Problem loading PipedInputStream in Properties object

Question

Hi there!
Well, I'm having some problems trying to load a PipedInputStream into a Properties object.
First of all I read a file with FileInputStream and BufferReader and every time I find a special token it's opened a new Thread to save this piece of the whole file into a PipedInputStream/PipedOutputStream. The thing is once I have the PipedInputStream I want to load this stream into a Properties object (Properites.load(PipedInputStream pis))
I mean....
I have a file like this
OBJECT = CLIENT
NAME = JOE
EMAIL = [email protected]
END OBJECT = CLIENT
END
OBJECT = CLIENT
NAME = ANGELINA
EMAIL = [email protected]
END OBJECT = CLIENT
END
and I want to save each CLIENT OBJECT into a Properties object. That's why every time I find the token "END" I open a new Thread and write to an PipedOutPutStream. The problem is that once the PipedInputStream is available I try to load it into the Properties but it doesn't load anything at all.I dont get any Exception, when I debug, after loading the PipedInputStream the Properties object still remain void but when I echo the stream to the console It works fine so it might not be a problem of the PipedInputStream but of Propreties.load()
Thanks for your help!!!!!
Here it is my code
* DictionaryReader.java
* Created on October 21, 2002, 5:02 PM
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.Enumeration;
* @author
public class DictionaryReader {
String _filePath = null;   
private final String _TOKEN = "END";
/** Creates a new instance of DictionaryReader */
public DictionaryReader(String path) {
this._filePath = path;
public static void main(String[] args){
if(args.length != 1){
System.err.println("Usage java <file path>");
DictionaryReader dr = new DictionaryReader(args[0]);
dr.readFile();
private void readFile() {
String line_ = null;
try{
FileInputStream in_ = new FileInputStream(_filePath);
BufferedReader readIn_ = new BufferedReader(
new InputStreamReader(in_));
PipedOutputStream pout_ = new PipedOutputStream();
PipedInputStream pin_ = new PipedInputStream(pout_);
ReadDictionary readDictionary_ = new ReadDictionary(pin_);
Thread t = new Thread(readDictionary_);
t.start();
while((line_ = readIn_.readLine()) != null){
if(line_.trim().equals(_TOKEN)){
pout_.close();
pout_= new PipedOutputStream();
pin_ = new PipedInputStream(pout_);
readDictionary_ = new ReadDictionary(pin_);
t = new Thread(readDictionary_);
t.start();
} else {
line_ += "\n";
pout_.write(line_.getBytes());
System.exit(1);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e){
System.err.println(e.getMessage());
} catch (IOException ioEx){
ioEx.printStackTrace();
* ReadDictionary.java
* Created on October 22, 2002, 11:08 AM
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.Enumeration;
* @author
public class ReadDictionary implements Runnable {
private PipedInputStream _pin;
Properties _propFile = null;
/** Creates a new instance of ReadDictionary */
public ReadDictionary(PipedInputStream pin) throws IOException {
this._pin = pin;
public void run() {
try {
// Making sure that the PipedInputStream
// has some content inside
String line = null;
BufferedReader read = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_pin));
while((line=read.readLine()) != null){
System.out.println(line);
//Here it is the problem
Properties prop_ = new Properties();
prop_.load(_pin);
Enumeration enum = prop_.elements();
while(enum.hasMoreElements()){
String element = (String)enum.nextElement();
System.out.println(element);
} catch(Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
Thanks for your help!!!!!
Cheers,
I�aki

Answer 1

Comment out these lines of code and see what happens:// Making sure that the PipedInputStream
// has some content inside
    String line = null;
    BufferedReader read = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(_pin));
    while((line=read.readLine()) != null){
        System.out.println(line);
    }Streams tend to be readable only once and by using the reader you have read through to the end of the stream so that there is nothing left for the properties object to read. Some streams will support 'mark' so that you can 'rewind' but you're not using that here.