResource`

This class represents a resource that should be obtained from the classpath. It uses
either the thread context class loader, a given class loader, or a given class for
loading resources.

This `Resource` implementation supports resolution as `java.io.File` if the class path
resource resides in the file system but not for classpath resources that reside in a
jar and have not been expanded (by the servlet engine or whatever the environment is)
to the filesystem. To address this, the various `Resource` implementations always support
resolution as a `java.net.URL`.

A `ClassPathResource` is created by Java code by explicitly using the `ClassPathResource`
constructor but is often created implicitly when you call an API method that takes a
`String` argument meant to represent a path. For the latter case, a JavaBeans
`PropertyEditor` recognizes the special prefix, `classpath:`, on the string path and
creates a `ClassPathResource` in that case.



[[resources-implementations-filesystemresource]]
=== `FileSystemResource`

This is a `Resource` implementation for `java.io.File` and `java.nio.file.Path` handles.
It supports resolution as a `File` and as a `URL`.



[[resources-implementations-servletcontextresource]]
=== `ServletContextResource`

This is a `Resource` implementation for `ServletContext` resources that interprets
relative paths within the relevant web application's root directory.

It always supports stream access and URL access but allows `java.io.File` access only
when the web application archive is expanded and the resource is physically on the
filesystem. Whether or not it is expanded and on the filesystem or accessed
directly from the JAR or somewhere else like a database (which is conceivable) is actually
dependent on the Servlet container.



[[resources-implementations-inputstreamresource]]
=== `InputStreamResource`

An `InputStreamResource` is a `Resource` implementation for a given `InputStream`. It should be used only if no
specific `Resource` implementation is applicable. In particular, prefer
`ByteArrayResource` or any of the file-based `Resource` implementations where possible.

In contrast to other `Resource` implementations, this is a descriptor for an already-opened
resource. Therefore, it returns `true` from `isOpen()`. Do not use it if you need
to keep the resource descriptor somewhere or if you need to read a stream multiple
times.



[[resources-implementations-bytearrayresource]]
=== `ByteArrayResource`

This is a `Resource` implementation for a given byte array. It creates a
`ByteArrayInputStream` for the given byte array.

It is useful for loading content from any given byte array without having to resort to a
single-use `InputStreamResource`.



[[resources-resourceloader]]
== The `ResourceLoader`

The `ResourceLoader` interface is meant to be implemented by objects that can return
(that is, load) `Resource` instances. The following listing shows the `ResourceLoader`
interface definition:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	public interface ResourceLoader {

		Resource getResource(String location);

	}
----
====

All application contexts implement the `ResourceLoader` interface. Therefore, all
application contexts may be used to obtain `Resource` instances.

When you call `getResource()` on a specific application context, and the location path
specified doesn't have a specific prefix, you get back a `Resource` type that is
appropriate to that particular application context. For example, assume the following
snippet of code was executed against a `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext` instance:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	Resource template = ctx.getResource("some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----
====

Against a `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext`, that code returns a `ClassPathResource`. If the same method were executed
against a `FileSystemXmlApplicationContext` instance, it would return a
`FileSystemResource`. For a `WebApplicationContext`, it would return a
`ServletContextResource`. It would similarly return appropriate objects for each context.

As a result, you can load resources in a fashion appropriate to the particular application
context.

On the other hand, you may also force `ClassPathResource` to be used, regardless of the
application context type, by specifying the special `classpath:` prefix, as the following
example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	Resource template = ctx.getResource("classpath:some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----
====

Similarly, you can force a `UrlResource` to be used by specifying any of the standard
`java.net.URL` prefixes. The following pair of examples use the `file` and `http`
prefixes:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	Resource template = ctx.getResource("file:///some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----

[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	Resource template = ctx.getResource("http://myhost.com/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----
====

The following table summarizes the strategy for converting `String` objects to `Resource` objects:

[[resources-resource-strings]]
.Resource strings
|===
| Prefix| Example| Explanation

| classpath:
| `classpath:com/myapp/config.xml`
| Loaded from the classpath.

| file:
| `file:///data/config.xml`
| Loaded as a `URL` from the filesystem. See also <<resources-filesystemresource-caveats>>.

| http:
| `http://myserver/logo.png`
| Loaded as a `URL`.

| (none)
| `/data/config.xml`
| Depends on the underlying `ApplicationContext`.
|===




[[resources-resourceloaderaware]]
== The `ResourceLoaderAware` interface

The `ResourceLoaderAware` interface is a special marker interface that identifies objects
that expect to be provided with a `ResourceLoader` reference. The following listing shows
the definition of the `ResourceLoaderAware` interface:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	public interface ResourceLoaderAware {

		void setResourceLoader(ResourceLoader resourceLoader);
	}
----
====

When a class implements `ResourceLoaderAware` and is deployed into an application
context (as a Spring-managed bean), it is recognized as `ResourceLoaderAware` by the
application context. The application context then invokes
`setResourceLoader(ResourceLoader)`, supplying itself as the argument (remember, all
application contexts in Spring implement the `ResourceLoader` interface).

