How can I include external jar on my Netbeans project - java

When I run "clean and build" the .jar file that is being created only runs if the lib folder is at the same folder of the .jar file.
So if I move the jar file to the desktop and leave the lib folder in the dist folder, the jar file will give me an exception.
How can I deal with this problem?

I solved this by creating just one jar file with all libraries inside, adding the following to my build.xml file in NetBeans:
<target name="-post-jar">
<jar jarfile="dist/Combined-dist.jar">
<zipfileset src="${dist.jar}" excludes="META-INF/*" />
<zipfileset src="lib/commons-io-1.4.jar" excludes="META-INF/*" />
<zipfileset src="lib/ninja-utils-3.2.jar" excludes="META-INF/*" />
<zipfileset src="lib/unicorn-1.0.jar" excludes="META-INF/*" />
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.example.mypackage.Main"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
</target>
This creates a jar file (Combined-dist.jar) which is the combination of the dist jar and the specified library jars (in this case, commons-io-1.4.jar,ninja-utils-3.2.jar and unicorn-1.0.jar). You have to be sure to specify your Main Class package for the new jar file or it won't run when you try to open it.

If you copy your jars into the source code directory, they will be in your final jar. Nevetheless, I am not sure if this will work 100% of the time.
There is a great post at java-forum that states the following:
Except for a select few circumstances, what works best for me is to
simply merge the files manually. A .jar is basically a .zip with
organized contents, and you can open them in almost any .zip capable
archive program (I just use gnome's standard archiver, File Roller,
and it works great). Backup your jar file and open it in the archiver
of your choice, and do the same for each library jar in the library
directory. Drag and drop the working folders (IE, everything EXCEPT
the META-INF Directory) from each library into your jar's root path
(alongside your META-INF and your app's root package). Now drag the
META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file from your jar to your Desktop or any other
folder. Open it, and erase the Class-Path and X-COMMENT lines. Don't
forget to leave a blank newline at the end of the file! Save the new
manifest file and drag it back to your jar's META-INF directory,
overwriting the old one. Test the jar.

That's really easy to package every dependent library (*.jar) into one single myProject.jar.
Just follow these steps and you will finally pack every dependent library into single jar. If you are using NetBeans then you can follow exactly or else you need to find your build.xml file in project files.
Follow these steps to edit build.xml
1) Click on Files tab on the left side of the project panel in NetBeans.
2) Double click on the build.xml file and add these lines in it just before </project> line
<target name="package-for-store" depends="jar">
<property name="store.jar.name" value="myProject"/>
<property name="store.dir" value="store"/>
<property name="store.jar" value="${store.dir}/${store.jar.name}.jar"/>
<echo message="Packaging ${application.title} into a single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
<delete dir="${store.dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${store.dir}"/>
<jar destfile="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar" filesetmanifest="skip">
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist" includes="*.jar"/>
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<zip destfile="${store.jar}">
<zipfileset src="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar"
excludes="META-INF/*.SF, META-INF/*.DSA, META-INF/*.RSA"/>
</zip>
<delete file="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar"/>
</target>
3) Change value in second line of the code as per your project name which is
<property name="store.jar.name" value="myProject"/> //<---Just value not name
4) Save it and right click on build.xml and choose Run Target and then Other Targets and finally click on Package-for-store
5) And here you done. Now you can go and check just like dist folder there will be a store folder which will be containing your final complete jar including all of your dependent libraries. Now whenever you want to change / add more libraries or so, just follow step 4.
Picture for step 4

You could use Apache Ant since version 1.7 for build the JAR with the required libraries in only one file. You could have a configuration file as follows:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<project default="buildJar">
<target name="buildJar">
<!-- Name of jar -->
<jar destfile="C:/MyJar.jar" filesetmanifest="mergewithoutmain">
<manifest>
<!-- Your class with the main method -->
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="myPackage.MyClass"/>
<!-- Path in the jar -->
<attribute name="Class-Path" value="."/>
</manifest>
<!-- Dir of compiled class -->
<fileset dir="C:/NetBeansProjects/MyProject/bin"/>
<!-- Include required jars -->
<zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF"
src="C:/NetBeansProjects/MyProject/lib/library1.jar"/>
<zipfileset excludes="META-INF/*.SF"
src="C:/NetBeansProjects/MyProject/lib/library2.jar"/>
</jar>
</target>
</project>
In Netbeans, place the XML file in your project and run it with the context menu.
See more in Apache Ant User Manual.

If you are going to distribute your app to another pc
You just zip .jar along with lib folder.
If want to run your app from any place in your pc
Take in cosideration Maven way of doing this - create local repository eg. C:\libs where your libraries would exist and .jar could accesses them later from any place in your pc.
Or you could just use Maven. There is a discussion on distributing application with all dependencies (libraries): Java: How do I build standalone distributions of Maven-based projects?.

