Check if file exists from string - java

This is the code I use when I try to read some specific text in a *.txt file:
public void readFromFile(String filename, JTable table) {
BufferedReader bufferedReader = null;
try {
bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(filename));
String a,b,c,d;
for(int i=0; i<3; i++)
{
a = bufferedReader.readLine();
b = bufferedReader.readLine();
c = bufferedReader.readLine();
d = bufferedReader.readLine();
table.setValueAt(a, i, 0);
table.setValueAt(b, i, 1);
table.setValueAt(c, i, 2);
table.setValueAt(d, i, 3);
}
} catch (FileNotFoundException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
} finally {
//Close the reader
try {
if (bufferedReader != null) {
bufferedReader.close();
}
} catch (IOException ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
And it is called in this way:
readFromFile("C:/data/datafile.txt", table1)
The problem is the following: the 1st time I open the program the *.txt file I'm going to read does not exist, so I thought I could use the function exists(). I have no idea about what to do, but I tried this:
if(("C:/data/datafile.txt").exists()) {
readFromFile("C:/data/datafile.txt", table1)
}
It is not working because NetBeans gives me a lot of errors. How could I fix this?

String has no method named exists() (and even if it did it would not do what you require), which will be the cause of the errors reported by the IDE.
Create an instance of File and invoke exists() on the File instance:
if (new File("C:/data/datafile.txt").exists())
{
}

Note: This answer use classes that aren't available on a version less than Java 7.
The method exists() for the object String doesn't exist. See the String documentation for more information. If you want to check if a file exist base on a path you should use Path with Files to verify the existence of the file.
Path file = Paths.get("C:/data/datafile.txt");
if(Files.exists(file)){
//your code here
}
Some tutorial about the Path class : Oracle tutorial
And a blog post about How to manipulate files in Java 7
Suggestion for your code:
I'll point to you the tutorial about try-with-resources as it could be useful to you. I also want to bring your attention on Files#readAllLines as it could help you reduce the code for the reading operation. Based on this method you could use a for-each loop to add all the lines of the file on your JTable.

you can use this code to check if the file exist
Using java.io.File
File f = new File(filePathString);
if(f.exists()) { /* do something */ }

You need to give it an actual File object. You're on the right track, but NetBeans (and java, for that matter) has no idea what '("C:/data/datafile.txt")' is.
What you probably wanted to do there was create a java.io.File object using that string as the argument, like so:
File file = new File ("C:/data/datafile.txt");
if (file.exists()) {
readFromFile("C:/data/datafile.txt", table1);
}
Also, you were missing a semicolon at the end of the readFromFile call. Im not sure if that is just a typo, but you'll want to check on that as well.
If you know you're only ever using this File object just to check existence, you could also do:
if (new File("C:/data/datafile.txt").exists()) {
readFromFile("C:/data/datafile.txt", table1);
}

If you want to ensure that you can read from the file, it might even be appropriate to use:
if(new File("C:/data/datafile.txt").canRead()){
...
}
as a condition, in order to verify that the file exists and you have sufficient permissions to read from the file.
Link to canRead() javadoc

Related

Java desktop app cannot write a file on C:\ drive

I am trying to write a file on a C:\ drive, but I get an exception.
java.io.IOException: Access denied.
Code:
public class Test {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(File.separator);
sb.append("index.txt");
// sb is "\\index.txt"
File f = new File(sb.toString());
boolean isCreated = f.createNewFile();
System.out.println(isCreated);
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(Test.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
Actually, I get it, I don't have permission to write a file there, but I am quite sure it can be done somehow. If I had an applet, I'd just obtain a permission, but here, I don't know how to do it.
The probable solution may be checking if I can write a file there, but to check it I might try to write a file first adn then delete it in order to check if it is possible to write a file there, but I don't find this solution an optimal way.
The easiest way to check is to use File.canWrite().
Having said that, it looks like you're writing into the root of the drive. On Windows that's probably not a good idea, and you may want to consider writing elsewhere - e.g. a temp dir.
I have written a method, that takes a String to a directory, and checks, whether you can write a file out there:
static boolean canWrite(String folderPath) {
File file = new File(folderPath);
String new_file = "HastaLaVistaBaby";
if (file.isDirectory()) {
try {
new File(file + "\\" + new_file).createNewFile();
} catch (IOException e) {
return false;
}
new File(file + "\\" + new_file).delete();
return true;
} else {
return false;
}
}
To improve it, you may check, whether file.isFile() and get a parent directory and call this method.
This line should be:
sb.append("C:\\index.txt");
The extra backslash escapes a backslash.
Whether you hard-code a file name, like I did, or you get a file name from the user, you need the full path and file name.

How do I call method if exception thrown?

