private Properties loadPropertiesFromExternalFile(String filePath,Properties fallback){
  Properties properties=new Properties(fallback);
  try {
    FileInputStream propertyFileStream=new FileInputStream(filePath);
    properties.load(propertyFileStream);
    return properties;
  }
 catch (  NullPointerException e) {
    return fallback;
  }
catch (  FileNotFoundException e) {
    return fallback;
  }
catch (  IOException e) {
    return fallback;
  }
}

private Properties loadPropertiesFromExternalFile ( String filePath , Properties fallback ) { Properties properties = new Properties ( fallback ) ; try { FileInputStream propertyFileStream = new FileInputStream ( filePath ) ; properties . load ( propertyFileStream ) ; return properties ; } catch ( NullPointerException e ) { return fallback ; } catch ( FileNotFoundException e ) { return fallback ; } catch ( IOException e ) { return fallback ; } }
loads properties from a external file . if the file does not exist , we return the fallback .
