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How to use URLClassloader in an auto-update jar launcher?

I've come across many posts about these two topics: Auto-Updating and URLClassloaders. I'll start with the auto updating goal. I found this post here that talks about a 2 jar system. One jar that launches the main app jar: From Stephen C:
The launcher could be a Java application that creates a classloader for the new JAR, loads an entrypoint class and calls some method on it. If you do it this way, you have to watch for classloader storage leaks, but that's not difficult. (You just need to make sure that no objects with classes loaded from the JAR are reachable after you relaunch.)
This is the approach I'm taking, but I'm open to other ideas if they prove easier and/or more reliable. The Coordinator has posted some pretty cool launcher code to which I plan on incorporating some of this reload type code in my launcher, but first I need to get it to work.
My issue is that my main app jar has many other dependencies, and I cannot get some of those classes to load despite the fact that all the jars have been added to the URL's array. This brings up the second topic URLClassloader.
Side Note for future readers: When passing a URL to the URLClassloader that is a directory, a helpful note that would have saved me (an embarrassingly large) amount of time is that the contents of the directory must be .class files! I was originally pointing to my dependent jar directory, no good.
Context for the code below, my launcher jar resides in the same directory as my app jar, which is why I'm using user.dir. I will probably change this, but for now the code works and gets far enough into my app's code to request a connection to a sqlite database before failing.
Launcher:
public class Launcher {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try {
String userdir = System.getProperty("user.dir");
File parentDir = new File(userdir);
ArrayList<URL> urls = getJarURLs(parentDir);
URL[] jarURLs = new URL[urls.size()];
int index = 0;
for (URL u : urls) {
System.out.println(u.toString());
jarURLs[index] = u;
index ++;
}
URLClassLoader urlCL = new URLClassLoader(jarURLs);
Class<?> c = urlCL.loadClass("main.AppStart");
Object [] args2 = new Object[] {new String[] {}};
c.getMethod("main", String[].class).invoke(null, args2);
urlCL.close();
} catch (Exception e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
}
public static ArrayList<URL> getJarURLs(File parentDir) throws MalformedURLException {
ArrayList<URL> list = new ArrayList<>();
for (File f : parentDir.listFiles()) {
if (f.isDirectory()) {
list.addAll(getJarURLs(f));
} else {
String name = f.getName();
if (name.endsWith(".jar")) {
list.add(f.toURI().toURL());
}
}
}
return list;
}
}
Here's an example of the URL output added to the array:
file:/C:/my/path/to/dependent/jars/sqlite-jdbc-3.32.3.2.jar
file:/C:/my/path/to/main/app.jar
file: ... [10 more]
The URLClassloader seems to work well enough to load my main method in app.jar. The main executes a some startup type stuff, before attempting to load a login screen. When the request is made to get the user info database, my message screen loads and displays (<-this is important for later)
the stacktrace containing:
java.sql.SQLException: No suitable driver found for jdbc:sqlite:C:\...\users.db
I understand that this is because that jar is not on the class path, but it's loaded via the class loader, so why can't it find the classes from the jar? From this post JamesB suggested adding Class.forName("org.sqlite.JDBC"); before the connection request. I rebuilt the app jar with this line of code and it worked!
The weird thing that happened next, is that my message screen class can no longer be found even though earlier it loaded and displayed correctly. The message screen is a class inside my main app.jar and not in a dependent jar, which is why I'm baffled. Am I going to have to add Class.forName before every instance of any of my classes? That seems rude..
So what could I be doing wrong with the class loader? Why does it load some classes and not others despite that fact that all the jars have been added to the URL array?
Some other relative info: My app works perfectly as intended when launched from windows command line when the classpath is specified: java -cp "main-app.jar;my/dependent/jar/directory/*" main.AppStart. It's only when I try launching the app via this classloader that I have these issues.
By the way, is this java command universal? Will it work on all operating systems with java installed? If so, could I not just scrap this launcher, and use a process builder to execute the above command? Bonus points for someone who can tell me how to execute the command from a jre packaged with my app, as that's what I plan on doing so the user does not have to download Java.