I have a method called readinFile and if the user enters a wrong file instead of exiting I wanted to call the method readinFile again inside the readinFile method I ask the user for new filename. The problem I am running into is the first time it goes through it and gives the exception file not found than it goes through the catch(). I want it to call the method and not run the last inputStream.
try
{
inputStream = new Scanner(new FileInputStream(fileName));
}
catch(FileNotFoundException E)
{
readinfile(table, numberOfColumns, header,
original, sntypes,displaySize,
writeOut,inputStream,fileName );
System.out.print("It got here after doing the method call");
}
You should generally not use exceptions for branching. Just check for the existance of the file using File.exists, like so:
new File(fileName).exists()
You probably want to do something like this:
String fileName;
do {
System.out.println("Please enter filename");
fileName = getFileNameFromInput();
File file = new File(fileName);
} while (!file.exists());
readFile(file);
EDIT:
As Bruno Reis has pointed out, this will only check if the file exists when the user specified the file name. If the file was to be moved/deleted between specifying the file name and reading it then a FileNotFoundException would still be thrown.
To reduce the risk of this you can lock the file as discussed in this question.
bool invalidFilename = true;
string fileName;
while(invalidFilename)
{
readinfile(...);
invalidFilename = !new File(fileName).exists();
}
inputStream = new Scanner(new FileInputStream(fileName));
You can check if the filename the user input does exists or not, and don't need to catch the exception. (which is not a good design code, decrease the readability of the code)....
as inflagranti said,
you can do this pseudocode
if (!new File(filename).exists()){
//read your other file from user
readinfile(....)
}
To get what you are after, without the chance of the file being deleted after you check for it existing but before you open it do something like:
boolean done = false;
String fileName = fileNameParameter;
while(!done)
{
try
{
inputStream = new Scanner(new FileInputStream(fileName));
done = true;
}
catch(FileNotFoundException E)
{
fileName = /* ask the user for the file name */
}
}

Exporting to CSV/Excel in Java

I'm trying to export data into a CSV file through Java and I've got some code to do it but it doesn't seem to be outputting the CSV file. Could someone tell me what's wrong? What I would like to do is rather than saving the file somewhere, I would like it to be directly exported to the user.
EDIT: Just in case it's not clear, I don't want the file to be saved anywhere but would like it to be outputted automatically to the user i.e. they click export and get the "Run/Save results.csv" window and they open the file. Currently the file is getting saved so I know that the method seems to work, just in the opposite way that I want it to.
public static void writeToCSV(List<Map> objectList) {
String CSV_SEPARATOR = ",";
try {
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(
new FileOutputStream("results.csv"), "UTF-8"));
for (Map objectDetails : objectList) {
StringBuffer oneLine = new StringBuffer();
Iterator it = objectDetails.values().iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
Object value = it.next();
if(value !=null){
oneLine.append(value.toString());
}
if (it.hasNext()) {
oneLine.append(CSV_SEPARATOR);
}
}
bw.write(oneLine.toString());
bw.newLine();
}
bw.flush();
bw.close();
} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
} catch (IOException e) {
}
}
I would recommend using a framework like opencsv for that. It also does escaping and quoting for you.
If you're not getting errors, check the directory where your code is. Without a specific path, your file is being saved there.
EDIT: Since the file is being saved and you want it to open automatically, use
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("results.csv");
(For Windows - opens the csv file in the default application for csv files)
Runtime.getRuntime().exec("open results.csv");
(For Mac - opens the csv file in the default application for csv files)
recommend HSSFWorkbook to easily read and write excel files.
http://poi.apache.org/apidocs/org/apache/poi/hssf/usermodel/HSSFWorkbook.html
To do that, the CSV reader need to read the memory of your program. This is a little complex thing to do. So, save the file in a temp folder instead. There is no problem to do this sort of thing.

