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How to fix ApplicationResources_fr.properties getting corrupted

I have a problem in a class I wrote. The purpose of the class is to add/remove/update for the applicationResource.properties files which the <spring:message code="key" /> uses to provide bilingual support to the website. Manually interacting with the properties files works fine, but I had a greater need and so I built in a way to allow changes to be done from the database. This has given me a very dynamic and flexible system that I can work from.
However, there is a problem. At some point after even a single change using this, the French characters end up getting changed. Such as Déconnexion becoming Déconnexion. When looked at in notepad++ its first Déconnexion and then corrupted to D\u00C3\u00A9connexion. This example was part of the original properties file.
The original (not temp) properties files have the text file encoding set to other: UTF-8. The Project properties text file encoding is set to inherited from container (Cp1252). I tried changing to Other: UTF-8 with no change.
So my question(s) is, what is causing the corruption to my French characters and how can I fix it? I have provided the complete class below.
Update: After the assistance from StephaneM in her answer I was able to track down exactly what is causing the corruption, but have not fixed it yet. The loadProperties() function in the AR Class. As soon as the temp AP files are loaded the French characters are corrupted. This makes me suspect the original process which creates the temp AP files is using a different encoding. So I will have to track it down.
package pojo;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.util.Objects;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.Set;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
/*
* Purpose of this class is to handle all the ApplicationResource(_fr).properties interactions
* so that there is one unified location handling this, instead of code duplication.
*/
public class AR{
public final String en_path = "/ApplicationResources.properties";
public final String fr_path = "/ApplicationResources_fr.properties";
private Properties en_prop = null;
private Properties fr_prop = null;
public AR()
{
loadProperties();
}
private void loadProperties()
{
InputStream en_is = null;
InputStream fr_is = null;
try {
this.en_prop = new Properties();
this.fr_prop = new Properties();
en_is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(en_path);
fr_is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(fr_path);
en_prop.load(en_is);
fr_prop.load(fr_is);
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private boolean keyExist(String mykey, String mypath) //deprecated due to better code/method
{
Properties test_prop = null;
InputStream is = null;
try {
test_prop = new Properties();
is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(mypath);
test_prop.load(is);
Set<Object> keys = test_prop.keySet();
for(Object k:keys) {
String key = (String)k;
//System.out.print(key + " ");
if(key.equals(mykey))
{
return true;
}
}
//System.out.println(" ");
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (NullPointerException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return false;
}
public boolean en_keyExist(String mykey)
{
//searches english file
loadProperties();
return en_prop.containsKey(mykey);
//return keyExist(mykey, en_path); //original method
}
public boolean fr_keyExist(String mykey)
{
//searches french file
loadProperties();
return fr_prop.containsKey(mykey);
//return keyExist(mykey, fr_path); //original method
}
public boolean en_fr_keyExist(String mykey)
{
//searches both english and french files
loadProperties();
return (en_prop.containsKey(mykey) && fr_prop.containsKey(mykey));
//return (keyExist(mykey, en_path) && keyExist(mykey, fr_path)); //original method
}
public String en_returnProperty(String mykey)
{
//returns null if key does not exist
loadProperties();
return this.en_prop.getProperty(mykey);
}
public String fr_returnProperty(String mykey)
{
//returns null if key does not exist
loadProperties();
return this.fr_prop.getProperty(mykey);
}
public void appendProperty(Properties new_en_prop,Properties new_fr_prop)
{
//note: during a test, setProperty (used in populating the properties) does not allow duplicates, it overwrites.
//So, load the existing properties, and for each new property add it
loadProperties();
for(Object key : new_en_prop.keySet())
{
en_prop.setProperty((String)key, new_en_prop.getProperty((String)key));
}
try (OutputStream en_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(en_path).getFile(),false);)
{
en_prop.store(en_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
for(Object key : new_fr_prop.keySet())
{
fr_prop.setProperty((String)key, new_fr_prop.getProperty((String)key));
}
try (OutputStream fr_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(fr_path).getFile(),false);)
{
fr_prop.store(fr_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public boolean appendProperty(String mykey, String en_val, String fr_val) //appears to have timing error due to only saving last value
//due to timing error this function is only suitable for single additions
//due to the timing error, tried returning boolean to have it finished but was not successful
//setting the class variables to static did not solve the timing issue
{
loadProperties();
en_prop.setProperty(mykey, en_val);
try (OutputStream en_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(en_path).getFile(),false);)
{
en_prop.store(en_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
fr_prop.setProperty(mykey, fr_val);
try (OutputStream fr_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(fr_path).getFile(),false);)
{
fr_prop.store(fr_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return true;
}
public void en_setProperty(String mykey, String en_val)
//suspected timing issue, use only for singular changes
{
loadProperties();
en_prop.setProperty(mykey, en_val);
try (OutputStream en_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(en_path).getFile(),false);)
{
en_prop.store(en_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void fr_setProperty(String mykey, String fr_val)
//suspected timing issue, use only for singular changes
{
loadProperties();
fr_prop.setProperty(mykey, fr_val);
try (OutputStream fr_os = new FileOutputStream(getClass().getResource(fr_path).getFile(),false);)
{
fr_prop.store(fr_os, null);
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void compareResources()
{
Properties new_en = new Properties();
Properties new_fr = new Properties();
for(Object key : en_prop.keySet())
{
new_en.setProperty((String)key, en_prop.getProperty((String)key));
}
for(Object key : fr_prop.keySet())
{
new_fr.setProperty((String)key, fr_prop.getProperty((String)key));
}
Properties temp = (Properties) new_en.clone();
for(Object key : temp.keySet())
{
if(new_fr.containsKey((String) key))
{
new_fr.remove(key);
new_en.remove(key);
}
}
for(Object key : new_en.keySet())
{
System.out.println("English only key: " + ((String)key));
}
for(Object key : new_fr.keySet())
{
System.out.println("French only key: " + ((String)key));
}
}
}
Sample use case for the class, taken directly from application, but with some editing so only the relevant parts are here
AR testing = new AR();
Properties en_prop = new Properties();
Properties fr_prop = new Properties();
final String test_prod_cur = "{call BILINGUAL_VALUES(?)}";
ResultSet rs = null;
try (
Connection connection = jdbcTemplate.getDataSource().getConnection();
CallableStatement callableStatement = connection.prepareCall(test_prod_cur);
)
{
callableStatement.registerOutParameter(1, OracleTypes.CURSOR);
callableStatement.executeUpdate();
rs = (ResultSet) callableStatement.getObject(1);
while (rs.next())
{
String thead = rs.getString(1);
en_prop.setProperty(keyheader+thead, rs.getString(2));
fr_prop.setProperty(keyheader+thead, rs.getString(3));
//testing.appendProperty(keyheader+thead, rs.getString(2), rs.getString(3)); //has a timing issue, ends up only appending final value
}
}
catch (SQLException e)
{
System.out.println("SQLException - bilingual values");
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
testing.appendProperty(en_prop, fr_prop);

