Develop Reference

Directory for Spring boot additional location parameter

I am trying override few of the properties in my spring boot application. The properties are spread across mutiple yml files within the same directory and hence i would like to specify spring.config.additional-location parameter with the value of directory..
spring.config.additional-location=file:///Mydirectory/
But the application is not able to load the configs. If I explicitly specify the file name, the properties are getting overwritten
spring.config.additional-location=file:///Mydirectory/application.yml
Is it possible to load all the files available in a directory using spring.config.additional-location? If yes, please let me know

Spring boot external configuration of property file

I have a spring boot application that I can package in a war that I want to deploy to different environments. To automate this deployment it'd be easier to have the configuration file externalized.
Currently everything works fine with a application.properties file in src/main/resources. Then I use ´mvn install´ to build a war deployable to tomcat.
But I would like to use a .yml file that does not need to be present on mvn install but that would be read from during deployment of the war and is in the same or a directory relative to my war.
24. externalized configuration shows where spring boot will look for files and 72.3 Change the location of external properties of an application gives more detail on how to configure this but I just do not understand how to translate this to my code.
My application class looks like this:
package be.ugent.lca;
Updated below
Do I need to add a #PropertySource to this file? How would I refer to a certain relative path?
I feel like it's probably documented in there as most spring boot documentation but I just don't understand how they mean me to do this.
EDIT
Not sure if this should be a separate issue but I think it's still related.
Upon setting the os variable the error of yaml file not found went away. Yet I still get the same error again as when I had no application .properties or .yml file.
Application now looks like this:
#Configuration
**#PropertySource("file:${application_home}/application.yml")**
#ComponentScan({"be.ugent.lca","be.ugent.sherpa.configuration"})
#EnableAutoConfiguration
#EnableSpringDataWebSupport
public class Application extends SpringBootServletInitializer{
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
}
The application_home OS variable
$ echo $application_home
C:\Masterproef\clones\la15-lca-web\rest-service\target
My application.yml file(part it complains about):
sherpa:
package:
base: be.ugent.lca
Error upon java -jar *.war
All variations upon:
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Could not resolve placeholder 'sherpa.package.base' in string value "${sherpa.package.base}"
at org.springframework.util.PropertyPlaceholderHelper.parseStringValue(PropertyPlaceholderHelper.java:174)
at org.springframework.util.PropertyPlaceholderHelper.replacePlaceholders(PropertyPlaceholderHelper.java:126)
at org.springframework.core.env.AbstractPropertyResolver.doResolvePlaceholders(AbstractPropertyResolver.java:204)
at org.springframework.core.env.AbstractPropertyResolver.resolveRequiredPlaceholders(AbstractPropertyResolver.java:178)
at org.springframework.context.support.PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer$2.resolveStringValue(PropertySourcesPlaceholderConfigurer.java:172)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.AbstractBeanFactory.resolveEmbeddedValue(AbstractBeanFactory.java:808)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.doResolveDependency(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:1027)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.support.DefaultListableBeanFactory.resolveDependency(DefaultListableBeanFactory.java:1014)
at org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor$AutowiredFieldElement.inject(AutowiredAnnotationBeanPostProcessor.java:545)
... 142 more