FFMPEG in Java issue

I have the following code in a java Web Service:
public boolean makeFile(String fileName, String audio)
{
if (makeUserFolder())
{
File file = new File(getUserFolderPath() + fileName + amr);
FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = null;
try
{
file.createNewFile();
fileOutputStream = new FileOutputStream(file);
fileOutputStream.write(Base64.decode(audio));
return true;
}
catch(FileNotFoundException ex)
{
return false;
}
catch(IOException ex)
{
return false;
}
finally{
try {
fileOutputStream.close();
convertFile(fileName);
} catch (IOException ex) {
Logger.getLogger(FileUtils.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
}
}
}
else
return false;
}
public boolean convertFile(String fileName)
{
Process ffmpeg;
String filePath = this.userFolderPath + fileName;
try {
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("ffmpeg","-i",filePath + amr,filePath + mp3);
pb.redirectErrorStream();
ffmpeg = pb.start();
} catch (IOException ex) {
return false;
}
return true;
}
It used to work and now it simply won't execute the ffmpeg conversion for some reason. I thought it was a problem with my file but after running the command from terminal no errors are thrown or anything, thought it was maybe permissions issue but all the permissions have been granted in the folder I'm saving the files. I noticed that the input BufferedReader ins being set to null after running the process, any idea what's happening?
First of all, a small nitpick with your code...when you create the FileOutputStream you create it using a string rather than a File, when you have already created the File before, so you might as well recycle that rather than force the FileOutputStream to instantiate the File itself.
Another small nitpick is the fact that when you are writing out the audio file, you should enclose that in a try block and close the output stream in a finally block. If you are allowed to add a new library to your project, you might use Guava which has a method Files.write(byte[],File), which will take care of all the dirty resource management for you.
The only thing that I can see that looks like a definite bug is the fact that you are ignoring the error stream of ffmpeg. If you are blocking waiting for input on the stdout of ffmpeg, then it will not work.
The easiest way to take care of this bug is to use ProcessBuilder instead of Runtime.
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("ffmpeg","-i",filePath+amr,filePath+mp3);
pb.redirectErrorStream(); // This will make both stdout and stderr be redirected to process.getInputStream();
ffmpeg = pb.start();
If you start it this way, then your current code will be able to read both input streams fully. It is possible that the stderr was hiding some error that you were not able to see due to not reading it.
If that was not your problem, I would recommend using absolute paths with ffmpeg...in other words:
String lastdot = file.getName().lastIndexOf('.');
File mp3file = new File(file.getParentFile(),file.getName().substring(0,lastdot)+".mp3");
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("ffmpeg","-i",file.getAbsolutePath(),mp3file.getAbsolutePath());
// ...
If that doesn't work, I would change ffmpeg to be an absolute path as well (in order to rule out path issues).
Edit: Further suggestions.
I would personally refactor the writing code into its own method, so that you can use it elsewhere necessary. In other other words:
public static boolean write(byte[] content, File to) {
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(to);
try {
fos.write(content);
} catch (IOException io) {
// logging code here
return false;
} finally {
closeQuietly(fos);
}
return true;
}
public static void closeQuietly(Closeable toClose) {
if ( toClose == null ) { return; }
try {
toClose.close();
} catch (IOException e) {
// logging code here
}
}
The reason that I made the closeQuietly(Closeable) method is due to the fact that if you do not close it in that way, there is a possibility that an exception will be thrown by the close() method, and that exception will obscure the exception that was thrown originally. If you put these in a utility class (although looking at your code, I assume that the class that it is currently in is named FileUtils), then you will be able to use them throughout your application whenever you need to deal with file output.
This will allow you to rewrite the block as:
File file = new File(getUserFolderPath() + fileName + amr);
file.createNewFile()
write(Base64.decode(audio),file);
convertFile(fileName);
I don't know whether or not you should do this, however if you want to be sure that the ffmpeg process has completed, then you should say ffmpeg.waitFor(); to be sure that it has completed. If you do that, then you should examine ffmpeg.exitValue(); to make sure that it completed successfully.
Another thing that you might want to do is once it has completed, write what it output to a log file so you have a record of what happened, just in case something happens.

How to save the data into File in java?

I have one problem, that is I have one string of data and I want to save it into a separate file every time. Please give me a suggestion.
Thanks,
vara kumar.pjd
Use a timestamp in the filename so you can be sure it is unique. Below example uses a timestamp in milliseconds which should be enough in most cases.
If you expect you can have multiple files within 1 millisecond then you could do something with a GUID/UUID. Note that GUID/UUID could result in duplicates too, however this chance is extremely rare.
import java.io.*;
class FileWrite
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
try{
// Create file
FileWriter fstream = new FileWriter(System.currentTimeMillis() + "out.txt");
BufferedWriter out = new BufferedWriter(fstream);
out.write("Hello Java");
//Close the output stream
out.close();
}catch (Exception e){//Catch exception if any
System.err.println("Error: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
}
You don't need to compute the filename by yourself, have a look at File.createTempFile.
From the javadoc:
Creates a new empty file in the specified directory, using the given prefix and suffix strings to generate its name. If this method returns successfully then it is guaranteed that:
The file denoted by the returned abstract pathname did not exist before this method was invoked, and
Neither this method nor any of its variants will return the same abstract pathname again in the current invocation of the virtual machine.
This method provides only part of a temporary-file facility. To arrange for a file created by this method to be deleted automatically, use the deleteOnExit() method.
A one liner. Using base 36 for the ids will make the file names shorter.
IOUtils.write(text, new FileWriter(Long.toString(System.currentTimeMillis(), 36)+".txt")));
http://commons.apache.org/io/
One solution can be, use a random number generator to generate a random number. Use this random number with some text as a filename. Maintain a list of already used names and each time you are saving the file, check through this list if the file name is unique.
One of possible ways to get File object with unique name could be:
public static File getUniqueFile(String base, String ext, int index) {
File f = new File(String.format("%s-%03d.%s", base, index, ext));
return f.exists() ? getUniqueFile(base, ext, index + 1) : f;
}
Update: and here goes basic usage/test case:
String s = "foo string\n";
FileWriter writer = null;
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
File f = getUniqueFile("out", "txt", 0);
try {
writer = new FileWriter(f);
writer.write(s);
writer.close();
writer = null;
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
break;
}
}
if (writer != null) { try { writer.close(); } catch (Exception e) {} }

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