Initializing Application Params (web.xml vs. Properties file)?

Question

Hi Friends,
Basically a question where I do not have much experience...
I think that I have the choice of initializing web application wide parameters either with:
a) Properties file (text file as managed by the Properties framework) or,
+ Here it is easy to read, modify parameters, ...
- I dislike the deployment (manual procedure of storing the file in a particular directory...)
b) web.xml (deployment descriptor) and "context-param".
- The problem here is that it does not seems "easy" to change the deployed values in a web.xml from a java program.
+ Very easy to deploy (war, ear files)
I would like to implement a solution that is:
* Easy for the end-user to change its values
* Easy to deploy and configure
From some testing, I think that the properties file (and framework) is a better solution, but not sure...Any more expert advice?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

A properties file is often used with parameters that vary depending on a particular Locale. Under these circumstances, I find it impractical to store the file in an archive because the user in a given Locale may want to use the original file as a template to create a new Locale-specific version.
Whenever I need to initialize my application with parameters that are totally under my control (e.g., when the parameters do not vary by Locale but new ones may be added or old ones removed), I often use just a plain .txt file kept inside of an archive file like a jar and access it file with something like this:
URL url=myDialog.class.getResource("Params/myParams.txt");
That's just my 2-cents.
V.V.