How to use parameter file with java

Question

Is it possible to use a parameter file with Java, and is there any class/method to make it easy to call and use these parameter from a text file, other than scanning the whole text file manually as we can do normally with visual basic/c++, so we can call the program with the parameter file, like java testing c:\\testing.ini

Answer 1

If I understand you correctly, you may be looking for a properties file. This is basically a text file that contains pairs of strings in the form:
parameter1=value1
parameter2=value2
parameter3=value3
...etc.
and the values are retrieved using the java.util.Properties class - see:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3/docs/api/java/util/Properties.html
Sample use://Call chis method once, to load the props file.
//props file is called "demo.properties", and is
//in a directory that is included in the classpath
    private void loadMyProperties() throws Exception
     InputStream stream = getResourceAsStream("/demo.properties");
     if(stream == null)
         throw new Exception("stream is null!");
     demoProperties = new Properties();
     demoProperties.load(stream);
     stream.close();
// Then you can retrieve properties in your code using:
String param3 = demoProperties.getProperty("parameter3");
//...etc