EDIT
I figured out one of the answers to one of the questions below. Turns out, I didn't need to do any of the code below. My main method loads a login screen but after it's loaded it returns back to the AppLauncher code, thus closing the URLClassLoader! Of course, at that point any requested class will not be found as the loader has been closed! What an oof! Hopefully I will save someone a headache in the future...
Original
Well, after more time, effort, research, and effective use of Eclipse's debugging tool, I was able to figure out what I needed to do to resolve my issues.
So the first issue was my JDBC driver was never registered when passing the jars to the URLClassloader. This is the part I sorta don't understand, so advisement would be welcomed, but there is a static block in the JDBC class that registers the driver so it can be used by DriverManager see code below. Loading the class is what executes that static block, hence why calling Class.forName works.
static {
try {
DriverManager.registerDriver(new JDBC());
} catch (SQLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
What I don't understand, is how class loading works if jars are specified via the class path. The URLClassLoader doesn't load any of those classes until they are called, and I never directly work with the JDBC class, thus no suitable driver exception, but are all the classes specified via the classpath loaded initially? Seems that way for static blocks to execute.
Anyhow, to resolve my other issue with some of my app's classes not being found I had to implement my own classloader. I get what I did and how it works well, but still don't understand why I had to do it. All of my jars were loaded to the original URLClassloader so if I could find them and the files within, why couldn't it do it?
Basically, I had to override the findClass and findResource methods to return jarEntry information that I had to store. I hope this code helps someone!
public class SBURLClassLoader extends URLClassLoader {
private HashMap<String, Storage> map;
public SBURLClassLoader(URL[] urls) {
super(urls);
map = new HashMap<>();
try {
storeClasses(urls);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
private void storeClasses(URL[] urls) throws ClassNotFoundException {
for (URL u : urls) {
try {
JarFile jarFile = new JarFile(new File(u.getFile()));
Enumeration<JarEntry> e = jarFile.entries();
while (e.hasMoreElements()) {
JarEntry jar = e.nextElement();
String entryName = jar.getName();
if (jar.isDirectory()) continue;
if (!entryName.endsWith(".class")) {
//still need to store these non-class files as resources
//let code continue to store entry un-altered
} else {
entryName = entryName.replace(".class", "");
entryName = entryName.replace("/", ".");
}
map.put(entryName, new Storage(jarFile, jar));
System.out.println(entryName);
}
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
#Override
protected Class<?> findClass(String name) throws ClassNotFoundException {
Class<?> c = null;
try {
c = super.findClass(name);
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
Storage s = map.get(name);
try {
InputStream in = s.jf.getInputStream(s.je);
int len = in.available();
c = defineClass(name, in.readAllBytes(), 0, len);
resolveClass(c);
} catch (IOException e1) {
e1.printStackTrace();
}
if (c == null) throw e;
}
return c;
}
#Override
public URL findResource(String name) {
URL url = super.findResource(name);
if (url == null) {
Storage s = map.get(name);
if (s != null) {
try {
url = new URL("jar:"+s.base.toString() + "!/" + name);
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
return url;
}
private class Storage {
public JarFile jf;
public JarEntry je;
public URL base;
public Storage(JarFile jf, JarEntry je) {
this.jf = jf;
this.je = je;
try {
base = Path.of(jf.getName()).toUri().toURL();
} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}

How can i create directory in project before starting application?

I'm creating Spring MVC application with tomcat and gradle where user can upload some file from frontend and then can make changes with that.
I want to upload that file to the project directory (scr/tmp/env). It works if I create directory manually, but i can't push empty packages into git. It means that when someone downloads my project to another computer, he won't have these directories inside the project.
For example i can create some class with public static void method and this code:
File file = new File("src/tmp/dbEnv/");
if (!file.exists()) {
Files.createDirectories(Paths.get("src/tmp/dbEnv/"));
}
It will create directory. But if i paste this code into spring methods (in controller or dao classes for example), directories aren't created.
Could you give me advice, how to create directories in project before starting and clear those before finishing application? May be Spring or Gradle can do it? Thank you.

You can use application listeners to tap into the application start up and tear down events, like so:
#Configuration
public class TempDirConfig {
private static final Path TEMP_PATH = Paths.get( "/tmp/dbEnv" );
#Bean( "createTempDir" )
public ApplicationListener<ContextStartedEvent> createTempDir() {
return event -> {
try {
if ( !Files.exists( TEMP_PATH ) ) {
Files.createDirectories( TEMP_PATH );
}
}
catch ( IOException aE ) {
// oops
}
};
}
#Bean( "removeTempDir" )
public ApplicationListener<ContextClosedEvent> removeTempDir() {
return event -> {
try {
if ( Files.exists( TEMP_PATH ) ) {
FileSystemUtils.deleteRecursively( TEMP_PATH );
}
}
catch ( IOException aE ) {
// oops
}
};
}
}

i can't push empty packages into git
In this case we add a .gitkeep (similar to .gitignore) to that directory. The dir is no longer empty, yet the . makes the file hidden.
File file = new File("src/tmp/dbEnv/");
I guess this creates the file "somewhere" else, try one of these getResource()-methods.
May be Spring or Gradle can do it?
Gradle was my first thought, too; creating the dir while starting up. But neither Spring nor Gradle will (reliable) detect the application's shutdown... You could add anything (but the metioned .gitkeep, in case you use it) to .gitignore in case you just want to prevent to commit it. And/or you can clear the directory during startup uf the application (e.g. in the main-method you mentioned).

