Getting a Resource from within a Jar file

[kammce]

Getting a Resource from within a Jar file, using a relative path. The file that I am using to get this file is in path/to/file/Control.class. The file I want is path/to/repository/img.png. How do I get this file and use it as an ImageIcon? My attempt is using a method:

public ImageIcon getImageIcon(String url) 
{
	ImageIcon retzero = new ImageIcon();
	try 
	{
		ImageIcon ret = new ImageIcon(this.getClass().getResource(repository+url));
		return ret;
	} catch (java.lang.NullPointerException e) {
		System.out.println(this.getClass().getName()+" could not find: " + repository+url);
		return retzero;
	}
}

The variable repository is just a string that is "../repository".

Also, I tried using, get ResourceAsStream(), but that caused some slowdowns in my program. A lot of images are being used.

Thank you for Reading.

[DarrylBurke]

The advice in java - getResource with parent directory reference - Stack Overflow may be useful.

db

[kammce]

Thank you very much DarryleBurke! You advice helped me a lot. Although, it was not the direct solution, it did point me in the exact direction to the solution.

The solution is this:

I need a file named /source/repository/img.png
There is a Java file within the directory /source/controls/controller.java

The method that I used to get the image file before was to use a URL string "../repository/img.png". This works if Java can access the outside FileSystem. In my case, I wanted Java to use the files stored within the Jarfile zip filesystem. In which case, "../" does not work, and is probably not a good idea to use after this point, even when it does work.

Since controller.java was in the package source.controls, it could get the resource file img.png by making the URL string "source/repository/img.png" Just as long as I used Controls.class.getClassLoader().getResource(reposi tory);. As long as the directory is in package range, it can be retrieved in this fashion.

I personally did not know packages worked this way, so if anyone else did not know this either, hopefully this will help them out.

EDIT: yeah, this is solved now!

[DarrylBurke]

Thank you very much DarryleBurke! You advice helped me a lot. Although, it was not the direct solution, it did point me in the exact direction to the solution.

You're welcome, and that's what we always try (but don't always succeed) to do here: provide a pointer to resources and leave the pleasure of solving the problem to you!

db

[Tolls]

I wouldn't get the ClassLoader method, as it's pointless.
If you just want to start at the root of the jar file stick a "/" at the beginning.
The ClassLoader resource stuff has different rules to the Class.getResource method so you can quickly confuse matters if you mix them.