Config file for holding connection string parameters in Java

Question

I come from an ASP .Net background. I am now writing a Java program to import data from a DB2 database into an Oracle database. I have completed the basic functionality of importing this data.

The problem I have is, I have all the connection properties harcoded into the Java program itself. Is there any "Best Practices" methodology to have the connection string details stored in a configuration file similar to web.config we use for ASP .Net? Does Java have any kind of mechanism for accomplishing this? Or do I need to simply use I/O operations to read the key/value pairs from a simple txt file? I have read a bit about .properties? Is this this way to go?

I am just looking for a prod in the right direction. Any help would be appreciated.

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 12:15:33Z

4

The simplest way to do it, if you're not tied to a particular framework, is with a properties file. Have a look at the latter part of the accepted answer for this question (not the XML bit for your case).

Depending on whether you're using a servlet container or similar (e.g. Tomcat, Glassfish, etc.), you may also wish to consider using that container's connection settings and connection pooling, which may be simpler than recycling your own connections.

But if you're just trying to feel your way into Java and this is for you to learn about JDBC, keep it simple initially and just read your properties from a db.properties file on your classpath.

edited May 23, 2017 at 12:15

CommunityBot

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answered Jan 23, 2012 at 6:21

Amos M. Carpenter

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1 Comment

Raoul George Over a year ago

Thanks, took your advice and I'm set :)

mailboat · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-23 06:13:23Z

2

As far dealing with properties/property files, I haven't really seen a standard defined for it in Java. But since you are beginning with Java, you could start looking at. Apache Commons Config User Guide. It provides generic configuration interface that can be used to load properties from variety of sources.

I recommend going with Spring Framework. Spring is de-facto standard Javav application framework. The following link Spring New Config Features should set you up most some of most innovative approaches to work with properties.

@Configuration
public class AppConfig {
    private @Value("#{jdbcProperties.url}") String jdbcUrl;
    private @Value("#{jdbcProperties.username}") String username;
    private @Value("#{jdbcProperties.password}") String password
}

It has some advanced capabilities to deal with properties, uses annotations @Value to and automatically inject required properties. Besides this Spring abstracts your property source details from your files.

answered Jan 23, 2012 at 6:13

mailboat

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1 Comment

Raoul George Over a year ago

Thanks, I eventually went with a properties file. Went through the guide and it helped me a lot.

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