FileOutputStream does not create file - java

I actually checked other posts that could be related to this and I couldn't find any answer to my question. So, had to create this newly:
The file does not get created in the given location with this code:
File as = new File ("C:\\Documents and Settings\\<user>\\Desktop\\demo1\\One.xls");
if (!as.exists()) {
as.createNewFile();
}
FileOutputStream fod = new FileOutputStream(as);
BufferedOutputStream dob = new BufferedOutputStream(fod);
byte[] asd = {65, 22, 123};
byte a1 = 87;
dob.write(asd);
dob.write(a1);
dob.flush();
if (dob!=null){
dob.close();
}
if(fod!=null){
fod.close();
The code runs fine and I don't get any FileNotFoundException!!
Is there anything that I'm missing out here?

You can rewrite your code like this:
BufferedOutputStream dob = null;
try {
File file = new File("C:\\Documents and Settings\\<user>\\Desktop\\demo1\\One.xls");
System.out.println("file created:" + file.exists());
FileOutputStream fod = new FileOutputStream(file);
System.out.println("file created:" + file.exists());
BufferedOutputStream dob = new BufferedOutputStream(fod);
byte[] asd = {65, 22, 123};
byte a1 = 87;
dob.write(asd);
dob.write(a1);
//dob.flush();
}
catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
finally {
if (dob != null) {
dob.close();
}
}
In this case it is only necessary to call the topmost stream handler close() method - the BufferedOutputStream's one:
Closes this output stream and releases any system resources associated with the stream.
The close method of FilterOutputStream calls its flush method, and then calls the close method of its underlying output stream.
so, the dob.flush() in try block is commented out because the dob.close() line in the finally block flushes the stream. Also, it releases the system resources (e.g. "closes the file") as stated in the apidoc quote above. Using the finally block is a good practice:
The finally block always executes when the try block exits. This ensures that the finally block is executed even if an unexpected exception occurs. But finally is useful for more than just exception handling — it allows the programmer to avoid having cleanup code accidentally bypassed by a return, continue, or break. Putting cleanup code in a finally block is always a good practice, even when no exceptions are anticipated.
The FileOutputStream constructor creates an empty file on the disk:
Creates a file output stream to write to the file represented by the specified File object. A new FileDescriptor object is created to represent this file connection.
First, if there is a security manager, its checkWrite method is called with the path represented by the file argument as its argument.
If the file exists but is a directory rather than a regular file, does not exist but cannot be created, or cannot be opened for any other reason then a FileNotFoundException is thrown.
Where a FileDescriptor is:
Instances of the file descriptor class serve as an opaque handle to the underlying machine-specific structure representing an open file, an open socket, or another source or sink of bytes. The main practical use for a file descriptor is to create a FileInputStream or FileOutputStream to contain it.
Applications should not create their own file descriptors.
This code should either produce a file or throw an exception. You have even confirmed that no conditions for throwing exception are met, e.g. you are replacing the string and the demo1 directory exists. Please, rewrite this to a new empty file and run.
If it still behaving the same, unless I have missed something this might be a bug. In that case, add this line to the code and post output:
System.out.println(System.getProperty("java.vendor")+" "+System.getProperty("java.version"));
Judging from the path, I'd say you are using Win 7, am I right? What version?

Then it means there is a file already in your directory

Related

PrintWriter--No Output?

EDIT: Fixed! Was overwriting file instead of appending to the file.
I seem to have a bit of a problem trying to use a PrintWriter to add a "header" to a log file before use, so that my program knows that it is not just a random text file. The field output_file refers to an argument taken by the logger initialization function to set the log file, whereas log_file is a static file field for the (global and static) logging class. After opening the log file to check for errors, there is no header. Using logging functions, also carried out by a PrintWriter, gives the correct output. Am I doing something wrong? (I know I am reinventing the wheel as a logging API already exists for Java, but I am working on a learning exercise.)
//After testing to make sure the file specified does not exist
log_file=output_file;
output_file.createNewFile();
PrintWriter pw=new PrintWriter(log_file);
pw.println("**[PROGRAM_NAME Log]**");
pw.flush();
pw.close();
isInitialized=true;
EDIT: The file is definitely writable, or the logger itself wouldn't work. Also, for those who were wondering, the code to log something is the following (Same general method as writing the header AKA new PrintWriter(log_file);)
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(log_file);
pw.print("[INFO:] " + sdf.format(new Date())); //The variable sdf is a date formatter for timestamps.
pw.println(" " + message);
pw.close();
The documentation for PrintWriter says:
file - The file to use as the destination of this writer. If the file
exists then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file
will be created. The output will be written to the file and is
buffered.
So every time you use new Printwriter(log_file), you are actually truncating the file, erasing everything in it, and starting fresh.
This means, of course, that as soon as you start logging, the header data gets erased.
If you want to append to the file, rather than erase it every time, you need to open a FileOutputStream with the append option, and open the PrintWriter on top of it.
try (
FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(log_file, true);
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(os);
) {
pw.println("Your log line here");
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
(Note the use of try-with-resources to auto-close the file when work with it is done. Of course, you can just keep it opened until you finish logging. This is merely an example.).