Copy that jar file to:
C:\Program Files\Java\jdk\jre\lib\ext
and
C:\Program Files\Java\jre\lib\ext
You should be able to use it in Netbeans and in your manual imports, just like standard imports.

I have found maybe the easiest solution for this problem here. You just need to copy the next code snippet at the end of the build.xml file in your project folder.
<target name="-post-jar">
<!-- Change the value to the name of the final jar without .jar -->
<property name="store.jar.name" value="MyJarName"/>
<!-- don't edit below this line -->
<property name="store.dir" value="dist"/>
<property name="temp.dir" value="temp"/>
<property name="store.jar" value="${store.dir}/${store.jar.name}.jar"/>
<echo message="Packaging ${application.title} into a single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
<delete dir="${temp.dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${temp.dir}"/>
<jar destfile="${temp.dir}/temp_final.jar" filesetmanifest="skip">
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist" includes="*.jar"/>
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<delete dir="${store.dir}"/>
<zip destfile="${store.jar}">
<zipfileset src="${temp.dir}/temp_final.jar"
excludes="META-INF/*.SF, META-INF/*.DSA, META-INF/*.RSA"/>
</zip>
<delete dir="${temp.dir}"/>
</target>
Go to the build.xml in the root of your project and add the code right before </project> tag at the end.
Now change the value of the first propertiy field as commented and save the changes.
From now on, each time you Clean & Build your project, the full jar with dependencies will be generated in the project dist folder

This is what worked for me:
I built in excel export functionality into my project. The 2 external .jars I used for this purpose was jxl.jar end sx.jar
Unpack these 2 jars into a folder(java classes) using 7-Zip without any META files. Unpack your project jar into the same folder including the META file.
Re-Pack the whole java classes folder using JARMaker to recreate your Project .jar in its original distribution folder ... and there you go ... full excel functionality.

user1016588's solution works for me. There's one typo: this line should be
zipfileset src="dist/lib/commons-io-1.4.jar" excludes="META-INF/*"

Try this - in the Netbeans IDE:
Go to Tools --> Libraries
In the dialog box, on the bottom left click "New Library", give a name
On the right side, click on "Add JAR/Folder"
Click OK on the bottom right
Re-start the IDE and check.

Follow these:-
1. Right click on project opened in netbeans editor
2. select properties
3. choose libraries
4. add jar
5. click ok

You can also use this (when the libraries are not in "dist/lib"), tested with NetBeans and ant-contrib:
<target name="-post-jar">
<taskdef resource="net/sf/antcontrib/antlib.xml">
<classpath>
<!-- Path to ant-contrib -->
<pathelement location="../../Libs/ant-contrib-1.0b3.jar"/>
</classpath>
</taskdef>
<!-- Change the value to the name of the final jar without .jar -->
<property name="store.jar.name" value="${application.title}"/>
<!-- don't edit below this line -->
<property name="store.dir" value="dist"/>
<property name="temp.dir" value="temp"/>
<property name="temp.libs.dir" value="temp/libs"/>
<property name="store.jar" value="${store.dir}/${store.jar.name}.jar"/>
<echo message="Packaging ${application.title} into a single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
<fileset id="store.jars.absolute" dir="${store.dir}" includes="*.jar"/>
<pathconvert property="store.jars.relative" refid="store.jars.absolute" dirsep="/">
<map from="${basedir}/" to=""/>
</pathconvert>
<for list="${store.jars.relative}" param="item">
<sequential>
<echo message="Adding #{item} into single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
</sequential>
</for>
<delete dir="${temp.dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${temp.dir}"/>
<for list="${javac.classpath}" param="item" delimiter=":">
<sequential>
<echo message="Adding #{item} into single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
<copy file="#{item}" todir="${temp.libs.dir}" overwrite="true" />
</sequential>
</for>
<jar destfile="${temp.dir}/temp_final.jar" filesetmanifest="skip">
<zipgroupfileset dir="${store.dir}" includes="*.jar"/>
<zipgroupfileset dir="${temp.libs.dir}" includes="*.*"/>
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<delete dir="${store.dir}"/>
<zip destfile="${store.jar}">
<zipfileset src="${temp.dir}/temp_final.jar" excludes="META-INF/*.SF, META-INF/*.DSA, META-INF/*.RSA"/>
</zip>
<delete dir="${temp.dir}"/>
</target>