Using external properties files
The answer lies in the Spring Boot Docs, I'll try to break it down for you.
First of all, no you should not use #PropertySource when working with Yaml configuration, as mentioned here under the Yaml shortcomings :
YAML files can’t be loaded via the #PropertySource annotation. So in the case that you need to load values that way, you need to use a properties file.
So, how to load propery files? That is explained here Application Property Files
One is loaded for you: application.yml , place it in one of the directories as mentioned in the link above. This is great for your general configuration.
Now for your environment specific configuration (and stuff like passwords) you want to use external property files, how to do that is also explained in that section :
If you don’t like application.properties as the configuration file name you can switch to another by specifying a spring.config.name environment property. You can also refer to an explicit location using the spring.config.location environment property (comma-separated list of directory locations, or file paths).
So you use the spring.config.location environment property.
Imagine you have an external config file: application-external.yml in the conf/ dir under your home directory, just add it like this:
-Dspring.config.location=file:${home}/conf/application-external.yml as a startup parameter of your JVM.
If you have multiple files, just seperate them with a comma. Note that you can easily use external properties like this to overwrite properties, not just add them.
I would advice to test this by getting your application to work with just your internal application.yml file , and then overwrite a (test) property in your external properties file and log the value of it somewhere.
Bind Yaml properties to objects
When working with Yaml properties I usually load them with #ConfigurationProperties, which is great when working with for example lists or a more complex property structure. (Which is why you should use Yaml properties, for straightforward properties you are maybe better of using regular property files). Read this for more information: Type-Safe Configuration properties
Extra: loading these properties in IntelliJ, Maven and JUnit tests
Sometimes you want to load these properties in your maven builds or when performing tests. Or just for local development with your IDE
If you use IntelliJ for development you can easily add this by adding it to your Tomcat Run Configuration : "Run" -> "Edit Configurations" , select your run configuration under "Tomcat Server" , check the Server tab and add it under "VM Options".
To use external configuration files in your Maven build : configure the maven surefire plugin like this in your pom.xml:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<configuration>
<argLine>-Dspring.config.location=file:${home}/conf/application-external.yml</argLine>
</configuration>
</plugin>
When running JUnit tests in IntelliJ:
Run → Edit Configurations
Defaults → JUnit
add VM Options -> -ea -Dspring.config.location=file:${home}/conf/application-external.yml

Yes, you need to use #PropertySource as shown below.
The important point here is that you need to provide the application_home property (or choose any other name) as OS environment variable or System property or you can pass as a command line argument while launching Spring boot. This property tells where the configuration file (.properties or .yaml) is exactly located (example: /usr/local/my_project/ etc..)
#Configuration
#PropertySource("file:${application_home}config.properties")//or specify yaml file
#ComponentScan({"be.ugent.lca","be.ugent.sherpa.configuration"})
#EnableAutoConfiguration
#EnableSpringDataWebSupport
public class Application extends SpringBootServletInitializer{
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
}
}

There is a very simple way to achieve this.
Inside your original application.properties file you can just specify the following line:
spring.config.import=file:Directory_To_The_File/Property_Name.properties
It will automatically sync all the properties from the external property file.
Now lets say that you have a situation where you need to get properties from multiple property files. In that case, you can mention the same line in the external property file which in turn will take the remaining properties from the second property file and so on.
Consider the following example.
application.properties:
spring.config.import=file:Resources/Custom1.properties
Custom1.properties:
server.port=8090
.
.
.
spring.config.import=file:Resources/Custom2.properties

One of the easiest way to use externalized property file using system environment variable is, in application.properties file you can use following syntax:
spring.datasource.url = ${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_HOST}:${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PORT}/"nameofDB"
spring.datasource.username = ${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_USERNAME}
spring.datasource.password = ${OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PORT}
Now, declare above used environment variables,
export OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_HOST="jdbc:mysql://localhost"
export OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PORT="3306"
export OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_USERNAME="root"
export OPENSHIFT_MYSQL_DB_PASSWORD="123asd"
This way you can use different value for same variable in different environments.

Use below code in your boot class:
#PropertySource({"classpath:omnicell-health.properties"})
use below code in your controller:
#Autowired
private Environment env;

Boot picking up property file from dependency instead of application

I am using spring boot and I have added another spring boot app as Maven dependency in my project. The problem I am facing is that when I run the application, it picks the property file of the dependency instead of my current application. For example if I run the app using dev profile, application-dev.property file is picked from dependency instead of the running application.
I tried to debug the EnableEncryptablePropertySourcesPostProcessor file and below is the screenshot of the list of property file picked.

Check this out but you have a few options:
Simply specify the config file name:
java -jar myproject.jar --spring.config.name=myproject
And basically you can have myproject-dev.properties
Or directly specify the config files you wanna import:
java -jar myproject.jar --spring.config.location=classpath:/default.properties,classpath:/override.properties

Use PropertySource annotation to refer the properties file in your main application file as shown below
#PropertySource(value = { "file:/path/to/folder/file.properties" })
If you have same property in the multiple properties file then one in the classpath will get more preference

