Java: why does the code packaged in a jar prevent access to external classes?

Question

I have a plugin for my Java application. I am calling an outer class with a URL class loader. This part works well, as when my application starts as class files, and when my application is in JAR form. The problem I am facing is that the plugin files can work with their own independent code, but they create a JPanel. When I try to add JPanel to JPanel, that in the main class of the application, I get a null pointer exception that refers to the main class. (com.cpcookieman.app.Main) But this does not happen if I run the class files for the application only when it is packaged. How can i solve this?

Why does my code packed into a jar file not allow external classes to access classes inside jar?

EDIT: on request stack trace.

java.lang.NullPointerException
    at TestPlugin2.Main.<init>(Main.java:23)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.newInstance0(Unknown Source)
    at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Unknown Source)
    at com.cpcookieman.ph.PluginLoader$2.run(PluginLoader.java:74)
    at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

EDIT 2: Class loading code

    String pluginsPath;
    if (Main.os.equals("Windows"))
    {
        pluginsPath = "C:\\plugins\\";
    }
    else
    {
        pluginsPath = "~/plugins/";
    }
    File file = new File(pluginsPath);
    if (!file.exists())
    {
        System.out.println("DEBUG: Plugin path could not be found!");
    }
    try
    {
        URL url = file.toURI().toURL();
        final URL[] urls = new URL[]{url};
        new Thread(new Runnable()
        {
            @Override
            public void run()
            {
                try
                {
                    ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(urls);
                    Class plugin = cl.loadClass(text + ".Main");
                    plugin.newInstance();
                    close();
                }
                **snip catch statements**
            }
        }).start();
    }
    **snip catch statements**

The plugin loads it using the constructor and creates a panel that will be added to the frame, which is inside one of the classes inside the JAR file. JAR is the main application if someone is confused about this.

Answer 1

I really don't know the structure of your project, although I made a small sample code for you to take a look, take a look.

Please note that my project is placed in C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>

Inside this structure of my directory, it looks like this:

                         testingjar
                             |
              ----------------------------------
             |          |           |          |
          classes      src    manifest.text  test.jar(this .jar we be creating shortly)
             |          |
             |       (Almost same as classes folder, just .java files)
      ---------------
      |             |
  actualtest       test
      |             |
   *.class       *.class

My class, which will become part of the .jar file, is given below:

package test;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class CustomPanel extends JPanel
{
    public CustomPanel()
    {
        setOpaque(true);
        setBackground(Color.DARK_GRAY);

        JLabel label = new JLabel(
            "I am a JLabel from Java Swing", JLabel.CENTER);
        label.setOpaque(false); 
        label.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        add(label); 
    }

    @Override
    public Dimension getPreferredSize()
    {
        return (new Dimension(500, 300));
    }
}

:

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>javac -d classes src\test\CustomPanel.java

JAR , :

Main-Class: test.CustomPanel

(:) i.e. test CustomPanel, Enter .

JAR test.jar :

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>cd classes

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>jar -cfm ..\test.jar ..\manifest.txt test

, .jar , :

package actualtest;

import test.CustomPanel;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class ActualImplementation
{
    private void createAndDisplayGUI()
    {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("Testing Jar Implementation");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        CustomPanel panel = new CustomPanel();
        frame.setContentPane(panel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String... args)
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            public void run()
            {
                new ActualImplementation().createAndDisplayGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

, :

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>cd..

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>javac -classpath test.jar -d classes src\actualtest\ActualImplement
ation.java

:

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>cd classes

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>java actualtest.ActualImplementation

, , - , .

. , , JFrame .jar JPanel .

, .jar, :

package test;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class CustomFrame extends JFrame
{
    public CustomFrame(String title)
    {
        super(title);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
    }
}

manifest.txt :

Main-Class: test.CustomFrame

, CustomFrame .jar, :

package actualtest;

import test.CustomFrame;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;


// http://stackoverflow.com/a/11150286/1057230
public class CustomPanel extends JPanel
{
    private CustomFrame frame;

    public CustomPanel()
    {
        setOpaque(true);
        setBackground(Color.DARK_GRAY);

        JLabel label = new JLabel(
            "I am a JLabel from Java Swing", JLabel.CENTER);
        label.setOpaque(false); 
        label.setForeground(Color.WHITE);
        add(label);                 
    }

    private void createAndDisplayGUI()
    {
        frame = new CustomFrame("Testing Jar Implementation");
        frame.setContentPane(this);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    @Override
    public Dimension getPreferredSize()
    {
        return (new Dimension(500, 300));
    }

    public static void main(String... args)
    {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
        {
            public void run()
            {
                new CustomPanel().createAndDisplayGUI();
            }
        });
    }
}

:

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>javac -d classes src\test\CustomFrame.java

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>cd classes

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>jar -cfm ..\test.jar ..\manifest.txt test

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>cd..

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>javac -classpath test.jar -d classes src\actualtest\CustomPanel.jav
a

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>cd classes

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar\classes>java actualtest.CustomPanel

, .

:

, , , JAR , , .,

C:\Mine\JAVA\J2SE\src\testingjar>java -classpath test.jar;.; actualtest.CustomPanel

actualtest package testingjar, .