Related

Netbeans exports earlier/wrong program version

I am using netbeans to create an app.
When I export in the dist file everything's working correctly, when I am exporting for store (to include the libraries in the .jar), netbeans exports an earlier program version. Oh and yes, I have tried restarting netbeans didn't really do anything.
This is actually the first time I encountered this issue.
And yes I have saved the project.
Is this a netbeans issue or am I doing something wrong?
this is the image of what I'm doing:
this is the build.xml code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="GalaxyChromaY2_BoilerPlate" default="default" basedir=".">
<description>Builds, tests, and runs the project JavaApplication2.</description>
<import file="nbproject/build-impl.xml"/>
<target name="package-for-store" depends="jar">
<property name="store.jar.name" value="GalaxyChromaY2"/>
<property name="store.dir" value="store"/>
<property name="store.jar" value="${store.dir}/${store.jar.name}.jar"/>
<echo message="Packaging ${application.title} into a single JAR at ${store.jar}"/>
<delete dir="${store.dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${store.dir}"/>
<jar destfile="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar" filesetmanifest="skip">
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist" includes="*.jar"/>
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<zip destfile="${store.jar}">
<zipfileset src="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar"
excludes="META-INF/*.SF, META-INF/*.DSA, META-INF/*.RSA"/>
</zip>
<delete file="${store.dir}/temp_final.jar"/>
</target>
</project>
For some reason netbeans was exporting an older version of the project so I copied the whole project file deleted the old one and tried to export again.
This time everything worked as it should.

Problems with Ant build.xml configuration to work with external Libraries and Java property files

I have a problem with Ant Build Tool.
First, below you can see my project structure:
and the content of my build.xml file is:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project name="addonGenerator" default="main" basedir=".">
<property name="projectName" value="addonGenerator"/>
<property name="src.dir" location="src"/>
<property name="build.dir" location="bin"/>
<property name="dist.dir" location="dist"/>
<target name="compile" description="compile the source ">
<mkdir dir="${build.dir}"/>
<javac srcdir="${src.dir}" destdir="${build.dir}">
<classpath>
<pathelement path="lib/velocity-1.7.jar"/>
<pathelement path="lib/log4j-1.2.16.jar"/>
</classpath>
</javac>
</target>
<target name="dist" description="package, output to JAR">
<mkdir dir="${dist.dir}"/>
<jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/${projectName}.jar" basedir="${build.dir}">
<zipgroupfileset dir="lib" includes="velocity-1.7.jar" />
<zipgroupfileset dir="lib" includes="log4j-1.2.16.jar" />
<manifest>
<attribute name="${projectName}" value="main"/>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="main.java.AddonGenerator"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
</target>
<target name="clean" description="clean up">
<delete dir="${build.dir}"/>
<delete dir="${dist.dir}"/>
</target>
<target name="main" depends="clean, compile, dist"/>
</project>
I don't know how setup the Ant build.xml to build and run my project with external libraries and the java property file generator.properties
To include your generator.properties file in the .jar file, add your resources directory when building the .jar:
<jar jarfile="${dist.dir}/${projectName}.jar" basedir="${build.dir}">
<fileset dir="src/main/java/resources"/>
Since you are currently building a “fat jar” (by directly including the contents of your library .jars in your application .jar), you can run by simply invoking your .jar file. Such a target obviously requires the .jar file to be built, so it makes sense to depend on the "dist" target:
<target name="run" depends="dist">
<java jar="${dist.dir}/${projectName}.jar"/>
</target>
On another note, I don’t think you want to pass src as your source directory, unless your classes actually declare themselves with ‘package main.java;’ (which they shouldn’t). You should pass the actual root of your packages to the javac task:
<property name="src.dir" location="src/main/java"/>
You should also make the "dist" target depend on "compile", since, well, it depends on having compiled classes available.
I also would suggest that your default target, "main", avoid calling the "clean" target. You should not clean before every single build; that defeats one of the most useful benefits of Ant, namely the ability to update only the things that need to be updated. You should only clean when you need to, with a command like ant clean compile or simply ant clean.
Note that once "dist" depends on "compile", and once "main" no longer calls "clean", you can simply remove the "main" target and change your project’s default target to "dist". When you think about it, this makes sense: the default action is to build and package the application.

How to include library files while creating jar files without copying library separately

I need to include some third party jar file to my project jar. I mentioned it in my build.xml and include this to MANIFEST.MF. Now i get thirdparty1.jar thirdparty2.jar file into inside the project jar. But still i can't able to use the jars. Is it need any addition configuration
Here is my build.xml
<manifest>
<attribute name="Class-Path" value="thirdparty1.jar thirdparty2.jar thirdparty3.jar"/>
If i copy the two jar separately it works well. But i don't understand what is the need for copy these separate. How it solve with out copying jar separately.
If the dependency jar is packaged inside the project jar, you need a solution to load it from there. The standard class-path handling in Java won't access jar files located inside other jar files.
See this answer: Classpath including JAR within a JAR. Specifically the One Jar solution: http://one-jar.sourceforge.net/.
It's also possible to use zipgroupfileset for that.given is the sample ant task for that.
<!-- Build JAR file -->
<target name="jar" depends="init-build-dir,compile-main">
<!--creating a temp jar contains all jar -->
<jar jarfile="${project.build.lib.dir}/external-libs.jar">
<zipgroupfileset dir="${project.lib.redist.dir}">
<include name="**/*.jar" />
</zipgroupfileset>
</jar>
<sleep seconds="1" />
<!-- creating main jar with temp jar-->
<jar jarfile="${project.build.lib.dir}/${ant.project.name}.jar" manifest="MANIFEST.MF">
<fileset dir="${project.build.main.classes.dir}" includes="**/*.*" />
<zipfileset src="${project.build.lib.dir}/external-libs.jar">
<exclude name="*" />
</zipfileset>
</jar>
<!--removing temp jar -->
<delete>
<fileset dir="${project.build.lib.dir}">
<include name="external-libs.jar" />
</fileset>
</delete>
</target>