**In Application.java file it should be something like this
#PropertySource("classpath:application.properties")

spring boot: add new yml files to application config

i want developers to be able to locally override some configuration properties. (let's say we work on google drive and everyone should test it on its own account).
i don't want to override properties using command line (because it has to be set inside every IDE configuration and on every CLI run).
what i want is: application should use all the standard spring boot config files (application.yml etc) and also look for e.g. local.yml (on the classpath) or some file inside user.home. and those additional files should override other settings.
how to add new yml resources and order them correctly?
edit: i know spring's default orders and locations. question is about adding new ones

If you look in the Spring Boot documentation about the locations for configuration files (http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/htmlsingle/#boot-features-external-config), you can see, that they are loaded from the following places (amongst others):
Profile-specific application properties outside of your packaged jar (application-{profile}.properties and YAML variants)
Application properties outside of your packaged jar (application.properties and YAML variants).
There are two default locations where they are loaded from ( see http://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/htmlsingle/#boot-features-external-config-application-property-files):
A /config subdirectory of the current directory.
The current directory
Current directory in this case means the working directory for the Java process (Usually the directory where the JAR is located, or in case of running with in the IDE, usually the project root folder). So the developers just can place their own configuration files in that places and they are automatically loaded (and will override properties within the JARs). Add that files to .gitignore (or .svnignore or ...) and they won't accidentally committed into your repository.

There's a new way to do this, after Spring Boot v2.4, by using spring.config.import: https://spring.io/blog/2020/08/14/config-file-processing-in-spring-boot-2-4#importing-additional-configuration
By adding this part to your application.yml file, you should be able to import the additional configuration:
spring:
config:
import: local.yml
The article also has this section:
Imports can be considered as additional documents inserted just below the document that declares them. They follow the same top-down ordering as regular multi-document files: An import will only be imported once, no matter how many times it is declared.
So the contents of local.yml should be handled as if they were appended to the end of application.yml, thereby allowing you to override any property in application.yml.

From Spring Boot Documentation : Application property files:
SpringApplication will load properties from application.properties files in the following locations and add them to the Spring Environment:
A /config subdirectory of the current directory.
The current directory
A classpath /config package
The classpath root
The list is ordered by precedence (properties defined in locations higher in the list override those defined in lower locations).
This also goes for yaml, so you everyone can add application.yml under config directory, under the directory you run the spring boot jar from.
You can also customize the extra configuration file to be local.yml if you'd like by using spring.config.location:
--spring.config.location=classpath:/application.yml,classpath:/local.yml
Note however:
spring.config.name and spring.config.location are used very early to determine which files have to be loaded so they have to be defined as an environment property (typically OS env, system property or command line argument).

To provide the configuration from external config file in spring-boot application -
-Dspring.config.location=file:/home/vfroot/Workspace/project/MODULE_HOME/application.yaml
this command can be run with terminal:
mvn clean install -Dspring.config.location
= file:/home/vfroot/Workspace/MODULE_HOME/application.yaml
or need to set in Eclipse VM argument.
Also to set the active profiles :
-Dspring.profiles.active=dev

Well, since i am new in Spring Boot & Restfull Web Services. However, i managed to add a new .yml file to mange database and server port.
Instructions that i followed:
Project File.
Other Sources
src/main/resources
default package
right click on "default package"
add new YAML FILE
Or of YAML File option not available
5. right click on "default package"
6. then in categories: other --> File Types: YAML File

Custom config location and config name on Spring Boot

I'm trying to customize Spring Boot config location and config name using spring.config.name and spring.config.location properties as I've saw on Spring Boot reference guide
I've created an Spring Boot basic application to test it.
I'm able to customize it using OS environment variable like export SPRING_CONFIG_NAME=custom and/or export SPRING_CONFIG_LOCATION=classpath:/custom/location.properties. That works fine!
But I want to know, if it's possible to define spring.config.name=custom on default application.properties and then create a custom.properties file where I'll be able to define all application configuration properties.
I've checked it, and seems that it's not working defining spring.config.name property on application.properties... but I want to know if this is a valid way to do it before to create an issue on gitHub.
Regards,

From spring documentation:
spring.config.location environment property (comma-separated list of
directory locations, or file paths)
Moreover, code in ConfigFileApplicationListener shows that if there if no environment property, processing fallbacks to:
DEFAULT_SEARCH_LOCATIONS = "classpath:/,classpath:/config/,file:./,file:./config/";
And for the name:
DEFAULT_NAMES = "application";
So it is normal that what you are doing is not working.