How to Use External application.properties in Spring Boot

How can I configure an external application.properties file in a Spring Boot application?

spring.config.location=classpath:/default.properties,classpath:/override.properties,file:/path/to/your/external.properties

Configuring an external application.properties file in Spring Boot allows you to manage your application configuration separately from your codebase, which is particularly useful for environment-specific settings such as development, testing, and production configurations.

# In your application.properties, specify external locations:
spring.config.location=file:/path/to/your/external.properties

# Example of loading multiple property sources
gradle.build.grade = file(path) 

# Spring Boot application:
@SpringBootApplication
public class Application {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        SpringApplication.run(Application.class, args);
    }
}

Causes

• Improved application management by separating configuration from the code.
• Ability to change configuration settings without recompiling the application.
• Facilitates deployment in different environments with unique settings.

Solutions

• Use the `spring.config.location` property to specify the path of external configuration files.
• Keep the external configuration files in a secure location that your application has access to.
• Utilize multiple configuration files by separating them with commas in the `spring.config.location`.

Mistake: Forgetting to define the path correctly in the `spring.config.location` property.

Solution: Always use an absolute path and confirm that the specified file exists.

Mistake: Overriding critical properties without documenting changes.

Solution: Maintain a backup of default configurations and document any changes made to external properties.