Chris Mair

XProperties is a simple subclass of java.util.Properties that allows you to treat property values like constants, referring to and embedding them inside other property values. It handles the substitution of the constant value automatically and transparently when you call the getProperty() method. Using constants in your property files can make them easier to read and maintain. This article describes an extension to the properties facility in Java that greatly enhances its functionality and usefulness. Like many other Java programmers I use the Properties class extensively for managing configuration information. In an application I recently developed, I had several properties (database URLs) in a configuration property file that shared the same value. I wanted a way to specify a constant in a property file rather than repeating the same value over and over. My first ... (more)