I have a jar-file test.jar that is placed within WEB-INF/lib and contains a single file in its root:
/ |- test.jsp Now i would like to access this file from somewhere in my code:
this.getServletContext().getResource("/test.jsp"); But the result is always null although the documentation of getResource states that the jar-files within WEB-INF/lib are also searched:
Am i missing something or why can't i get the resource?
You already provided the link to the javadoc, quoting the relevant part:
The path must begin with a
/and is interpreted as relative to the current context root, or relative to the/META-INF/resourcesdirectory of a JAR file inside the web application's/WEB-INF/libdirectory.
So it is interpreted as relative to the /META-INF/resources folder in a jar file.
However you indicated with a tag that you are using Tomcat. Tomcat implementation of the ServletContext.getResource() is somewhat different. It doesn't even mention the resource is searched in jar files.
Suggestion: don't put your resources in jar files if you want to access them with ServletContext.getResource(). If you do need to put them into jar files, then instead use the Class.getResource() method, e.g. put an optionally empty class into the jar file, and use that to access/load the resource, for example:
Jar content:
/ |- SomeClass.class |- test.jsp Java code to access test.jsp:
SomeClass.class.getResource("/test.jsp"); // or it can even be "test.jsp" 
You can use your thread's class loader to get your file as an InputStream like this:
Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("test.jsp"); The method getResourceAsStream() works for any file in the classpath, whether it's in a directory or inside a JAR.