Since an `ApplicationContext` is a `ResourceLoader`, the bean could also
implement the `ApplicationContextAware` interface and use the supplied application
context directly to load resources. However, in general, it is better to use the specialized
`ResourceLoader` interface if that is all you need. The code would be coupled only
to the resource loading interface (which can be considered a utility interface) and not to
the whole Spring `ApplicationContext` interface.

As of Spring 2.5, you can rely upon autowiring of the `ResourceLoader` as an alternative
to implementing the `ResourceLoaderAware` interface. The "`traditional`" `constructor` and
`byType` autowiring modes (as described in <<beans-factory-autowire>>) are now capable
of providing a dependency of type `ResourceLoader` for either a constructor argument or a
setter method parameter, respectively. For more flexibility (including the ability to
autowire fields and multiple parameter methods), consider using the annotation-based
autowiring features. In that case, the `ResourceLoader` is autowired into a field,
constructor argument, or method parameter that expects the `ResourceLoader` type as
long as the field, constructor, or method in question carries the `@Autowired`
annotation. For more information, see <<beans-autowired-annotation>>.




[[resources-as-dependencies]]
== Resources as Dependencies

If the bean itself is going to determine and supply the resource path through some sort
of dynamic process, it probably makes sense for the bean to use the `ResourceLoader`
interface to load resources. For example, consider the loading of a template of some
sort, where the specific resource that is needed depends on the role of the user. If the
resources are static, it makes sense to eliminate the use of the `ResourceLoader`
interface completely, have the bean expose the `Resource` properties it needs,
and expect them to be injected into it.

What makes it trivial to then inject these properties is that all application contexts
register and use a special JavaBeans `PropertyEditor`, which can convert `String` paths
to `Resource` objects. So, if `myBean` has a template property of type `Resource`, it can
be configured with a simple string for that resource, as the following example shows:

====
[source,xml,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	<bean id="myBean" class="...">
		<property name="template" value="some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt"/>
	</bean>
----
====

Note that the resource path has no prefix. Consequently, because the application context itself is
going to be used as the `ResourceLoader`, the resource itself is loaded through a
`ClassPathResource`, a `FileSystemResource`, or a `ServletContextResource`,
depending on the exact type of the context.

If you need to force a specific `Resource` type to be used, you can use a prefix.
The following two examples show how to force a `ClassPathResource` and a
`UrlResource` (the latter being used to access a filesystem file):

====
[source,xml,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	<property name="template" value="classpath:some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt">
----

[source,xml,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	<property name="template" value="file:///some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt"/>
----
====




[[resources-app-ctx]]
== Application Contexts and Resource Paths

This section covers how to create application contexts with resources, including shortcuts
that work with XML, how to use wildcards, and other details.



[[resources-app-ctx-construction]]
=== Constructing Application Contexts

An application context constructor (for a specific application context type) generally
takes a string or array of strings as the location paths of the resources, such as
XML files that make up the definition of the context.

When such a location path does not have a prefix, the specific `Resource` type built from
that path and used to load the bean definitions depends on and is appropriate to the
specific application context. For example, consider the following example, which creates a
`ClassPathXmlApplicationContext`:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("conf/appContext.xml");
----
====

The bean definitions are loaded from the classpath, because a `ClassPathResource` is
used. However, consider the following example, which creates a `FileSystemXmlApplicationContext`:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("conf/appContext.xml");
----
====

Now the bean definition is loaded from a filesystem location (in this case, relative to
the current working directory).

Note that the use of the special classpath prefix or a standard URL prefix on the
location path overrides the default type of `Resource` created to load the
definition. Consider the following example:

[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("classpath:conf/appContext.xml");
----

Using `FileSystemXmlApplicationContext` loads the bean definitions from the classpath. However, it is still a
`FileSystemXmlApplicationContext`. If it is subsequently used as a `ResourceLoader`, any
unprefixed paths are still treated as filesystem paths.


