Where to put static files for Spark Web Framework?

Question

Where do I put files when trying to serve static files with the Spark web framework?

I haven't been able to find anything online - I'm beginning to suspect I don't understand anything about class paths, relative paths etc. for an Eclipse and Java project.

This paragraph about static files in Spark refers to /public, but I have no idea where that would be. Using windows, Eclipse Luna and my project is converted to use Maven.

I've tried looking at the code on GitHub, but I'm a little out of my depth trying to find it.

Messmate

Answer 1

First you have to tell Spark where to search for the static files like this:

Spark.staticFiles.location("/public");

In Spark versions prior to 2.5, you should use:

Spark.staticFileLocation("/public");

Then your project should have a public folder under the resources folder like this

/src/main/resources/public/style.css

For example I added a style.css file there, so you should then access it like this:

http://localhost:4567/style.css

---

If you want to serve a non-classpath folder, then you should use

Spark.staticFiles.externalLocation("/path/to/dir");

In Spark versions prior to 2.5, you should use:

Spark.externalStaticFileLocation("/path/to/dir");

Wahkuna

@JigarJoshi what issue are you talking about? Does my solution not work for you? – Wahkuna

I ran into decision quickly, I was trying to set proper mime type for static resources I serve, I ended up using a Filter to set proper mime type for certain static resources – Taintless

@JigarJoshi well if you serve the static files using staticFileLocation then you dont have to do that. If you serve the files manually registering a get with Spark.get then yes, you will have to set the headers manually. – Wahkuna

I was serving css file using staticFileLocation and the mime type was not set properly – Taintless

@JigarJoshi maybe you were using an old version of Spark? I never heard of anyone having that problem :/ – Wahkuna

I am using 2.3 which is latest as of now I believe – Taintless

where should I place the user uploaded image，it's the same as the src/main/resources? – Pirate

@L.YanJun what are you talking about? This question is about serving static files, not user's files. – Wahkuna

@PabloMatiasGomez When I use get("/post/:postId", (req, res) ->{...}), the static file path become such like http://0.0.0.0:4567/post/css/style.css, but the correct path should be http://0.0.0.0:4567/css/style.css. – Pirate

What if I want to serve my entire repository, not just the public folder? I've tried staticFiles.location(repoPath) but it is not getting picked up? Does it only work with public folder? How can I access any file I want in the current directory? – Schnitzler

No, the public folder is an example. The folder has to be in the classpath. If you want to use a non-classpath, then you can use staticFiles.externalLocation. I updated the anser with this. – Wahkuna

The problem is the assets links in the HTML/template files will be broken. I like to design my pages as I go and do not want to go back in the template files to change the CSS/JS file links. Spark breaks the paths and I don't like it. – Pless

Answer 2

I put my style sheets below my static content as follows:

staticFileLocation( "/web" );
/web/
  |-- index.html
  +-- styles/
        +
        +--- default.css

And the index.html

... <link href="styles/default.css" rel="stylesheet"   type="text/css" />

I also have other generated HTML pages as with freemarker. They just collect the path:

• /styles/default.css, or
• localhost:8081/styles/default.css

Shows the CSS way index gets it.

Source: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/sparkjava/5vMuK_5GEBU/vh_jHra75u0J

Rancher

Answer 3

1. Right click your project on Eclipse, select create New -> Package. Give the new package a name, etc.

2. Put your static resources under that package, so we can be sure they're under your classpath.

3. In your Main class colde, call staticFileLocation("yourpackagename/");

Charmian

Answer 4

1. Place your public directory into src/main/resources
2. Replace Spark.staticFileLocation("/public"); to Spark.staticFileLocation("public");

Transcendent