Use properties file in Struts framework

Question

I develop a websit with struts, web ap is tomcat5.0, and I have a conf.properties file
this file is different from ApplicationResource.properties, conf.properties in the /MySite/conf/ directory, not in src directory
When I Use the conf.properties file in a Common Java Class that not extends any super class
it will occur a FileNotFoundException exception
How to make it
public class Environment
     private static Properties prop = new Properties();
     private static FileInputStream in = null;
     public static String getVariable(String key)
          try
               in = new FileInputStream(new File("\\conf\\config.properties"));
               prop.load(in);
               return prop.getProperty(key, null);
          catch (Exception e)
               e.printStackTrace();
               return null;
          finally
               try
                    in.close();     
               catch(Exception e)
                    e.printStackTrace();
     }

Answer 1

Your class cannot find the file in the location tht u have given. The path (\\conf\\config.properties) is relative to the location where your source (Environment class) is kept.
Try to hard code the path & see if your source can find the prop file ...