Configuration Files

Overview

As mentioned in the Starting Out page, the Common Framework ConfigurationManager class provides support for configuration (.properties) file used to customize applications built on the Common Framework. This page provides details on the syntax of those configration files.

Configuration File Syntax

The syntax of Common Framework configuration files is approximately that of Java Properties files. Support for additional features/capabilities is provided by Apache Commons Configuration, the underlying library used to read the configuration files.

Special Characters and Character Escaping

• See the Special Characters and Escaping section in the Apache Commons Configuration documentation.
• After the Apache Commons Configuration property value read processing, in order to maintain backward compatibility with older Common Framework configuration files: The following characters will be UNescaped if they are escaped in a property value within a configuration file. That is, if any of the following characters (in a property value) is preceded by a backslash character (), that backslash character will be removed as the property value is read (unless the backslash character itself is escaped):
  • Open and close parentheses: (, )
  • Open and close square bracket: [, ]
  • Dollar sign: $
  • Equals sign: =