Re: using an executable jar file in a new java program

From:
"Andrew Thompson" <andrewthommo@gmail.com>
Newsgroups:
comp.lang.java.help
Date:
28 Jul 2006 00:15:26 -0700
Message-ID:
<1154070926.763663.17320@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>
(Possible repost on my part, my apologies if this appears
twice.)

jsaucedo@gmail.com wrote:

so i can run this parser i downloaded at
http://htmlparser.sourceforge.net/
using the following

C:\ics\111\htmlParse>java -jar bin/htmlparser.jar "http://www.bbc.com"

however, what i want to do is expand the functionality in my java
program by calling the parser class in the jar executable.

i'm not sure what i should do to have my program below compile with
giving me an error about not being able to find the package.

where i'm confused about
-import statement?


Yes, it is required. (pauses) Was you question different to that?
Maybe you should be more specific, rather than expect your
reader to guess your meaning.

-classpath needed for jar file when I compile?


Again yes.

[ but taking a wild stab at the wider question - 'How?' ]

You can add other archives on the classpath at time of
compilation or execution. The secret is to specify it
in the '-classpath' argument when compiling/running.

The 'classpath' option can be abbreviated to 'cp' on more
modern VM's. Here is how it might look.

CLI>javac -cp .;bin/htmlparser.jar CallsClassInMainArchive.java

The "-cp.;bin/htmlparser.jar" is the part of interest.

    -cp
- the classpath - add these places to this invocation

    .
- the current directory (assuming your in the same
  directory as the Java code you are writing, or at the
  'root' package of your code - this will add your code
  into this new classpath)

    ;
- separator for multiple class path entries

    bin/htmlparser.jar
- the location of your external archive of interest.

-do i need to unjar the file? thanks.


No. Java tools as well as the classes are well set-up
for getting resources (classes, images, help files..)
directly out of Zip files (a Jar is just a specialised
form of Zip file).

BTW - Please use Upper Case letters at the start of
sentences. It helps the reader to spot where breaks are,
and therefore makes messages easier to understand.

Andrew T.

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