[FIXED] Java - load file from web context

Issue

I can't figure out why fi.exists() returns false here. I can browse to the file via the browser at contextPath+"/images/default.png

String contextPath = req.getContextPath();
File fi = new File(contextPath+"/images/default.png");
exists = fi.exists();

Solution

Rather than getContextPath(), I needed to use getRealPath():

String path = req.getServletContext().getRealPath("/images/default.png");
File fi = new File(path);

Answered By - mrcrag
Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (JavaFixing Admin)