Regarding this question: "what is causing the corruption to my French characters and how can I fix it?", the answer is in the documentation ( Properties.store() ):
public void store(OutputStream out,
String comments)
throws IOException
Writes this property list (key and element pairs) in this Properties
table to the output stream in a format suitable for loading into a
Properties table using the load(InputStream) method.
Properties from the defaults table of this Properties table (if any)
are not written out by this method.
This method outputs the comments, properties keys and values in the
same format as specified in store(Writer), with the following
differences:
The stream is written using the ISO 8859-1 character encoding.
Characters not in Latin-1 in the comments are written as \uxxxx for their appropriate unicode hexadecimal value xxxx.
Characters less than \u0020 and characters greater than \u007E in property keys or values are written as \uxxxx for the appropriate hexadecimal value xxxx.

I am not the only person who has faced this issue, I managed to find another question and it was one of the answers that lead me to my solution. I have to thank another site for letting me know what to include.
There are only four added or changed lines, I will list them, and then give a complete function.
import java.io.Reader;
Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(fr_is, "UTF-8");
fr_prop.load(reader); //instead of fr_prop.load(fr_is);
reader.close();
The complete function
import java.io.Reader;
private void loadProperties()
{
InputStream en_is = null;
InputStream fr_is = null;
try {
this.en_prop = new Properties();
this.fr_prop = new Properties();
en_is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(en_path);
fr_is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream(fr_path);
Reader reader = new InputStreamReader(fr_is, "UTF-8");
en_prop.load(en_is);
fr_prop.load(reader);
reader.close();
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
By introducing the reader and using that, it has cleared up French character corruption.
I should mention that I changed every file property I could find over to UTF-8 before I did the above changes and got it working. This site gives you the changes I made. This was a nice page that helped me confirm the encodings.