[[resources-app-ctx-classpathxml]]
==== Constructing `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext` Instances -- Shortcuts

The `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext` exposes a number of constructors to enable
convenient instantiation. The basic idea is that you can supply merely a string array
that contains only the filenames of the XML files themselves (without the leading path
information) and also supplies a `Class`. The `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext`
then derives the path information from the supplied class.

Consider the following directory layout:

====
[literal]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
com/
  foo/
    services.xml
    daos.xml
    MessengerService.class
----
====

The following example shows how a `ClassPathXmlApplicationContext` instance composed of the beans defined in
files named `services.xml` and `daos.xml` (which are on the classpath) can be instantiated:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext(
		new String[] {"services.xml", "daos.xml"}, MessengerService.class);
----
====

See the {api-spring-framework}/jca/context/SpringContextResourceAdapter.html[`ClassPathXmlApplicationContext`]
javadoc for details on the various constructors.



[[resources-app-ctx-wildcards-in-resource-paths]]
=== Wildcards in Application Context Constructor Resource Paths

The resource paths in application context constructor values may be simple paths (as
shown earlier), each of which has a one-to-one mapping to a target `Resource` or, alternately, may
contain the special "classpath*:" prefix or internal Ant-style regular expressions
(matched by using Spring's `PathMatcher` utility). Both of the latter are effectively
wildcards.

One use for this mechanism is when you need to do component-style application assembly. All
components can 'publish' context definition fragments to a well-known location path, and,
when the final application context is created using the same path prefixed with
`classpath*:`, all component fragments are automatically picked up.

Note that this wildcarding is specific to the use of resource paths in application context
constructors (or when you use the `PathMatcher` utility class hierarchy directly) and is
resolved at construction time. It has nothing to do with the `Resource` type itself.
You cannot use the `classpath*:` prefix to construct an actual `Resource`, as
a resource points to just one resource at a time.


[[resources-app-ctx-ant-patterns-in-paths]]
==== Ant-style Patterns

Path locations can contain Ant-style patterns, as the following example shows:

====
[literal]
[subs="verbatim"]
----
/WEB-INF/*-context.xml
com/mycompany/**/applicationContext.xml
file:C:/some/path/*-context.xml
classpath:com/mycompany/**/applicationContext.xml
----
====

When the path location contains an Ant-style pattern, the resolver follows a more complex procedure to try to resolve the
wildcard. It produces a `Resource` for the path up to the last non-wildcard segment and
obtains a URL from it. If this URL is not a `jar:` URL or container-specific variant
(such as `zip:` in WebLogic, `wsjar` in WebSphere, and so on), a `java.io.File` is
obtained from it and used to resolve the wildcard by traversing the filesystem. In the
case of a jar URL, the resolver either gets a `java.net.JarURLConnection` from it or
manually parses the jar URL and then traverses the contents of the jar file to resolve
the wildcards.

[[resources-app-ctx-portability]]
===== Implications on Portability

If the specified path is already a file URL (either implicitly because the base
`ResourceLoader` is a filesystem one or explicitly), wildcarding is guaranteed to
work in a completely portable fashion.

If the specified path is a classpath location, the resolver must obtain the last
non-wildcard path segment URL by making a `Classloader.getResource()` call. Since this
is just a node of the path (not the file at the end), it is actually undefined (in the
`ClassLoader` javadoc) exactly what sort of a URL is returned in this case. In practice,
it is always a `java.io.File` representing the directory (where the classpath resource
resolves to a filesystem location) or a jar URL of some sort (where the classpath resource
resolves to a jar location). Still, there is a portability concern on this operation.

If a jar URL is obtained for the last non-wildcard segment, the resolver must be able to
get a `java.net.JarURLConnection` from it or manually parse the jar URL, to be able to
walk the contents of the jar and resolve the wildcard. This does work in most environments
but fails in others, and we strongly recommend that the wildcard resolution of resources
coming from jars be thoroughly tested in your specific environment before you rely on it.


[[resources-classpath-wildcards]]
==== The `classpath*:` Prefix

When constructing an XML-based application context, a location string may use the
special `classpath*:` prefix, as the following example shows:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath*:conf/appContext.xml");
----
====

This special prefix specifies that all classpath resources that match the given name
must be obtained (internally, this essentially happens through a call to
`ClassLoader.getResources(...)`) and then merged to form the final application
context definition.

