ClassLoader loading the wrong instance of a file

Question

So I see there has already been a post very similar to this issue, however I am in a situation where I have no power to specify the location of this file within my jar and so am hoping someone is aware of a solution to get around this.

So I currently use the following snippet to obtain a file as an input stream, the file 'plugin.xml' is located at the root of the jar and I cannot change this location as another piece of software (dynatrace) creates this file and determines its location.

the standard snippet:

InputStream is = JmxPlugin.class.getResourceAsStream("/plugin.xml");

Now I am aware that the issue is that the ClassLoader is picking up the first file which matches the name 'Plugin.xml' along the classpath (one which isn't in my jar, yay).

Can anyone think of a way to ensure I pick up the correct file without having to move it? The relative path of my class in the jar is com/something/jmx/JmxPlugin.class.

(Id rather not have to unpack the jar in memory).

Many thanks for any contributions,

Answer 1

I'm not absolutely sure, but seems like Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("/plugin.xml") may solve your issue. If not, you'll have to create your own ClassLoader and resolve the issue there.

Answer 2

The simplies way is to move your jar in classpath to be the first containing Plugin.xml, Another approach is to use getResource() to locate your jar file:

URL myJar=JmxPlugin.class.getResource("/"+JmxPlugin.class.getName().replace(".","/")+".class");

then use this URL to open jar file and extract Plugin.xml.