How to access file in the static resources(WEB-INF) folder from the referencing java project?

Question

I have a web application, that contains a configuration xml file for one of my application services that is exposed as spring bean. Also I have a standalone java application

Answer 1

It's a classpath resource, so put it on the classpath: $webapp/WEB-INF/classes

Maven projects will copy things in $module/src/main/resources to this location when packaging the webapp. (the former is a sourcepath, the latter - WEB-INF/classes - is always put on the classpath by the servlet container, per spec.)