Brand new user question

Hello all,

I'm brand new to java and having trouble running something I wrote. Its a simple program that seems to compile properly but I can't run it. Hopefully someone can help me out. Here is the program:

import java.util.Scanner;

public class FirstApp {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Scanner creation
Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);

//Prompt user for base and length
System.out.print("Enter base then length: ");
double base = input.nextDouble();
double length = input.nextDouble();

//Calculate area of a triangle
double area = 0.5 * (base * length) ;

//Display answer
System.out.println("The area of your triangle is " + area);
}
}

It compiles without errors so I go to the command prompt and go to the folder it's saved in.
C:\<path to folder>\FirstApp>java FirstApp

I get the following error whenever I try it:
Error: Could not find or load main class FirstApp

I'm using NetBeans 7.1.1 with Java 7 update 3 and JDK 7.3

Any ideas I would greatly appreciate it.

Do a dir command in the folder where you use the java command to see what files are there. There needs to be a FirstApp.class file.

There is a similar question here:
Java problem: Could not find main class HelloWorld - Stack Overflow

The answer seems to be that you need to set your classpath

You should also read this because you may have put the main class in a package so you should run it from the package:
http://www.jarticles.com/package/package_eng.html

Thanks there wasn't a file FirstApp.class so I did a search in the folder and subfolders and was able to find it. I found it much deeper: C:\<path to folder>\FirstApp\build\classes\FirstApp\FirstApp.c lass

So I type in java FirstApp and got the following error:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: FirstApp
me: firstapp/FirstApp)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass1(Native Method)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
at java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknow n Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(Unknown Source)
at sun.launcher.LauncherHelper.checkAndLoadMain(Unkno wn Source)

Looks like there might be something I didn't install?

Thanks in advance!

Does the source file have a package statement? That will change how you execute it. You have to include the package name with the classname and set the classpath to the package folder.
For simpler testing, remove the package statement, recompile and try to execute again.

To copy the contents of the command prompt window:
Click on Icon in upper left corner
Select Edit
Select 'Select All' - The selection will show
Click in upper left again
Select Edit and click 'Copy'

Paste here.

Your Netbeans output path look like classes\FirstApp\FirstApp.class. It look like that your class is inseide a FirstApp package. So to run your code you should start from the classes directory and type something like:

Code:

---

java FirstApp.FirstApp

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wsaryada

Your Netbeans output path look like classes\FirstApp\FirstApp.class. It look like that your class is inseide a FirstApp package. So to run your code you should start from the classes directory and type something like:

Code:

---

java FirstApp.FirstApp

---

---

This worked, thank you. I was trying to just run the class file but NetBeans did give a path and command to use to run the program. That is odd because its now how the book I'm reading said to run programs. Thanks, I'll pay more attention to what the program tells me instead of the book since its not about NetBeans.

Thanks for the help all, I'm sure the classpath solution would of worked as well but I didn't quite understand it.

Baby steps, really tiny baby steps.