HOW TO CREATE A .jar PROGRAMMATICALLY

[Durand Grimmett]

Hello all ,

I was wondering if anyone could provide me with some help. I want to create a jar file programmatically. I know how to use the command line to create jar files, but i was wondering if anyone had a java program that read a directory and created a .jar File? Can anyone help please???!?!?!?

Thanks in advance,
DG

[Manuel Moons]

A jar file a actually nothing more than a Zip file following a particular format. You can use the ZipOutputStream class to create a zip file.

[Joe Ess]

There's also java.util.JarOutputStream if you insist on a JAR with a manifest.

[Manuel Moons]

Just google on JarOutputStream and ZipOutputStream and I found a couple of examples.



JarOutputStream Example


ZipOutputStream Example


You can actually use both but JarOutputStream has some convenience methods to pass the manifest file. Remember though, a manifest file is just a text file so you can just as well add it using the ZipOutputStream.