[java] What is the best way to find the users home directory in Java?

The concept of a HOME directory seems to be a bit vague when it comes to Windows. If the environment variables (HOMEDRIVE/HOMEPATH/USERPROFILE) aren't enough, you may have to resort to using native functions via JNI or JNA. SHGetFolderPath allows you to retrieve special folders, like My Documents (CSIDL_PERSONAL) or Local Settings\Application Data (CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA).

Sample JNA code:

public class PrintAppDataDir {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        if (com.sun.jna.Platform.isWindows()) {
            HWND hwndOwner = null;
            int nFolder = Shell32.CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA;
            HANDLE hToken = null;
            int dwFlags = Shell32.SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT;
            char[] pszPath = new char[Shell32.MAX_PATH];
            int hResult = Shell32.INSTANCE.SHGetFolderPath(hwndOwner, nFolder,
                    hToken, dwFlags, pszPath);
            if (Shell32.S_OK == hResult) {
                String path = new String(pszPath);
                int len = path.indexOf('\0');
                path = path.substring(0, len);
                System.out.println(path);
            } else {
                System.err.println("Error: " + hResult);
            }
        }
    }

    private static Map<String, Object> OPTIONS = new HashMap<String, Object>();
    static {
        OPTIONS.put(Library.OPTION_TYPE_MAPPER, W32APITypeMapper.UNICODE);
        OPTIONS.put(Library.OPTION_FUNCTION_MAPPER,
                W32APIFunctionMapper.UNICODE);
    }

    static class HANDLE extends PointerType implements NativeMapped {
    }

    static class HWND extends HANDLE {
    }

    static interface Shell32 extends Library {

        public static final int MAX_PATH = 260;
        public static final int CSIDL_LOCAL_APPDATA = 0x001c;
        public static final int SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT = 0;
        public static final int SHGFP_TYPE_DEFAULT = 1;
        public static final int S_OK = 0;

        static Shell32 INSTANCE = (Shell32) Native.loadLibrary("shell32",
                Shell32.class, OPTIONS);

        /**
         * see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb762181(VS.85).aspx
         * 
         * HRESULT SHGetFolderPath( HWND hwndOwner, int nFolder, HANDLE hToken,
         * DWORD dwFlags, LPTSTR pszPath);
         */
        public int SHGetFolderPath(HWND hwndOwner, int nFolder, HANDLE hToken,
                int dwFlags, char[] pszPath);

    }

}