Q:

Java Release and Debug properties files

I am writing a Java application which is almost ready for release, but I don't know how to create different .properties files for Debug and Release.
Let me clarify this for you.
I am storing the database host, username, password and other properties in the .properties files.
When I am writing and debugging the application these properties are configured to work with my development machine and database, but when the application is released they need to point to the release database and contain the release properties.
Is there any way to achieve this with Java and Maven?

A:

I once did something similar, I wanted to have several resources packs in a Java webapp: one for IDE development, one for local (but outside IDE) development for graphic designers, and finally one for release, with all the packing controlled by Maven.
My solution is to declare several extra resources folders in the <build> node, and tell Maven which one to pick up using profiles (like @biziclop already suggested you); those folders are controlled through properties.
This is the POM I've used:
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
    <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
    <groupId>...</groupId>
    <artifactId>...</artifactId>
    <version>...</version>
    <packaging>war</packaging>
    <name>...</name>

    <!-- My prerequisite was that when working in Eclipse no extra steps 
         should be required to make the IDE use the right configuration than
         Configure -> Convert to Maven Project, so I didn't like having 
         default settings in a profile that must be enabled in Eclipse project
         configuration -->
    <properties>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
        <war-name>/</war-name>

        <!-- These solve the problem: AFAICT, each <resource /> is added to the final POM,
             so declaring a resources folder in a profile didn't exclude other resources 
             folders declared in the default (i.e. without profiles active) configuration.
             So, the solution is to change what Maven brings in from each folder depending
             on the profile currently active. What follows is the default, no-profile
             active configuration. -->
        <res.devel.includes>**/*</res.devel.includes>
        <res.devel.excludes></res.devel.excludes>

        <res.local.includes></res.local.includes>
        <res.local.excludes>*</res.local.excludes>

        <res.release.includes></res.release.includes>
        <res.release.excludes>*</res.release.excludes>
    </properties>

    <build>
        <resources><!-- Here I declare all the resources folders, so that they will all be shown in Eclipse. Property values drive what is included and excluded. -->
            <resource><!-- This is the default Maven main resource directory -->
                <directory>${basedir}/src/main/resources-local</directory>
                <filtering>true</filtering>
                <includes>
                    <include>${res.devel.includes}</include>
                </includes>

                <excludes>
                    <exclude>${res.devel.excludes}</exclude>
                </excludes>
            </resource>

            <resource><!-- This is the resources directory for when the WAR is deployed on a local standalone Tomcan installation (useful for web pages editing) -->
                <directory>${basedir}/src/main/resources-local</directory>
                <filtering>true</filtering>
                <includes>
                    <include>${res.local.includes}</include>
                </includes>

                <excludes>
                    <exclude>${res.local.excludes}</exclude>
                </excludes>
            </resource>

            <resource><!-- This is the resource directory for when the WAR will be deployed -->
                <directory>${basedir}/src/main/resources-release</directory>
                <filtering>true</filtering>
                <includes>
                    <include>${res.release.includes}</include>
                </includes>

                <excludes>
                    <exclude>${res.release.excludes}</exclude>
                </excludes>
            </resource>
        </resources>

        <plugins>
            <!-- Plugins configurations -->
        </plugins>
    </build>

    <dependencies>
        <!-- Dependencies declarations -->
    </dependencies>

    <profiles><!-- Here are the profiles. When working in Eclipse no profile is active, so the resources will be taken only from src/main/resources (as per default properties values). -->
        <profile>
            <id>local</id><!-- This is for when the WAR is deployed on a local standalone Tomcat instance (i.e. outside of Eclipse) -->
            <properties>
                <war-name>ROOT</war-name>

                <!-- The resources will be taken only from src/main/resources-local -->
                <res.devel.includes></res.devel.includes>
                <res.devel.excludes>*</res.devel.excludes>

                <res.local.includes>*</res.local.includes>
                <res.local.excludes></res.local.excludes>

                <res.release.includes></res.release.includes>
                <res.release.excludes>*</res.release.excludes>
            </properties>
        </profile>

        <profile>
            <id>release</id><!-- This is for when the WAR is deployed on the production server -->
            <properties>
                <war-name>ROOT</war-name>

                <!-- The resources will be taken only from src/main/resources-release -->
                <res.devel.includes></res.devel.includes>
                <res.devel.excludes>*</res.devel.excludes>

                <res.local.includes></res.local.includes>
                <res.local.excludes>*</res.local.excludes>

                <res.release.includes>*</res.release.includes>
                <res.release.excludes></res.release.excludes>
            </properties>
        </profile>
    </profiles>
</project>

You may get further details in my answer here.

