NetBeans和Eclipse FileNotFoundException

Question

I'm new in NetBeans and have problems with both IDEs not finding my files. If i compile and run my programm in PowerShell it runs perfectly. The ExceptionError loks like this "java.io.FileNotFoundException: model\\field\\levels\\map01.field". My packages are.

• controller
• model.field.levels
• view.tiles

In Field.java:

public void setField() {
    FieldReader fr = new FieldReader();
    field = fr.load("model/field/levels/map01.field");
}

In FieldReader.java:

public int[][] load(String path){
    int field[][] = null;
    try {
        File file = new File(path);
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
        String s = null;
        int line = 0;
        int x = 0;
        int y = 0;
        while((s = br.readLine()) != null) {
            if(line == 0) {
                int start = 0;
                int split = 0;
                for (int i = 0; i < s.length(); i++) {
                    if(s.charAt(i) == 32) start = i + 1;
                    if(s.charAt(i) == 'x') split = i;
                }
                x = Integer.parseInt(s.substring(start, split));
                y = Integer.parseInt(s.substring(split + 1));
                System.out.println(x);
                System.out.println(y);
                field = new int[x][y];
            }
            if(line >= 2) {
                for (int i = 0; i < x; i++) {
                    field[i][line - 2] = Character.getNumericValue(s.charAt(i));
                }
                System.out.println(s);
            }
            line++;
        }
        br.close();
    } catch ( IOException e ) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
    return field;
}

The file is in place and by loading other files like images everything works fine.

Answer 1

The Problem is allready solved. In NetBeans it is possible to set the working direktory while running under right clicking the Prokekt > Properties > Run > Working Direktory. Getting the absolutepath leads me to solution, so thanks for the hint Thorbjorn. :D

Answer 2

You are relying on relative paths, which require current working directory to be set to something useful. Java doesn't do this automatically so you (or your IDE) need to do this when launching your program. A very useful tool is

File f = ....
System.out.println(f.getAbsolutePath());

to tell you what is actually being looked for. When you get more advanced you can ask the JVM where it found your class and then deduce the location of the files you need.

Note however that when packaging java programs everything is packed inside a jar file. Then your current approach will not work. You should look into resources which can be found on the class path easily regardless of whether you are in your IDE or run in production (, but where the files cannot easily be seen by other programs). This is a very common problem new programmers run into so you might as well start now instead of reworking your program later.