diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/AbstractFileListFilter.java b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/AbstractFileListFilter.java
index 351fe20227..23fcda4766 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/AbstractFileListFilter.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/AbstractFileListFilter.java
@@ -20,8 +20,6 @@ import java.io.File;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 
-import org.springframework.util.Assert;
-
 /**
  * A convenience base class for any {@link FileListFilter} whose criteria can be
  * evaluated against each File in isolation. If the entire List of files is
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandler.java b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandler.java
index 74e9117028..de5d5b53d7 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandler.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandler.java
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ package org.springframework.integration.file;
 
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
 import java.nio.charset.Charset;
 
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.integration.core.Message;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageHandler;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageHandlingException;
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.FileCopyUtils;
  * method by the {@link org.springframework.integration.transformer.ObjectToStringTransformer}.
  * 
  * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @author Iwein Fuld
  */
 public class FileWritingMessageHandler implements MessageHandler {
 
@@ -50,13 +53,14 @@ public class FileWritingMessageHandler implements MessageHandler {
 
 	private volatile Charset charset = Charset.defaultCharset(); 
 
-
-	public FileWritingMessageHandler(String parentDirectoryPath) {
-		this(new File(parentDirectoryPath));
-	}
-
-	public FileWritingMessageHandler(File parentDirectory) {
-		this.parentDirectory = parentDirectory;
+	public FileWritingMessageHandler(Resource parentDirectory) {
+		try {
+			this.parentDirectory = parentDirectory.getFile();
+		}
+		catch (IOException e) {
+			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
+			throw new RuntimeException(e);
+		}
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/config/FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/config/FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
index 851f40be00..6e421b0914 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/config/FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/file/config/FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser.java
@@ -25,9 +25,12 @@ import org.springframework.integration.config.xml.AbstractOutboundChannelAdapter
 import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 
 /**
- * Parser for the <outbound-channel-adapter/> element of the 'file' namespace.
+ * Parser for the <outbound-channel-adapter/> element of the 'file'
+ * namespace.
  * 
  * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @author Iwein Fuld
+ * 
  */
 public class FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser extends AbstractOutboundChannelAdapterParser {
 
@@ -37,8 +40,11 @@ public class FileOutboundChannelAdapterParser extends AbstractOutboundChannelAda
 		if (!StringUtils.hasText(directory)) {
 			parserContext.getReaderContext().error("directory is required", element);
 		}
-		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder = BeanDefinitionBuilder.genericBeanDefinition(
-				"org.springframework.integration.file.FileWritingMessageHandler");
+		if (directory.indexOf(':') == -1) {
+			directory = "file:" + directory;
+		}
+		BeanDefinitionBuilder builder = BeanDefinitionBuilder
+				.genericBeanDefinition("org.springframework.integration.file.FileWritingMessageHandler");
 		builder.addConstructorArgValue(directory);
 		String fileNameGenerator = element.getAttribute("filename-generator");
 		if (StringUtils.hasText(fileNameGenerator)) {
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileToChannelIntegrationTests.java b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileToChannelIntegrationTests.java
index 14d1543a48..bf0cf152cb 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileToChannelIntegrationTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileToChannelIntegrationTests.java
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import java.io.File;
 
 import org.junit.After;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
-import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandlerTests.java b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandlerTests.java
index 5c0ca009e6..63676a3f93 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandlerTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration.file/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/file/FileWritingMessageHandlerTests.java
@@ -16,22 +16,29 @@
 
 package org.springframework.integration.file;
 
+import static org.easymock.EasyMock.*;
 import java.io.File;
 
 import org.junit.Test;
 
+import org.springframework.core.io.Resource;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.GenericMessage;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageHandlingException;
 
 /**
  * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @author Iwein Fuld
  */
 public class FileWritingMessageHandlerTests {
+	
+	private Resource outputDirectory = createMock(Resource.class);
 
 	@Test(expected = MessageHandlingException.class)
-	public void unsupportedType() {
+	public void unsupportedType() throws Exception {
+		expect(outputDirectory.getFile()).andReturn(new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"))).anyTimes();
+		replay(outputDirectory);
 		FileWritingMessageHandler handler = new FileWritingMessageHandler(
-				new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir")));
+			outputDirectory	);
 		handler.handleMessage(new GenericMessage<Integer>(99));
 	}