Switching database connection in mysql

Here my problem :
I have two mysql databases directory and I want to use one after the other.
The only way that I have actualy found, to switch from one database to the other, is to shutdown the mysql daemon and to start it again pointing to the second database directory.
Are there any other way to perform that ?
Thanks
EDIT :
My application manage "missions directory" that embed a Database.
This missions are copied to an hard disk, that is connected to an external device that will fill this database.
Then when the mission is done, we collect the mission and the database with the application to generate report.
That why we have multiple database with the same schema, but placed in different place, we need also to read this database by an external application that why we need to have only one database open at each time.
My question is not if it possible to run two database from two different directories at the same time, because I know that is possible, but how to switch from one database to another, without kiling the daemon.
PS: I'm working on Java application and I do all this action by system access in Java like Runtime.getRuntime().exec(MY_CMD), not by choice. Maybe it's better to use Java Library, I already use hibernate.
Here the code to switch :
new Thread(new Task<T>() {
#Override
protected T call() throws Exception {
// Close the previous database
if (isDaemonRunning()) {
close();
}
// try to open the new one
if (!open()) {
notifyConnectedStatus(false);
return null;
}
// create the hibernate session object
_session = HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory().openSession();
notifyConnectedStatus(true);
// no return is waiting, then return null
return null;
}
}).start();
Here the called methods :
private boolean open() {
int exitVal = 0;
try {
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(getRunDaemonCmd());
p.waitFor(1, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
if (p.isAlive()) {
return true;
}
exitVal = p.exitValue();
} catch (Exception e) {
_logger.log(Level.SEVERE, e.getMessage(), e);
return false;
}
return (0 == exitVal);
}
private void close() {
do {
try {
if (null != _session) {
_session.close();
_session = null;
}
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(SHUTDOWN_CMD);
p.waitFor();
} catch (Exception e) {
_logger.log(Level.SEVERE, e.getMessage(), e);
return;
}
} while (isDaemonRunning());
_connected = false;
}
private String[] getRunDaemonCmd() {
return new String[] { MYSQLD, INI_FILE_PARAM + _myIniFile, DATADIR_PARAM + _databasePath };
}
private boolean isDaemonRunning() {
int exitVal = 0;
try {
Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(PING_CMD);
p.waitFor();
exitVal = p.exitValue();
} catch (Exception e) {
_logger.log(Level.SEVERE, e.getMessage(), e);
}
return (0 == exitVal);
}
And Here the constants :
private static final String MYSQLD = "mysqld";
private static final String INI_FILE_PARAM = "--defaults-file=";
private static final String DATADIR_PARAM = "--datadir=";
private static final String MYSQLADMIN = "mysqladmin";
private static final String USER_PARAM = "-u";
private static final String PASSWORD_PARAM = "-p";
private static final String SHUTDOWN = "shutdown";
private static final String PING = "ping";
private static final String[] PING_CMD = new String[] { MYSQLADMIN, PING };
private static final String[] SHUTDOWN_CMD = new String[] { MYSQLADMIN, USER_PARAM + DatabaseSettings.getUser(),
PASSWORD_PARAM + DatabaseSettings.getPassword(), SHUTDOWN };
private String _myIniFile = DatabaseSettings.getDefaultIniFile();

so, you can use multiple persistence unit to connect with multiple data-source or database if you use hibernate.

Storing and retrieving data from Datastore using JDO

Can you please help me to solve this problem. Here I'm storing some data to Datastore with JDO Interface using AJAX call. I'm storing the data to datastore and Retrieving it immediately. While Retrieving some times it returns NULL as a response(Its not always returning NULL. Only some times it returning NULL). Can you please help me to fix this. The below given code is used to store and retrieve the data
This code for Storing the data,
public void saveSchedule(String listName, String email, String date, String time, String details, String name)
{
Date hiredate = new Date();
String gmtdate = hiredate.toGMTString();
Schedule schedule = new Schedule();
schedule.setName(name);
schedule.setListName(listName);
schedule.setEmail(email);
schedule.setDate(date);
schedule.setDateGMT(gmtdate);
schedule.setDetails(details);
schedule.setTime(time);
p = PMF.get().getPersistenceManager();
try
{
p.makePersistent(schedule);
}
catch(Exception e)
{
System.out.println(e);
}
finally
{
p.close();
}
}
This code for Retrieving the data,
public String savedDataRetrive(String details, String email) {
p = PMF.get().getPersistenceManager();
Query q = p.newQuery(Schedule.class);
q.setFilter("details == '"+details+"' && email == '"+email+"'");
List<Schedule> sch = (List<Schedule>) q.execute();
String data = null;
ObjectMapper n=new ObjectMapper();
try {
data = n.writeValueAsString(sch);
} catch (JsonGenerationException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (JsonMappingException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}finally{
p.close();
}
return data;
}

The Datastore replicates data across multiple datacenters. This provides a high level of availability for reads and writes, however, most queries are eventually consistent.
Eventual consistency is a consistency model used in distributed
computing to achieve high availability that informally guarantees
that, if no new updates are made to a given data item, eventually all
accesses to that item will return the last updated value.
This is most likely the reason why your query sometimes returns nothing.
I would recommend you to go through Structuring Data for Strong Consistency article.