Pause the execution of Java if files are used

My application writes to Excel files. Sometimes the file can be used, in that case the FileNotFoundException thrown and then I do not know how to handle it better.
I am telling the user that the file is used and after that message I do not want to close the application, but to stop and wait while the file is available (assuming that it is opened by the same user). But I do not understand how to implement it. file.canWrite() doesn't work, it returns true even when the file is opened, to use FileLock and check that the lock is available I need to open a stream, but it throws FileNotFoundException (I've been thinking about checking the lock in a busy wait, I know that it is not a good solution, but I can't find another one).
This is a part of my code if it can help somehow to understand my problem:
File file = new File(filename);
FileOutputStream out = null;
try {
out = new FileOutputStream(file);
FileChannel channel = out.getChannel();
FileLock lock = channel.lock();
if (lock == null) {
new Message("lock not available");
// to stop the program here and wait when the file is available, then resume
}
// write here
lock.release();
}
catch (IOException e) {
new Message("Blocked");
// or to stop here and then create another stream when the file is available
}
What makes it more difficult for me is that it writes to different files, and if the first file is available, but the second is not, then it will update one file and then stop, and if I restart the program, it will update it again, so I can't allow the program to write into files until all of them are available.
I believe that there should be a common solution, since it must be a common issue in Windows to deal with such cases, but I can't find it.
To wait until a file exists you can make a simple loop:
File file = new File(filename);
while (!file.exists()) {
try {
Thread.sleep(100);
} catch (InterruptedException ie) { /* safe to ignore */ }
}
A better solution could be using WatchService but it's more code to implement.
The File.canWrite method only tells you if a path can be written to; if the path names a file that doesn't exist it will return false. You could use the canRead method instead of exists in a loop like above.
To use a file locks, the file has to exist first, so that wouldn't work either.
The only way to be sure you can write to a file is to try to open it. If the file doesn't exist, the java.io API will create it. To open a file for writing without creating you can use the java.nio.file.Files class:
try (OutputStream out = Files.newOutputStream(file.toPath(),
StandardOpenOption.WRITE))
{
// exists and is writable
} catch (IOException) {
// doesn't exist or can't be opened for writing
}

Rolling file implementation

I am always curious how a rolling file is implemented in logs.
How would one even start creating a file writing class in any language in order to ensure that the file size is not exceeded.
The only possible solution I can think of is this:
write method:
size = file size + size of string to write
if(size > limit)
close the file writer
open file reader
read the file
close file reader
open file writer (clears the whole file)
remove the size from the beginning to accommodate for new string to write
write the new truncated string
write the string we received
This seems like a terrible implementation, but I can not think up of anything better.
Specifically I would love to see a solution in java.
EDIT: By remove size from the beginning is, let's say I have 20 byte string (which is the limit), I want to write another 3 byte string, therefore I remove 3 bytes from the beginning, and am left with end 17 bytes, and by appending the new string I have 20 bytes.
Because your question made me look into it, here's an example from the logback logging framework. The RollingfileAppender#rollover() method looks like this:
public void rollover() {
synchronized (lock) {
// Note: This method needs to be synchronized because it needs exclusive
// access while it closes and then re-opens the target file.
//
// make sure to close the hereto active log file! Renaming under windows
// does not work for open files
this.closeOutputStream();
try {
rollingPolicy.rollover(); // this actually does the renaming of files
} catch (RolloverFailure rf) {
addWarn("RolloverFailure occurred. Deferring roll-over.");
// we failed to roll-over, let us not truncate and risk data loss
this.append = true;
}
try {
// update the currentlyActiveFile
currentlyActiveFile = new File(rollingPolicy.getActiveFileName());
// This will also close the file. This is OK since multiple
// close operations are safe.
// COMMENT MINE this also sets the new OutputStream for the new file
this.openFile(rollingPolicy.getActiveFileName());
} catch (IOException e) {
addError("setFile(" + fileName + ", false) call failed.", e);
}
}
}
As you can see, the logic is pretty similar to what you posted. They close the current OutputStream, perform the rollover, then open a new one (openFile()). Obviously, this is all done in a synchronized block since many threads are using the logger, but only one rollover should occur at a time.
A RollingPolicy is a policy on how to perform a rollover and a TriggeringPolicy is when to perform a rollover. With logback, you usually base these policies on file size or time.

