Utilizing System Properties with Jboss 6.x/7.x and Spring

JBoss gives us possibility to set our application properties / configuration as a java system property. It is very useful for configuring enterprise apps per environment. Usage of this feature is different between JBoss versions. I’ll show you how to utilize it on JBoss AS 6 and 7. Then you will see the most valuable thing, which is SystemPropertiesService from Spring Framework.

JBoss 6.x

Create xml file (deleult name is properties-service.xml ) like shown below and copy it to %JBOSS_HOME%/server/default/deploy/ folder

<server>
  <mbean code="org.jboss.varia.property.SystemPropertiesService" 
  name="jboss:type=Service,name=SystemProperties">
    <!-- 
       | Load properties from each of the given comma seperated URLs
    <attribute name="URLList">
      http://somehost/some-location.properties,
      ./conf/somelocal.properties
    </attribute>
    -->
    <attribute name="Properties">
      gkolpu.blog.example1=MY_Property1
      gkolpu.blog.example2=MY_Property2
    </attribute>
  </mbean>
</server>

JBoss 7.x

Add the code attached below to standalone.xml file, it should be added after <extensions> tag.

<system-properties>
<property name="gkolpu.blog.example1" value="MY_Property1"/>
<property name="gkolpu.blog.example2" value="MY_Property2"/>
</system-properties>

Spring Configuration

Add this code to your spring configuration. It will load your file and make your properties visible in the Spring context. There is one parameter to define, example below use SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE which means that you can set all needed properties in the file embedded in your project but they will be override by the properties specified in JBoss configuration. You have 3 options here:

static int	SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_FALLBACK           Check system properties if not resolvable in the specified properties.
static int	SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_NEVER           Never check system properties.
static int	SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE           Check system properties first, before trying the specified properties.

<bean class="org.springframework.beans.factory.
                       config.PropertyPlaceholderConfigurer">
    <property name="systemPropertiesModeName" 
                 value="SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_MODE_OVERRIDE"/>
    <property name="location" 
                 value="classpath:application.properties"/>
</bean>