The Properties class in java

The Properties class inherits from Hashtable and is part of JDK 1.0. Instances of Properties typically represent persistent values describing something such as system settings. For example, the System.getProperties() method returns a system properties table with various key/value pairs that describe the platform the program is running on.

The Properties class adds additional functionality that can be extremely useful. The Properties class represents a persistent list of properties. What exactly does this mean? The Properties class is designed to provide methods to store and load files containing key-value pairs as Strings. Properties files are simply key-value pairs where the key and value are separated by an "=" (name=Tom) and eack key-value pair is on a separate line. A Windows ini file is an example of a properties file. In many cases, XML files are replacing properties files but the simplicity of a properties file combined with its ease of use makes the Properties class still a very useful class.

Although the Properties file inherits the methods of the Hashtable, it is recommended that the Hashtable put method not be used as this may allow the insertion of non-String objects. Only Strings should be used as either a key or a value in a Properties object. A Properties object with a non-String in it will throw an exception if you attempt to store it to a file. A Properties object can contain another Properties object (specified in the constructor) which is used as the default keys if no matching key is found in the Properties object.

Methods in Property class

The Properties class provides several new methods:

• Object setProperty(String key, String value) - Invokes the Hashtable put method. Although it returns an Object, the return should always be a String.
• String getProperty(String key) - Returns the value found for the matching key. Null if no match is found.
• String getProperty(String key, String defaultValue) - Returns the value found for the matching key.The defaultValue is returned if no match is found.
• void list(PrintStream output) - Writes the Properties object out to the specified PrintStream.
• void list(PrintWriter output) - Writes the Properties object out to the specified PrintWriter.
• void load(InputStream input) - Loads data into the Properties object using the specified InputStream.Key-value pairs are assumed to be on separate lines and each kei is separated from its value by an equals sign ("="). In addition to the equals sign, a colon (":") or the first white space will be used as a separator when reading in a properties file.
• void store(OutputStream output, String header) - Writes the Properties object out to the specified OutputStream. The header is written as a comment line at the beginning of the file. After the header line, another comment line is written containing the current date and time. A "#" is placed at the beginning of these lines to identify them as comments. The OutputStream will be flushed but will remain open. Any properties in the default Properties object are not written to the output.

Example of Properties class in java