How to "merge" two and mor JARs into one?

Ok, I have App.jar as a runnable jar of my applicaiton. It is dependent on many more jars, defining the functionality of the applicaiton (such as worldwind.jar providing 3D globe). One way how to make it runnable is to provide all the jars in one folder set the Class-Path of MANIFEST.MF as :
Class-Path: .
I would, however prefer, to merge all jars into one. Is that possible?
Raw answer: as jar es basically a zip file, just open all the jars you want and copy the classes in the destination jar. However, today we usually let tools like maven to take care of dependencies
Yes it is.
I have a quick example here with Ant, if you're using NetBeans: in the build.xml of your project, add this target and modify the naming as you wish.
This will merge all jars in your "dist/lib" folder with the output jar of your project and put them in the "merged" folder.
You can easily adapt this to suit your need.
Then you only need to right-click the build.xml file, "run target", "other targets", click "merged".
<target name="merged" depends="jar">
<property name="name" value="yourMergedJar"/>
<property name="dir" value="merged"/>
<property name="jar" value="${dir}/${name}.jar"/>
<echo message="Packaging ${application.title} into a single JAR at ${jar}"/>
<delete dir="${dir}"/>
<mkdir dir="${dir}"/>
<jar destfile="${dir}/temp.jar" filesetmanifest="skip">
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist" includes="*.jar"/>
<zipgroupfileset dir="dist/lib" includes="*.jar"/>
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="${main.class}"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
<zip destfile="${jar}">
<zipfileset src="${dir}/temp.jar"
excludes="META-INF/*.SF, META-INF/*.DSA, META-INF/*.RSA"/>
</zip>
<delete file="${dir}/temp.jar"/>
</target>
Edit
As other members say, you can do this in any IDE (with Ant or Maven) or even manually, as jars are basically zip files.
Yes. I use the Maven shade plugin for exactly that.
mvn clean package shade:shade

NoClassDefFound error for a jar created using ant build

I have a java project with class having main method in package com.nik.mypackage. Only one library is referenced which is someLib-5.0.2.jar
This library is in lib folder in eclipse and added to the build path.
I am creating executable jar of the application using the below ant script target:
<property name="src" location="src"/>
<property name="build" location="build"/>
<property name="dist" location="dist"/>
<target name="init">
<tstamp/>
<mkdir dir="${build}"/>
</target>
<target name="compile" depends="init"
description="compile the source " >
<javac srcdir="${src}" destdir="${build}">
<classpath>
<pathelement path="${classpath}"/>
<pathelement location="lib/someLib-5.0.2.jar"/>
</classpath>
</javac>
</target>
<target name="dist" depends="compile" description="generate the distribution" >
<!-- Create the distribution directory -->
<mkdir dir="${dist}/lib"/>
<copy todir="${build}/lib" verbose="true" file="lib/someLib-5.0.2.jar" />
<!-- Put everything in ${build} into the MyProject-${DSTAMP}.jar file -->
<jar jarfile="${dist}/lib/myProject-${DSTAMP}.jar" basedir="${build}">
<manifest>
<attribute name="Main-Class" value="com.nik.mypackage.MainClass"/>
<attribute name="Class-Path" value="../lib/someLib.jar"/>
</manifest>
</jar>
</target>
The jar MyProject-20111126.jar is getting created. However, running the below command:
c:>java -jar MyProject-20111126.jar
is throwing a NoClassDefFoundError for a class in someLib.jar
What am I doing wrong ??
Thanks for reading!
When you run where is someLib.jar relative to the MyProject-20111126.jar?
The classpath you are setting up in the MyProject.jar is telling the VM to look for a lib folder in the parent directory of MyProject.jar.
The ClassPath entry in the manifest is interpreted relative to the location of the JAR file. It is used to locate jar files on the File System. The regular class loader in JAVA does not support JAR files bundled inside of JAR files.
As mentioned in the comment by Eric Rosenberg, we can not nest jar files inside other jar files. So we need to deflat the library and bundle individual classes in the app jar.

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