Here is a useful example:
https://github.com/mattburns/OddPrints/blob/master/op-gae/src/com/oddprints/servlets/Edit.java#L89
#GET
#Path("/basic/sample")
#Produces(MediaType.TEXT_HTML)
public Viewable loadBasicSample(#Context HttpServletRequest req)
throws FileUploadException, IOException, URISyntaxException {
return viewSampleImage(req, Settings.SAMPLE_PHOTO_BLOB_KEY,
Settings.SAMPLE_PHOTO_BLOB_SIZE, new URL(
"http://www.oddprints.com/images/sample.jpg"));
}
Viewable viewSampleImage(HttpServletRequest req, Settings blobKeySetting,
Settings blobSizeSetting, URL image) throws MalformedURLException,
IOException {
String blobKeyString = ApplicationSetting.getSetting(blobKeySetting);
if (blobKeyString == null) {
InputStream imgStream = image.openStream();
byte[] bytes = IOUtils.toByteArray(imgStream);
BlobKey blobKey = ImageBlobStore.INSTANCE.writeImageData(bytes);
blobKeyString = blobKey.getKeyString();
ApplicationSetting.putSetting(blobKeySetting, blobKeyString);
ApplicationSetting.putSetting(blobSizeSetting, "" + bytes.length);
}
String blobSize = ApplicationSetting.getSetting(blobSizeSetting);
req.getSession().setAttribute("blobKeyString", blobKeyString);
req.getSession().setAttribute("blobSize", blobSize);
req.getSession().setAttribute("basicMode", Boolean.TRUE);
return viewBasic(req);
}

I would recommend to use memcache, that way the fetch will be faster, and you will have less null objects in return IMO.

Serialization Writing/Reading to File

I have a strange bug when executing my code. The first time I save the level, the code properly writes to the file. Upon running the game, the level is properly loaded. However, the second time I try saving on a level that was previously loaded, the save file's arraylists become null. The code DOES NOT throw an error, I noticed only the ArrayList filled with entities, not the level itself, became null, hence does not properly load the game the second time around.
Here is my code:
public void save() {
try (ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(
new FileOutputStream(fileName, false))) {
out.writeObject(object);
} catch (IOException e) {
System.out.println("There was a problem saving " + object);
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
}
public Object load() {
try (ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(
new FileInputStream(fileName))) {
return in.readObject();
} catch (IOException | ClassNotFoundException e) {
System.out.println("There was a problem loading " + object);
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
return null;
}
The following methods are called when expected:
public static void saveGame() {
level.save();
System.out.println("SAVED");
System.out.println(level.load());
}
public static void load() {
if (level.load() != null) {
Level.level1 = (Level) level.load();
System.out.println(Level.level1);
System.out.println("LOADED");
}
}
The levels themselves are static, I'm not sure if that has any special rules. Here is the snippet of the Level instance data if that is needed:
protected List<Mob> mobs = new CopyOnWriteArrayList<Mob>();
protected List<Player> players = new CopyOnWriteArrayList<Player>();
private String imagePath;
private transient BufferedImage image;
public static Level level1 = new LordHillsboroughsDomain();
I have a feeling it has something to do with a new instance of the level overwriting the saved level, but I just can't seem to figure it out. Any help is greatly appreciated!

How do I save states to a file and keep the file safe?

I'm trying to create save states for my game, not so much for where your game was left but something simple like score boards. The format would be something like this:
Wins: 5
Losses: 10
GamesPlayed: 15
I need to be able to access the file, and depending on whether the player won/lost it will append +1 to the value in the file.
What would be the best way to go about this? I've heard of a bunch of different ways to save data, for example XML, but aren't those overkill for the size of my data?
Also, I do want to keep this file safe from the users being able to go into the files and change the data. Would I have to do some sort of encryption? And, if the user removes the file and replaces it with an empty one can't they technically reset their values?

You can use plain serialization/deserialization for this. In order to serialize/deserialize a class, it must implement the Serializable interface. Here's a example to start with:
public class Score implements Serializable {
private int wins;
private int loses;
private int gamesPlayed;
//constructor, getter and setters...
}
public class ScoreDataHandler {
private static final String fileName = "score.dat";
public void saveScore(Score score) {
ObjectOutputStreamout = null;
try {
out = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(fileName));
out.writeObject(score);
} catch (Exception e) {
//handle your exceptions...
} finally {
if (out != null) {
try {
out.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
}
}
}
}
public Score loadScore() {
ObjectInputStreamin = null;
Score score = null;
try {
in = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(fileName));
score = (Score)in.readObject();
} catch (Exception e) {
//handle your exceptions...
} finally {
if (in != null) {
try {
in.close();
} catch (IOException ioe) {
}
}
}
return score;
}
}