URL path = ClassName.class.getClass().getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation();
//URL path = this.getClass().getProtectionDomain().getCodeSource().getLocation();
String libpath = path.toString().substring(0, path.toString().indexOf("env/"));
//Libpath will return absolute path with scr/tmp/

My solution:
public class StartAppFilesProcessorListener implements ApplicationListener<ContextRefreshedEvent> {
private static final String PATH = System.getProperty("user.dir") + "/src/tmp/dbEnv";
#Override
public void onApplicationEvent(ContextRefreshedEvent event) {
File file = new File(PATH);
if (!file.exists()) {
try {
Files.createDirectories(Paths.get(PATH));
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}

URI is not hierarchical exception when running application from JAR

I've exported my Java console application to a Jar file, but when I run the jar and call code that parses in a JSON file I get a java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
Does anyone know why the exception is being thrown when I run the program as a JAR? The parsing works fine when the application is run from Eclipse.
This is the exact error that is output when I execute the jar file and call the code that parses the JSON file:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: URI is not hierar
chical
at java.io.File.<init>(Unknown Source)
at gmit.GameParser.parse(GameParser.java:44)
at gmit.Main.main(Main.java:28)
This is how the parsing is being done in my GameParser class:
public class GameParser {
private static final String GAME_FILE = "/resources/game.json";
private URL sourceURL = getClass().getResource(GAME_FILE);
private int locationId;
private List<Location> locations;
private List<Item> items;
private List<Character> characters;
public void parse() throws IOException, URISyntaxException {
ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
mapper.configure(DeserializationFeature.FAIL_ON_UNKNOWN_PROPERTIES, false);
try {
// read from file, convert it to Location class
Location loc = new Location();
loc = mapper.readValue(new File(sourceURL.toURI()), Location.class);
Item item = mapper.readValue(new File(sourceURL.toURI()), Item.class);
GameCharacter character = mapper.readValue(new File(sourceURL.toURI()), GameCharacter.class);
// display to console
System.out.println(loc.toString());
System.out.println(item.toString());
System.out.println(character.toString());
} catch (JsonGenerationException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (JsonMappingException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
This is the folder structure of my project:

The call getClass().getResource(GAME_FILE); will return a URL relative to this class. If you are executing your program from a JAR file, it will return a URL pointing to a JAR file.
Files in java can only represent direct filesystem files, not the ones in zip/jar archives.
To fix it:
Try to use getClass().getResourceAsStream() and use that instead of Files or
extract the files into some directory and use File in the same way as you are trying now.

This problem happen when you have two files with the same name,i mean in your project you have folder whith name "Images" and in your desktop you have other folder his name "images" automatically JVM choose desktop folder ,so if you want to confirm try to print your URI.Use this example to show your URI before creating your file
try {
URL location = this.getClass().getResource("/WavFile");
System.out.println(location.toURI());
File file = new File(location.toURI());
if (!file.exists()) {
System.out.println(file.mkdirs());
System.out.println(file.getAbsoluteFile());
}else
{
System.out.println(file.getPath());
}
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

