Develop Reference

Reference .properties file in classpath

I want to know how to reference a .properties file in classpath? I have a jar file (contain a webservice in java), I have insert my connection details in a .properties file. I want to put this file outside the jar file in case the connection details needs to be changed. How do i reference this .properties file in my jar?
I will run my jar file using batch file.

You might have to add the staticresources directory in your buildpath, but upon doing so it shouldn't be difficult for you to implement something like
properties.load(this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("somefile.properties"));
to reference your .properties file.
I would recommend looking over this from the Java docs for more information on accessing resources if this is unfamiliar territory.

You can add a directory to the classpath using java -cp /path/to/file in your java call in your batch file.
When your properties file is in your classpath, you should be able to access it using something like:
Properties prop = new Properties();
InputStream is = getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("connectionDetails.properties");
prop.load(is);

Jar executable with sqlite driver

I made a code that connects to my sqlite driver which is in the CLASSPATH and reads some database file. I want to create an executable which can be used on computers that don't have the sqlite driver.
If I do:
jar cvfe exec.jar main_class
I will get "class not found: org.sqlite.JDBC" when running with
java -jar exec.jar
What should I do to make the executable work?
Edit:
I don't know if it makes any difference, but this is the JDBC driver I use:
https://bitbucket.org/xerial/sqlite-jdbc

You need to include the library inside the JAR. Maybe you don't know this, but JAR files are just ZIP files, so you can change their contents easily. Here are some quick instructions on how to do it. Assuming your JAR file is named exec.jar, and the JAR of the library you want to include (the JAR you downloaded) is driver.jar
Change your file name from exec.jar to exec.zip.
Extract all the contents of exec.zip into folder exec/
Change your library file name from driver.jar to driver.zip
Extract all the contents of driver.zip into folder driver/
Copy the contents of driver/ into exec/, but do not copy the META-INF folder. If a pop-up asks if it's ok to merge the folders, click yes.
Compress all files in exec/ into exec.zip
Rename exec.zip to exec.jar (replace the original).
You can include any java library inside a JAR using this method.

Here is the doc:
C:\Windows\System32>jar /?
Illegal option: /
Usage: jar {ctxui}[vfmn0Me] [jar-file] [manifest-file] [entry-point] [-C dir] files ...
And so I think the command you need is:
jar cvfe exec.jar main_class main_class

Load a file outside of a Jar

I have a folder called lib that contains all my Jar files and in one of the Jar files class, I have a main method which is called by a batch file. In the same folder location as my lib, I have another folder structure path/to/a/resource/myresource.txt
How can I load this file from a class inside the Jar file? I tried the following and both resulted in null:
getClass().getResource("path/to/a/resource/myresource.txt")
getClass().getClassLoader().getResource("path/to/a/resource/myresource.txt")
Any ideas? Even with an absolute path, it failed! Any suggestions?

You can use:
getClass().getResourceAsStream("path/to/a/resource/myresource.txt")
However, for this to work, you need to add the path '.' to the Class-Path entry of the JAR's MANIFEST.MF file.
http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/jar/downman.html

Two things you tried are used to read files from class-path since this folder is not on your classpath you can read it directly with any of the java File IO classes.

File file = new File("C:/folder/myFile.txt");
or if you know the relative path:
File file = new File("../../path/myFile.txt");

Your path seems not to be precise enough. Further, this question has been worked before.
Have a look here:
How to Load File Outside of, but Relative to, the JAR?
How to get the path of a running JAR file?

You can either load the file from file system
new FileReader(relativeOrAbsoluteFilesystemLocation)
or you can add the directory in question to your classpath:
java -cp "lib/*;lib" ...
and then use your original method.
(Unix uses : rather than ; as classpath separator)

JAR - Listing files into a folder

I would like to get a list of file contained in a directory which is in a jar package.
I have an "images" folder, within it I have an Images class that should load all images from that directory.
In the past i used the MyClass.class.getResourceAsStream("filename"); to read files, but how do I read a directory?
This is what I tried:
System.out.println(Images.class.getResource("").getPath());
System.out.println(new File(Images.class.getResource("").getPath()).listFiles());
I tried with Images.class.getResource because I have to work with File and there isn't a constructor that accepts an InputStream.
The code produces
file:/home/k55/Java/MyApp/dist/Package.jar!/MyApp/images/
null
So it is finding the folder which I want to list files from, but it is not able to list files.
I've read on other forums that in fact you can't use this method for folders in a jar archive, so how can I accomplish this?
Update: if possible, i would like to read files without having to use the ZipInputStream

You can't do that easily.
What you need to do:
Get the path of the jar file.
Images.class.getResource("/something/that/exists").getPath()
Strip "!/something/that/exists".
Use Zip File System to browse the Jar file.
It's a little bit of hacking.

Reading a file into compiled jar by relative path

How would you read a file into a program that's compiled into a jar next to it through its local directory? The type read would be a simple .txt file.

It depends on what the usage of the program is. Do you know how the jar is supposed to be executed? When you try to run it, does it spit out a "usage: somejar firstarg secondarg" type message?
Also, if its a jar that you've compiled and you know how it should be executed, then you may have forgot to set its main class or manifest.
Check this: http://www.mkyong.com/java/how-to-make-an-executable-jar-file/

If you want to read a file that exists within an external .jar file, you will need to unzip the .jar file first in your code and then retrieve the file. You can do this using Java's zip APIs. See this answer if this is the case: Easiest way to unpack a jar in java
If you want to read a file that is in the same .jar file that your code is executing, you can get the file as a resource. See this answer: Get a resource using getResource()
If the file is simply in the exact same directory as the executable .jar, create a new file like so:
File input = new File("myfile.txt");