Spring application context external properties?

Question

i have a Spring application and its working well so far. Now i want the properties file in an external config folder and not in the packed jar to change things without the need to repack. This is what i got:

<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
<!-- <property name="locations" value="classpath:/springcontext.properties"/>  -->
<property name="locations" value ="config/springcontext.properties" />

The outcommented one is working and the other one i dont get to work :/ Can someone help?

Edit: Thx 4 comments so far.

Maybe my question wasnt clear enough :). I perform a Maven build and everything will be packaged and i want this folder to be NOT in the package nut next to the outcomming jar and in this folder i want the properties file. possible?

Answer 1

You can try something like this:

<context:property-placeholder 
        location="${ext.properties.dir:classpath:}/servlet.properties" />

And define ext.properties.dir property in your application server / jvm, otherwise the default properties location "classpath:/" (i.e., classes dir of .jar or .war) would be used:

-Dext.properties.dir=file:/usr/local/etc/

BTW, very useful blog post.