Using scala Try around configurations read from file to open a MongoDB connection

trymongo.scala

import scala.util._
import java.util.Properties
import java.io.FileInputStream

val config = Try {
  val prop = new Properties()
  prop.load(new FileInputStream("config.properties"))
  (
    prop.getProperty("mongo.host"),
    new Integer(prop.getProperty("mongo.port")),
    prop.getProperty("mongo.db"),
    prop.getProperty("mongo.coll.docs")
  ) 
}

//now config is of type Try, and you can play with that. you can:

//match the result
config match {
  case Success((host, port, dbName, docsCollName)) => 
    //do what you need with the single properties
  case Failure(ex) => 
    //do what you need with the exception
}

//get the value if it's a success or else use a default
val (host, port, dbName, docsCollName) = config.getOrElse(("127.0.0.1", 27017, "defaultDB", "defaultDocs"))

//convert the success to an option
val optConfig: Option[(String, Integer, String, String))] = config.toOption

//recover with a function
val Success((host, port, dbName, docsCollName)) = config recover {
  t: Throwable =>
  //based on the error you can create the new configuration parameters
}

/*
 * map the configuration to a Try of MongoCollection with Casbah (scala library for mongo)
 * you have the same operations available with the returned mongo collection as for config, 
 * until you eventually decide to handle the error or end the program successfully
 */
import com.mongodb.casbah._
import Imports._
val collection: Try[MongoCollection] = config map {
  (host, port, dbName, docsCollName) =>
  val client = MongoClient(host, port)
  client(dbName)(docsCollName)
}