Directory listing for a directory within the webapplication

Question

Hi,
I have a the code which does the directory listing of a given directory using its absolute path. eg new File("c:/webapp/tempdir");).
I want to do the directory listing by giving a path relative to the context path of the webapp like(new File("/temp");)
When I try to do
<%
File f1=new File("/tempDir");
f1.exists(); --> returns flase
%>
tempDir is a directory in my webapplication. How should I reference this? Should I have to use file:// or http://?
Looking forward for your help
Thanks in advance

Answer 1

There is a method in ServletContext: getRealPath.
http://java.sun.com/j2ee/1.4/docs/api/javax/servlet/ServletContext.html
It turns a website relative path into a real location on disk.
// only need this line in a servlet.  "application" is already defined in a jsp
ServletContext application = getServletConfig().getServletContext();
String filePath = application.getRealPath("/tempDir");
File f1 = new File(filePath);Some issues with using this approach:
If your application is in an unexploded WAR file, then getRealPath() can return null, as there isn't really a location on disk that it relates to.