Is there any way I can create Java projects using a simple text editor? Not an IDE like eclipse?
I want to be able to create .jar files without the assistance of an IDE, I have all the JDK commands installed already on my computer (such as javac)
I'd like to know what file structure I need, how I need to arrange my class files, what compilation steps I need to go through etc. to be able to create jar files.
Yes, completely doable (just not much fun once the project gets bigger).
I suggest if it's not a throwaway project, use a build tool like Maven or Gradle to manage your build process, so that you don't need to assemble classpaths and resources yourself, but still retain full control of the build and test lifecycle, without IDEs. This comes at a complexity cost, of course, but once it's set up life becomes easier.
See also How can I create an executable JAR with dependencies using Maven? or the Gradle docs about creating JARs
I'd highly recommend the standard Maven source directory layout too (src/main, src/test etc) as it's both commonplace and makes for easy integration with the above tools.
Follow the below steps to create a jar file
Compile the java source using javac
Create a manifest file (if main exists) to identify main class
Use the below command to create a jar file
jar -cvfm *.class
Yeah. You can create your project structure without an IDE. But it's time consuming and you have to do everything.
To talk about creating JAR, you don't want any extra software. You can use jar utility, which comes with JDK.
Here are steps to create jar:
Compile classes which you want to in jar
Create manifest file (.mf). It's needed if you want to make jar as executable. If you want to bundle classes only together, then no need. (eg. Dependency jar)
Go to command prompt and execute following command "jar cvf MyJarName.jar *.class". Make sure java is set in environment path and you're inside the directory of classes.
cvf means "create a jar; show verbose output; specify the output jar file name.
That's all. If you want to include any folders inside jar then you can use folder name in above command after classes and it must be separated by space.
Example: jar cvf TicTacToe.jar TicTacToe.class audio images
Related
When compiling java code the I have been told the compiler must be run from the top of the package.
That is if I am trying to compile Test.java which is in tools.testing I have to first set the top of the package hierarchy, the folder containing /tools in order for it to work.
The class I am trying to compile uses another class contained in the same package and as such passing the full path of the code to the compiler prevents it from seeing the other class (as it doesn't search current directory and instead searches for the package inside of itself: ./tools/testing when it is already in /tools/testing )
I wanted to know if this was always the case or if there was a way to, for example: provide the path to the top of the package (since passing full path will not work for me) as an argument of the javac command or something similar ?
Thanks !
You should use an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) like IntelliJ, Eclipse or Netbeans. In an IDE you can create a Java project which has a directory acting as the 'source root'.
If you use Maven as your build tool the default location for such a directory is /src/main/java/ (this is the de-facto standard for Java projects at this time).
The IDE will automatically compile your Java files for you and allow you to run them easily during development.
If you want to run the application stand-alone you have to package it in some way. One simple and effective way is to generate a .jar file which contains all the .class files and other files you need (like images, .properties files etc). If you specify a pom.xml file for your project (that's Maven again) and set the packaging to jar Maven will automatically create a .jar file for you. You can even make the .jar file runnable with some additional settings.
See also this answer for some more info about packaging.
I am developing a GUI using swing that runs an executable. Currently the executable is being used via Runtime.getRuntime().exec().
I have both the executable and the source code. If I compile my GUI into a jar the executable will not be included into as it currently stands, correct?
I would like the whole thing to run as a single file, is it better then to use the source code or can I package it all as one jar when I'm done some how?
Though I'm writing all the code by hand I do have WindowBuilder for eclipse, I haven't really explored it thoroughly, is there anything in there that might help?
EDIT: Sorry, to clarify: The GUI I want to build uses an executable called src2srcml to take a source file (C, C++, Java) and convert it to an XML File. src2srcml is a separate executable I got from this website: http://www.sdml.info/projects/srcml/
I want to embed this executable into my GUI so that when I compile my GUI into a JAR it contains src2srcml inside it so that I don't need to send a client both my GUI and src2srcml separately.
