How to read a file in Play Framework 2.2.1?

scala playframework playframework-2.2
randombits picture randombits · Feb 20, 2014 · Viewed 10.6k times · Source

I have a static file that I want to read in one of my Play Framework models. The file contains some simple text in it. I can't find any examples or API that shows where the appropriate location is to store such a resource and second, how to access that resource. For whatever it is worth I'm using Play for Scala, but I don't think that's relevant here.

Answer

Carsten picture Carsten · Feb 21, 2014

There is no real designated location where data files should go. I usually set a path in my application.conf and then read it in the application via

Play.application().configuration.getString("my.data.path")

If you want to store it somewhere inside your Play application's directory, you can get its root path via

Play.application().path()

which returns a java.io.File.

For reading files, there is no Play-specific technique. This question has been asked and answered before. In short, to read a small text file, just do this:

val lines = scala.io.Source.fromFile("file.txt").mkString

Related questions

Convert any Scala object to JSON

I am using latest version of Play Framework and it's JSON lib like this Json.toJson(obj). But toJson is not capable of converting any Scala object to JSON, because the structure of data is unknown. Someone suggested using case …

Read More
Understanding implicit in Scala

I was making my way through the Scala playframework tutorial and I came across this snippet of code which had me puzzled: def newTask = Action { implicit request => taskForm.bindFromRequest.fold( errors => BadRequest(views.html.index(Task.all(), errors)), …

Read More
How to handle optional query parameters in Play framework

Lets say I have an already functioning Play 2.0 framework based application in Scala that serves a URL such as: http://localhost:9000/birthdays which responds with a listing of all known birthdays I now want to enhance this by adding the …

Read More