Uncompiled jar works but compiled doesn't work

Question

So in Eclipse this code works:

String file_path = "accounts.accs";
File file = new File("src/puffinlump/folder_lock/"+file_path);

But when I compile it into a JAR I get this error:

Error reading file: java.io.FileNotFoundException: lock\src\puffinlump\folder_lock\accounts.accs (The system cannot find the path specified)

Why is it not working and how can I fix it?

Answer 1

As Obicere said, the working directory is the project directory. You try to access something in the src folder, which probably doesn't exist wherever you exported your JAR. You should create a folder named folder_lock in your project directory with accounts.accs in it, then get your file with:

File file = new File("folder_lock" + File.separator + "accounts.accs");

If you need it in your JAR (which it's being exported to, given that it's in the src folder) then retrieve an InputStream from it like this:

InputStream stream = getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("puffinlump/folder_lock/accounts.accs");

If your method is static, use

InputStream stream = MyClass.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("puffinlump/folder_lock/accounts.accs");

instead, substituting your class name over MyClass .

If you need an URL, you can retrieve one with getResource instead of getResourceAsStream .

Note that your code must be compiled to run - Eclipse compiles it by default every time you save.