File deletion with delete() method in Java

I have a little doubt about following code:
try {
File file = new File("writing");
file.createNewFile();
System.out.println(file.delete());
System.out.println(file.exists());
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(file);
pw.print(324.2342);
pw.flush();
pw.close();
FileReader fr = new FileReader(file);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);
System.out.println(br.readLine());
br.close();
} catch(IOException ioE) {
System.out.println("Indeed");
}
Why in this circumstance the method file.delete() apparently says that it works as it returns "true" when executed and it gets also confirmed by the file.exists() method which returns "false". However at runtime I do not get any exception like "IOException the file "writing" does not exist" or something likewise.
Why does the file keep staying in the heap even though deleted physically? Shouldn't it be automatically garbage collected as soon as the delete method gets called? I know it does not because I saw the output.
This is because the File represents a abstract path, see the JavaDoc for it http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/File.html. It does not represent a file handle in the OS.
The line in your code:
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(file);
Simply creates a new file. Try deleting the file after calling this...
File object represents a path to a physical file on the file system either exists or not. That's why you have exists() (to check if it exists) and createNewFile() (to create the file if it is not found).
Also note that PrintWriter(File file) creates a new file if it does not exist.
Parameters:
file - The file to use as the destination of this writer. If the file
exists then it will be truncated to zero size; otherwise, a new file
will be created. The output will be written to the file and is
buffered.
The File is handle to real file (that exists or not). You create and then delete the file above, as you say - all good so far.
When you come to the PrintWriter later on it creates the file once more when you use it - it doesnt matter that you deleted it before.
In fact depending on your use case this might be exaclty wht you want - you may want to delete an old log file for example before re-createing and writing to it once more.
Finally, nothing in your code will be eligible for garbage collection until your method exist, and even then the underyling file will continue to exist (if you dont delete it agin) - and any garbage colleciton in this case wouldnt effect the underlying file. It'll be deleted after the delete invokation and exist again once youre PrintWriter is done with it.
Hope this helps!
The file doesn't have a link to a particular file, rather to any file pointer by the file's path. With this line you're creating a new file:
PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(file);

How to find out which thread is locking a file in java?

I'm trying to delete a file that another thread within my program has previously worked with.
I'm unable to delete the file but I'm not sure how to figure out which thread may be using the file.
So how do I find out which thread is locking the file in java?
I don't have a straight answer (and I don't think there's one either, this is controlled at OS-level (native), not at JVM-level) and I also don't really see the value of the answer (you still can't close the file programmatically once you found out which thread it is), but I think you don't know yet that the inability to delete is usually caused when the file is still open. This may happen when you do not explicitly call Closeable#close() on the InputStream, OutputStream, Reader or Writer which is constructed around the File in question.
Basic demo:
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
File file = new File("c:/test.txt"); // Precreate this test file first.
FileOutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(file); // This opens the file!
System.out.println(file.delete()); // false
output.close(); // This explicitly closes the file!
System.out.println(file.delete()); // true
}
In other words, ensure that throughout your entire Java IO stuff the code is properly closing the resources after use. The normal idiom is to do this in the try-with-resources statement, so that you can be certain that the resources will be freed up anyway, even in case of an IOException. E.g.
try (OutputStream output = new FileOutputStream(file)) {
// ...
}
Do it for any InputStream, OutputStream, Reader and Writer, etc whatever implements AutoCloseable, which you're opening yourself (using the new keyword).
This is technically not needed on certain implementations, such as ByteArrayOutputStream, but for the sake of clarity, just adhere the close-in-finally idiom everywhere to avoid misconceptions and refactoring-bugs.
In case you're not on Java 7 or newer yet, then use the below try-finally idiom instead.
OutputStream output = null;
try {
output = new FileOutputStream(file);
// ...
} finally {
if (output != null) try { output.close(); } catch (IOException logOrIgnore) {}
}
Hope this helps to nail down the root cause of your particular problem.
About this question, I also try to find out this answer, and ask this question and find answer:
Every time when JVM thread lock a file exclusively, also JVM lock
some Jave object, for example, I find in my case:
sun.nio.fs.NativeBuffer
sun.nio.ch.Util$BufferCache
So you need just find this locked Java object and analyzed them and
you find what thread locked your file.
I not sure that it work if file just open (without locked exclusively), but I'm sure that is work if file be locked exclusively by Thread (using java.nio.channels.FileLock, java.nio.channels.FileChannel and so on)
More info see this question

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