How create and retrieve all 2D array data from Java propertie file in a Eclipse Project.

In this project I needed to have a 2D array. Which had the information about the items that I needed to be put in a combo box.
It can be easely done by creating a 2D array in the code. But hard coding that kind of information is not good programming practice therefore I decided to create a property file which had that information.
If the user want to change what is in the drop down meneu he can easily do it by changing the property file that is the advantage of having a property file.

How to add Property file 

In the package explorer, right-click on the package and select New -> File, then enter the filename including the ".properties" suffix.

  

How to create a 2D array in property file.

To do that you can use the following syntax.

ecf_providers=0,ECF Generic;1,r-OSGi;2,ecf.generic.server;3,ecf.filetransfer.bittorrent;\
4,ecf.msn.msnp;5,ecf.discovery.jslp;6,ecf.msn.msnp;7,ecf.xmpp.smack;

 

I have put  "\" at the end of the first line to make sure that all the array data will be retrieved when the the method in the code uses the property file otherwise only the first line will be read form the property file. Another way to do is write the array as a single line like this.

ecf_providers=0,ECF Generic;1,r-OSGi;2,ecf.generic.server;3,ecf.filetransfer.bittorrent;4,ecf.msn.msnp;5,ecf.discovery.jslp; 

Retrieve all 2D array data from Java properties file.

To get data from the property file and store it in a 2D array you can use the following two methods.

What this methods do is they one method read the data from the property file and the other method store that data in a array called Value_ecg_providers.

 

To read the data from the property file you can use a method like this.

    private static String[][] fetchArrayFromPropFile(String propertyName,
            Properties propFile) {
        String[] a = propFile.getProperty(propertyName).split(";");
        String[][] array = new String[a.length][a.length];
        for (int i = 0; i < a.length; i++) {
            array[i] = a[i].split(",");
        }
        return array;
    }

 

try {
            providers.load(RemoteServiceConsumerExample1Template.class
                    .getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(
                            "providers.properties"));
            Value_ecg_providers = fetchArrayFromPropFile("ecf_providers",
                    providers);

        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
            System.out.print("Property file not found");
           
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException e) {
            /
            e.printStackTrace();
        }

    } 

 Had to use the  <RemoteServiceConsumerExample1Template.class
                                    .getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream(
                            "providers.properties")) >

 because I am loading the file from classpath.

If you need to load a properties file from the file system and retrieved the property value you can simple use something like this.

 

public class Test
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        Properties property = new Properties();

        try {
            //set the properties value

          
              property.setProperty("database", "localhost"); 
              property.setProperty("ABC", "CSE");        
              property.setProperty("letter ", "A");

            //save properties to project root folder
            prop.store(new FileOutputStream("config.properties"), null);

        } catch (IOException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}