how to set classpath for com.sun.tools.javac.Main.compile() function?

Question

I am using com.sun.tools.javac.Main.compile() function to compile java file at run time from my struts projects. But for some files they need some specific jars like axis2. I have the jars but how can i set them to classpath to compile the java file at runtime? I have tried with System.setProperty("java.class.path","jar dir"); but failed to compile.

Answer 1

The following code which uses com.sun.tools.javac.Main worked for me:

Apple.java

//This class is packaged in a jar named MyJavaCode.jar
import com.xyz.pqr.SomeJavaExamples;
public class Apple {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("hello from Apple.main()");
    }
}

AClass.java

import com.sun.tools.javac.Main;
import java.io.FileWriter;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class AClass {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            //Specify classpath using next to -cp
            //This looks just like how we specify parameters for javac
            String[] optionsAndSources = {
                "-g", "-source", "1.5",
                "-target", "1.5", 
                "-cp", ".:/home/JavaCode/MyJavaCode.jar",
                "Apple.java"
            };
            PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter("./out.txt"));
            int status =  Main.compile(optionsAndSources, out);
            System.out.println("status: " + status);
            System.out.println("complete: ");
        }catch (Exception e) {}
    } 
}

Note: To compile this AClass.java , tools.jar needs to be in the classpath , which is not there by default, so you will have to specify it.

If you are using Java 1.6 then you should consider using javax.tools.JavaCompiler instead, its getTask( ) methods takes an argument options which can have the classpath .

For example:

import javax.tools.JavaCompiler;
import javax.tools.ToolProvider;
import javax.tools.JavaFileObject;

public final class AClass {
    private static boolean compile(JavaFileObject... source ){
        List<String> options = new ArrayList<String>();
        // set compiler's classpath to be same as the runtime's
        options.addAll(Arrays.asList("-classpath", System.getProperty("java.class.path")));
        //Add more options including classpath
        final JavaCompiler compiler = ToolProvider.getSystemJavaCompiler();
        final JavaCompiler.CompilationTask task = compiler.getTask(/*default System.err*/ null,
            /*std file manager*/ null,
            /*std DiagnosticListener */  null,
            /*compiler options*/ options,
            /*no annotation*/  null,
            Arrays.asList(source));
       return task.call();
}

com.sun.tools.javac.Main is deprecated and undocumented too.