If you include the executable within the Jar, the executable will not be runnable by the OS.
With that in mind, you have a number of choices...
You Could...
Design a build process that compiles and packages the jar file, takes that and the executable and copies it into an appropriate directory structure for distribution...possible even building installers...
This will mean that you can still access the executable at runtime by using a relative path
This does mean you will have at least two files you will need to distribute, but the over all process is relatively painless...
You Could...
Include the executable within the jar file. At runtime, you would need to extract the executable to the filesystem and execute it.
This means that you will have at least one file you will need to distribute, but it complicates the development process as you will need to find the resources (executable) at run time and extract it to some location before you can execute it
You Could...
Just build an installer for your application. Something like like izPack for example, or what ever installer you want to use.
This means that you can distribute a single file to the client, but when installed, it will unpack all the files into the installation location and you won't need to care...
I'm not sure if I understood your question, but if you want to export you application into jar file and you want it to include all dependecies just have a look at this SO question: How to create a jar with external libraries included in Eclipse?
I have following tasks:
Automatically generate java source files in the current workspace.
Compile those files after generation.
Export every generated and compiled class with needed libraries to runnable JAR file.
I already installed Eclipse SDK and I suppose what I need is to make my main class inherit some class from SDK and maybe load some other classes. But i don't know what do I need exactly and where to look. I'd appreciate some clues.
I suggest you look at M2T-JET to generate not only the Java files, but the project, any necessary folders and any other resources you need. One of those resources would be a jardesc file which is used by the JDT to persist jar export options. You can play around with those options to define the jar and export, then generate the jardesc file along with the other generated resources.
M2T-JET can be invoked programmatically, so once that single invocation generates your entire project, your plugin can make the call to the JDT to export the jar using the jardesc file.
I've developped a game during a Game Jam and I'd like to create an executable to distribute it to the other team members.
The game uses the slick2d and lwjgl library. I've tried to use JExePack, but the .exe file I get isn't runnable, I get an error while launching it.
Even the jar file gets me errors.
I'm only able to launch the game on the IDE. When I launch it with the command line : java -jar "game.jar", it obviously tells me that there's missing libraries, even if I indicate the path to the lib folder.
Is there an easy way to create an executable ?
Thanks in advance.
I think using a jar was a good idea.
You need to add every required jar in the classpath one-by-one for the jar to run properly.
Launch4J (http://launch4j.sourceforge.net/) is my favorite tool for that. You can just export an executable jar from your IDE and create an exe out of it. Creating an executable jar in Eclipse gives you the option to include all required libraries in it, which saves you from adding them manually when create the exe file. The minimal settings you need are:
Input (your executable jar)
Output (the .exe you want to create)
Minimum Java version (i.e. 1.6.0)
Thats it (as far as I remember)
If you want the exe you can use exe4j, it's a very useful tool, but i think using jars is better since you can run them on every platform. Anyway, when you export the jar, check on your ide's preferences if it automatically imports the libs. (for example, on eclipse you can pack the required libs into the exported jar)
You can use Luncher4j to create an exe file and convert the jar libraries to dll files.
i wrote an application with java , and i use JGoodies in my code .
when i export jar file , that file doesn't run in another systems .
how can i bundle my program with JGoodies jar files ?
There are essentially two ways to do this, but it all boils down to making sure that your classes and the JGoodies classes are both in the classpath when the user runs the application.
The first way is to simply distribute your jar file along with the JGoodies jar file, and any jar files that either of them depend upon. The user then must include all (both) of those jars in their classpath with, the '-cp' option to the java command line.
The second option is to re-bundle all of the classes into one big jar file (usually referred to as an 'uber-jar'). If your build uses Maven, or you can convert to Maven, you can use the Maven Assembly Plugin - http://maven.apache.org/plugins/maven-assembly-plugin/