How to Hide / Protect Media Folder in Java Project? - java

I am a beginner Java developer and I have created an application in Java (Netbeans).
I have used buttons icons, backgrouds for jframes etc. When I built the project, they can easily accessible using WinRAR. Anyone can extract my jar file and see all the images that I have used in my program. Even the images used in jpanel that is not accessible without password.
How can I hide or protect these images?
I have created a .exe file also using Launch4j but still facing same problem. When I right click on the .exe file, its easy to extract my whole program.

To be honest, if someone wants your picture, they are going to be able to get it. One can simply do a print screen. However you can still do somethings.
Remove the extensions for the picture files and give them crazy names - this will make it harder for people to find your pictures
Encript the files then have the application decript them when loading - I don't know how to do this but shouldn't be too hard to find, for instance you could save the pictures as a byte stream with some alterations then reload it.
Save the picture in some archive which only your application knows how to read.
But anyway even with all these things, I still know how one could get a handle to an open JFrame, look through the components, and then could get your picture. IMHO trying to prevent people for getting your pictures is not worth doing.

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Publish updatable Java software through Wordpress

I have just written a Java program that I now need to publish. I want to make the software easily updatable, and I therefore need your advice. The program will be used by people with minimal technical knowledge, hence usability is absolute key. The program is not open source.
The situation is this:
First time users download a zip-file containing one .jar-file and two folders that should contain the program output files (.xml-files and .png-files). I want to make it as easy as possible for the user to update the .jar (replace it with another .jar, not necessarily at run time). To my help I have a simple web-based Wordpress site that the user will view as the source of the program.
I'll list the possible solutions I've come up with:
1 (fallback solution). The user have to manually go to the Wordpress site where I'll put a separate direct download link (from Google Drive) for the .jar-file. The user then has to manually replace the .jar in the existing folder with the new one.The drawback to this is that it requires too much work from the user, and they program probably won't get updated very often.
2. Alongside the Program.jar in the zip-file the first user downloads, I place another Program-Updater.jar. This new .jar's sole purpose is to, when the user opens it, download a new version of Program.jar from the web and replace the existing one.This is better than the previous option because it requires less work, even though it's not automatic. The drawback is that I need one more .jar which can confuse the user, and most importantly I have no way of updating the Program-Updater.jar.
3. Java Web Start.I've tried reading up on how this works, but I'm wondering if there is a way to get it to work. One possible problem is that I can't really access the host, and to be able to set up the .jnlp the correct way I think you need this. I'm also wondering how the program's file structure would be (is the .jar even placed on the user's computer?) and if this could confuse the user. Also how to make it always work offline.
4. Suggest your own solution!
Any input on this matter would be greatly appreciated, and I'll gladly give more info than I already have.
Cheers
Getdown was the way to go; it is extremely easy to use.
I'll put the .zip on Google Drive with a direct download link to it on my Wordpress site.
The files used by getdown are placed in and downloaded from my public git repo.

Display Java Source Code in HTML

I have some Java code that I want to display on my web site. The point of sharing this code is not for for the viewers to use, it is just for them to see. (Although I am not opposed to them using it.) It is about 10 packages, each with 10 classes. What is the best way to make it viewable and navigatable in HTML? I am fairly new at this.
I am not necessarily trying to make it pretty...I just want it to be functional. I am also trying to avoid copy and pasting 100 individual files. I want to paste the entire Java project into a folder, then allow the user to access that folder and view its contents from on the website. So something like a folder system, where when they navigate to a .java, it displays the contents of that .java below the folder tree.
How can I accomplish this? I am not really sure where to begin.

How to load and save files in Android?

I need to load "configuration" type files for my program in Android, they are both .bin files containing dictionary data for the NLP library. I'm a bit new to Android still, and I'm having trouble finding a folder to place the files in so I can access them when the activity starts.
I also need to create/save/load a filetype specific to my program, and I don't know where to put it either. All I've been able to find on here is people using the getAssetManager() function to fetch input streams, but I explicitly need File objects for me to be able to load them into my pre-existing desktop software code I'd like to reuse (plus the libraries require them anyway)
I've also seen people using a "res/raw" folder, however the ADT did not generate this "raw" file when I made the project - so I'm not sure what to do there either.
Here is how I usually start the software in the desktop version, but I need to fetch these files in an Android environment:
brain.start(new File("memboric.core"), new File("en_pos_maxent.bin"), new File("en_sent.bin"));
core = brain.getInterpreter().getCore();
The memboric.core file can be generated, but I need to know WHERE and HOW to do so.
Thank you very much for your time, feel free to direct me to other resources if you feel this question is inadequate.
TLDR; how do I load "static" files for the software to function (needs to be included with software), and how to create/load/save "personal" files into an appropriate area of the device?
Use Context.getFilesDir(). Your application can read and write files in that folder and they'll automatically get deleted if your application gets uninstalled.
From that point forward, you can create, delete and read from files like any other Java application.
the "raw"-folder you can create it on your own. So check this out, which shows how to handle files in Android: http://developer.android.com/training/basics/data-storage/files.html

Protect desktop application images from external modification

I am developing a standalone desktop application in SWT which makes use of several images.
These images are included in my application's directory structure. So, just to make a silly example, anyone could replace my logo with theirs, claim the application as their work and brag with friends.
What is the most efficient way to prevent people from modifying or stealing the images used in my application?
Technically, you can make it harder (add the logo to the jar, use encryption, sign jars etc.) but AFAIK you cannot prevent it.
Legally: make clear under what license you distribute your application and what your trademarks are.
You can embbed them in a JAR file but it is still possible to change them.
You can try to encode the file as Base64 and put the result in a String class member, and when you need it you decode the String (quick but very dirty). It is still possible to decompile the class and change the content but it is harder.
There is no magic solution, unfortunately.

How to store high score inside a jar file

I am developing a small game in Java and I am shipping it as a single Jar file. I want to store the high scores/best times for that game somewhere. Instead of storing it in a separate file, I would like to store it in the application itself (inside the Jar) so that its not lost. Is this possible at all ? If so, how to do it programatically.
Java does not give you tools to modify the JARs which are currently run. If you really want to do it, you have to guess the location of the JAR by yourself (which might reside on a read-only filesystem) and modify it the same way you would modify any archive file.
Bottom line: it's a very bad idea, don't do it! See this question for a much more reasonable solution.
Nothing is impossible, but storing it in the jar file would make it very complicated. You might also end up with unwanted side effects like "Permission Denied" errors when the jar is owned by another user. Virus scanners might get nervous when they see jar files change without reason, etc....
I would look to the Preferences API for storing this kind of info.
I think it is a bad idea to try and store anything in the jar file. Another option is to have a web based service offered to the people playing with your game. The game could connect through a web service to your hosted server and then store everything centrally there. Not sure if it is exactly what you want but it's just an idea. It would also allow people to compete with each other.
Java JAR file is a ZIP-Archive, so you could possibly access it with standard ZIP-Tools and just extract one hisghscores.txt file, modify it and then pack it back again.

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