Resources not being released

We have a legacy system that has a admim module that allows users to upload jar files. After the upload, the jar file is validated and if not compliant to internal rules, it is deleted.
The problem is that windows is throwing an exception telling that the file "is already being used by another process." (when I call Files.delete(tmpJar);). I'm not able to identify why the file is open. Seems to me that I have closed everything.
First, we are using primefaces (4.0) to upload the file. Primefaces relies on commons-fileupload (1.3.1). It call the following method:
public void handleFileUpload(FileUploadEvent event) {
Path tmpJar = null;
try {
tmpJar = Files.createFile(Paths.get(event.getFile().getFileName()));
Files.write(tmpJar, event.getFile().getContents());
} catch (IOException e) {
LOGGER.error(e.getMessage(), e);
}
if (tmpJar != null) {
try {
this.validateJar(tmpJar.toString());
Files.delete(tmpJar);
} catch (IOException e) {
LOGGER.error(e.getMessage(), e);
}
}
}
Before NIO Files.write, I was using "standard" java IO classes. The problem isn't related to the above code, because if I comment the call to validateJar, Files.delete(tmpJar) is executed without problems and the file is removed. So, the problem is related with the code below, but I can't find where...
Job is an internal class, basically a simple POJO. "jobAnnotation" is a custom annotation to identify Jobs. I have shortened the code, but the essencial parts are preserved.
private List<Job> validateJar(final String jarPath) throws IOException {
List<Job> jobs = new ArrayList<Job>();
try (JarFile jarFile = new JarFile(jarPath)) {
URL[] jars = { new URL("file:" + jarPath) };
ClassLoader jobClassLoader = URLClassLoader.newInstance(jars, this.getClass().getClassLoader());
Enumeration<JarEntry> jarEntries = jarFile.entries();
while (jarEntries.hasMoreElements()) {
JarEntry jarEntry = jarEntries.nextElement();
String className = jarEntry.getName();
Class<?> classToLoad;
try {
classToLoad = Class.forName(className, true, jobClassLoader);
} catch (Exception e1) {
LOGGER.error(e1.getMessage(), e1);
continue;
}
if (classToLoad.isAnnotationPresent(jobAnnotation)) {
String vlr = null;
try {
Class<?> jobClass = (Class<?>) Class.forName(classToLoad.getCanonicalName(), true, jobClassLoader);
Annotation annotation = jobClass.getAnnotation(jobAnnotation);
Method method = annotation.getClass().getMethod("getValue");
vlr = ((String) method.invoke(annotation, new Object[0]));
} catch (Exception e1) {
LOGGER.error(e1.getMessage(), e1);
}
Job job = new Job();
job.setEnabled(true);
job.setJarfile(jarPath);
job.setClassName(classToLoad.getName());
Parameter parameter = new Parameter();
parameter.setRequired(true);
parameter.setName("name");
parameter.setValue(vlr);
job.addParameter(parameter);
jobs.add(job);
}
}
} catch (IOException e) {
throw e;
}
return jobs;
}
Before using try-with-resources, I was using regular try-catch-finally to close the JarFile, thats the only thing that has a explicit close method. Probably is the classloading that is holding the file open, but I don't know how to close it.
I did some searches, and I found that I can't unload classes (Unloading classes in java?).
So, the problem is, how do I release it? Or how can I remove the file?
BTW, I'm using java 1.7.0_71, jboss 7.1.1, windows 7 (64).

The URLClassLoader class already has a close() method. The close() method will close any Jar file that are opened with the URLClassLoader. This should prevent the "file already in use" exception.

File is already being used by another process. says that it could be not your fault, maybe just another application is used that file. You can check this question to find a process which is used your file.

Some Virus scanner software take a long time in checking JARs. Try to disable the Virusscanner. Other candidates can be the Windows indexer process, or the explorer.exe itself. When you don't find any reason for the file lock, try a delay between the validation and the deletion. Maybe you need a loop with multiple tries.

Exporting image in runnable jar doesn't work

I'm having a weird problem in java. I want to create a runnable jar:
This is my only class:
public class Launcher {
public Launcher() {
// TODO Auto-generated constructor stub
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
String path = Launcher.class.getResource("/1.png").getFile();
File f = new File(path);
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,Boolean.toString(f.exists()));
}
}
As you can see it just outputs if it can find the file or not. It works fine under eclipse (returns true). i've created a source folder resources with the image 1.png. (resource folder is added to source in build path)
As soon as I export the project to a runnable jar and launch it, it returns false.
I don't know why. Somebody has an idea?
Thanks in advance
edit: I followed example 2 to create the resources folder: Eclipse exported Runnable JAR not showing images

If you would like to load resources from your .jar file use getClass().getResource(). That returns a URL with correct path.
Image icon = ImageIO.read(getClass().getResource("image´s path"));
To access images in a jar, use Class.getResource().
I typically do something like this:
InputStream stream = MyClass.class.getResourceAsStream("Icon.png");
if(stream == null) {
throw new RuntimeException("Icon.png not found.");
}
try {
return ImageIO.read(stream);
} catch (IOException e) {
throw new RuntimeException(e);
} finally {
try {
stream.close();
} catch(IOException e) { }
}
Still you're understand, Kindly go through this link.
Eclipse exported Runnable JAR not showing images

Because the image is not separate file but packed inside the .jar.
Use the code to create the image from stream
InputStream is=Launcher.class.getResourceAsStream("/1.png");
Image img=ImageIO.read(is);

try to use this to get image
InputStream input = getClass().getResourceAsStream("/your image path in jar");

Two Simple steps:
1 - Add the folder ( where the image is ) to Build Path;
2 - Use this:
InputStream url = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/load04.gif");
myImageView.setImage(new Image(url));