NOTE: The wildcard classpath relies on the `getResources()` method of the underlying
classloader. As most application servers nowadays supply their own classloader
implementation, the behavior might differ, especially when dealing with jar files. A
simple test to check if `classpath*` works is to use the classloader to load a file from
within a jar on the classpath:
`getClass().getClassLoader().getResources("<someFileInsideTheJar>")`. Try this test with
files that have the same name but are placed inside two different locations. In case an
inappropriate result is returned, check the application server documentation for
settings that might affect the classloader behavior.

You can also combine the `classpath*:` prefix with a `PathMatcher` pattern in the
rest of the location path (for example, `classpath*:META-INF/*-beans.xml`). In this
case, the resolution strategy is fairly simple: A `ClassLoader.getResources()` call is
used on the last non-wildcard path segment to get all the matching resources in the
class loader hierarchy and then, off each resource, the same `PathMatcher` resolution
strategy described earlier is used for the wildcard subpath.


[[resources-wildcards-in-path-other-stuff]]
==== Other Notes Relating to Wildcards

Note that `classpath*:`, when combined with Ant-style patterns, only works
reliably with at least one root directory before the pattern starts, unless the actual
target files reside in the file system. This means that a pattern such as
`classpath*:*.xml` might not retrieve files from the root of jar files but rather only
from the root of expanded directories.

Spring's ability to retrieve classpath entries originates from the JDK's
`ClassLoader.getResources()` method, which only returns file system locations for an
empty string (indicating potential roots to search). Spring evaluates
`URLClassLoader` runtime configuration and the `java.class.path` manifest in jar files
as well, but this is not guaranteed to lead to portable behavior.

[NOTE]
====
The scanning of classpath packages requires the presence of corresponding directory
entries in the classpath. When you build JARs with Ant, do not activate the files-only
switch of the JAR task. Also, classpath directories may not get exposed based on security
policies in some environments -- for example, stand-alone applications on JDK 1.7.0_45
and higher (which requires 'Trusted-Library' to be set up in your manifests. See
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/19394570/java-jre-7u45-breaks-classloader-getresources).

On JDK 9's module path (Jigsaw), Spring's classpath scanning generally works as expected.
Putting resources into a dedicated directory is highly recommendable here as well,
avoiding the aforementioned portability problems with searching the jar file root level.
====

Ant-style patterns with `classpath:` resources are not guaranteed to find matching
resources if the root package to search is available in multiple class path locations.
Consider the following example of a resource location:

====
[literal]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
com/mycompany/package1/service-context.xml
----
====

Now consider an Ant-style path that someone might use to try to find that file:

[literal]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
classpath:com/mycompany/**/service-context.xml
----

Such a resource may be in only one location, but when a path such as the preceding example
is used to try to resolve it, the resolver works off the (first) URL returned by
`getResource("com/mycompany");`. If this base package node exists in multiple
classloader locations, the actual end resource may not be there. Therefore, in such a case
you should prefer using `classpath*:` with the same Ant-style pattern, which
searches all class path locations that contain the root package.



[[resources-filesystemresource-caveats]]
=== `FileSystemResource` Caveats

A `FileSystemResource` that is not attached to a `FileSystemApplicationContext` (that
is, when a `FileSystemApplicationContext` is not the actual `ResourceLoader`) treats
absolute and relative paths as you would expect. Relative paths are relative to the
current working directory, while absolute paths are relative to the root of the
filesystem.

For backwards compatibility (historical) reasons however, this changes when the
`FileSystemApplicationContext` is the `ResourceLoader`. The
`FileSystemApplicationContext` forces all attached `FileSystemResource` instances
to treat all location paths as relative, whether they start with a leading slash or not.
In practice, this means the following examples are equivalent:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("conf/context.xml");
----

[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("/conf/context.xml");
----
====

The following examples are also equivalent (even though it would make sense for them to be different, as one
case is relative and the other absolute):

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	FileSystemXmlApplicationContext ctx = ...;
	ctx.getResource("some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----

[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	FileSystemXmlApplicationContext ctx = ...;
	ctx.getResource("/some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----
====

In practice, if you need true absolute filesystem paths, you should avoid using
absolute paths with `FileSystemResource` or `FileSystemXmlApplicationContext` and
force the use of a `UrlResource` by using the `file:` URL prefix. The following examples
show how to do so:

====
[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	// actual context type doesn't matter, the Resource will always be UrlResource
	ctx.getResource("file:///some/resource/path/myTemplate.txt");
----

[source,java,indent=0]
[subs="verbatim,quotes"]
----
	// force this FileSystemXmlApplicationContext to load its definition via a UrlResource
	ApplicationContext ctx =
		new FileSystemXmlApplicationContext("file:///conf/context.xml");
----
====
