How do I find the absolute path to a Play Framework app?

Question

At the moment I'm working with a team on a Play! Framework app. With the next user story, I have to implement some different file modifications, such as moving a file to a defined directory.

Because we are working on different platforms, I'm not always really sure if the app has the right path. So I want to work with a absolute path of the app directory.

How do I get the absolute path of a Play! app? Is there a method for this?

Solution 1

This answer applies only to older versions of the Play Framework, before v2.

Play has an application path property:

String projectRoot = Play.applicationPath;

This will give you the directory that Play is running from.

I think a better practice is moving the directory outside of your project install directory and placing the path to it in your application.conf as a property. You then retrieve it when needed. For example:

Application.conf:

my.file.path=/tmp/whatever

Code:

String projectRoot = Play.configuration.getProperty("my.file.path");

Solution 2

Since version 2.5.0, play.Play class is deprecated. It is recommended to inject play.Environment and use the method as follows:

public File rootPath();

The play.Environment singleton also contains some very handy method, which provide files by relative path e.g.

public File getFile(String relativePath);
public URL resource(String relativePath);
public InputStream resourceAsStream(String relativePath);

Solution 3

As of play 2.0: play.Play.application().path().getAbsolutePath()

Solution 4

Neither of those worked on my version of play, so I used this instead: Play.current().path().getAbsolutePath()

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Comments

[JDischler]

This doesn't work on the version of Play I'm using (2.1.1). Looks like the correct way to get the application path is: String path = Play.application().path().getPath();

[JulienD]

Could you please show where and how to inject this Environment ?

[Tom]

@JulienD, the best way (that may depend on your application requirements and design though) would be to use play.Environment in your module. Please look at this example: playframework.com/documentation/2.5.x/… - you can use environment instace while creating your beans / services etc.