Externalize Tomcat configuration

Question

I have a DataSource configuration in context.xml. Is it possible not to hard-code database parameters in that file? For example, use an external properties file, and load th

Answer 1

As stated here, you could do this in the following way.

1.Download tomcat library to get the interface definition, for instance by defining maven dependency:

    
        org.apache.tomcat
        tomcat-coyote
        7.0.47
    

2.Next step is to create a com.mycompany.MyPropertyDecoder in the following way:

import org.apache.tomcat.util.IntrospectionUtils;
public class MyPropertyDecoder implements IntrospectionUtils.PropertySource  {
    @Override
    public String getProperty(String arg0) {
        //TODO read properties here
        return null;
    }
}

3.Put MyPropertyDecoder.class into tomcat7/lib folder
4.Define org.apache.tomcat.util.digester. PROPERTY_SOURCE property at tomcat7/conf/catalina.properties as following:

org.apache.tomcat.util.digester.PROPERTY_SOURCE=com.mycompany.MyPropertyDecoder

5.Update your context.xml with properties vars

6.Put application.properties file somewhere in your project/container
7.Make sure MyPropertyDecoder correctly reads application.properties
8.Enjoy!

PS Also there is a similar approach described for tc Server.