Text files won't open when launching app from an executable

Question

I am developping a small libgdx project using jdk 17 and gradle 7.3. In this project I am generating my map using a text file located in the assets folder. I use the Gdx.files.internal("map.txt"); line to load it than i use a buffered reader to read it. Here is what is in my text file:

g w g g g g g g g g
g w w w w g g c g c 
g g g g w g g g g g
g g g g w g g g g g 
g g g g w w g g g u
g g g g g w g g g g 
g g g g g w g c g g
g u u g g w g g g g 
g g w g g w w g g g
g g g g g g w g g g 

Here is the sample of my code where I am using this file.

file = Gdx.files.internal("map.txt");
        
        BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file.path()));
        String s = "";
        int count = 0;
        while((s = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            System.out.println(s);
            map[count] = s.split(" ");
            count++;
        }
        bufferedReader.close();
        
        
        for(int row = 9; row >= 0; row--) {
            for(int col = 9; col >= 0; col--) {
                
                float x = (row - col) * 64 / 2F; 
                float y = (col + row) * 32 / 2F;
                
                if(map[row][col].equals("g")) {
                    base.add(new Tile(grass, new Vector2(row, col), new Vector2(x, y)));
                } else if(map[row][col].equals("w")) {
                    base.add(new Tile(water, new Vector2(row, col), new Vector2(x, y)));
                } else if(map[row][col].equals("c")){
                    base.add(new Tile(charcoal, new Vector2(row, col), new Vector2(x, y)));
                } else if(map[row][col].equals("u")) {
                    base.add(new Tile(uranium, new Vector2(row, col), new Vector2(x, y)));
                }
            }
        }

This works perfectly when I am running it from my IDE which is eclipse:

app running from ide

Now I want to create an.exe of my project. And I did it with Jpackage, almost. The app is running the.png in the assets folder are loading but not my map.txt.

app running from the.exe

I am not sure the link for the images are working but basically the map won't show up;

Here is my gradle.build for my desktop application: I think the issue might be somewhere in there but I only learning java and all this so I can't figure it out...

plugins { id 'org.beryx.runtime' version '1.8.4' }
apply plugin: "java"

sourceCompatibility = 1.7

sourceSets.main.resources.srcDirs = ["../core/assets"]
sourceSets.main.java.srcDirs = [ "src/" ]


mainClassName = "com.simpower.desktop.DesktopLauncher"
def osName = System.getProperty('os.name').toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT)
project.ext.assetsDir = new File("../core/assets")


task runGame(dependsOn: classes, type: JavaExec) {
    main = project.mainClassName
    classpath = sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath
    standardInput = System.in
    workingDir = project.assetsDir
    ignoreExitValue = true
}

task debug(dependsOn: classes, type: JavaExec) {
    main = project.mainClassName
    classpath = sourceSets.main.runtimeClasspath
    standardInput = System.in
    workingDir = project.assetsDir
    ignoreExitValue = true
    debug = true
}

task dist(type: Jar) {
    manifest {
        attributes 'Main-Class': project.mainClassName
    }
    dependsOn configurations.runtimeClasspath
    from {
        configurations.runtimeClasspath.collect { it.isDirectory() ? it : zipTree(it) }
    }
    with jar
    destinationDirectory = file("$buildDir/lib")
}
jpackageImage.dependsOn dist

dist.dependsOn classes

eclipse.project.name = appName + "-desktop"

runtime {
    options = ['--strip-debug',
               '--compress', '2',
               '--no-header-files',
               '--no-man-pages',
               '--strip-native-commands',
               '--vm', 'server']
    modules = ['java.base' ,
               'java.desktop',
               'jdk.unsupported']
    distDir = file(buildDir)

    jpackage {
        //jpackageHome = '/usr/lib/jvm/open-jdk'
        mainJar = dist.archiveFileName.get()
        if (osName.contains('windows')) {
            imageOptions = ["--icon", file("../icons/icon.ico")]
        } else if (osName.contains('linux')) {
            imageOptions = ["--icon", file("../icons/icon.png")]
        } else if (osName.contains('mac')) {
            imageOptions = ["--icon", file("../icons/icon.icns")]
        }
    }

So I was wondering how I could fix this.

Answer 1

You are opening the file using

file = Gdx.files.internal("map.txt");
... new FileReader(file.path()) ... ;

I assume this accesses the filesystem in the current working directory.

• Print out file.getAbsolutePath()
• Check if file.exists()
• Check your current working directory when you launch from Eclipse - it is for sure the project directory that also hosts your map.txt.
• Check the current working directory when launching the exe. Does it contain map.txt?

As an alternative check you could hardcode the absolute path to the file and see what happens.