How to execute jar file from another directory

[rivka zam]

hello all,

I have a jar file that is located in C:\JavaFiles\MyJar.jar
When I execute the jar from the directory where it is located
(i.e. java -jar MyJar.jar) it works.

When I execute the jar from any other directory - i get:"Unable to access jarfile MyJar.jar".

The jar file source directory was added to my classpath (on windows xp).

What am i doing wrong?
Is it possible to execute a jar file from a directory other than where it is located?

Thanks
Rivka

[Jim Toy]

Explicity add the jar to the classpath, not just the directory.

Or you can add the fully qualified jar to the classpath of the command line.

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Yes, you must add each jar file itself to the classpath, not just the directory contains the jar files.

Then type
C:\>java -jar C:\JavaFiles\MyJar.jar

[paramu iyer]

hi Marilyn

I tried this but I was not able to run the jar file from a different folder even after setting the classpath.

[Marilyn de Queiroz]

Is MyJar.jar a jar you created or a third party jar? If it is someone else's jar that you're using, I think that there's nothing you can do. If it is your own jar, you might be able to change the manifest to include the directories/files that you need.

[Ken Blair]

This has nothing to do with the classpath. When you execute "java -jar <file>" you need to give it a valid file, whether it's a relative path or an absolute path. If you want to run it from a different directory that has a relative path that will be consistent then use that, otherwise you'll have to use an absolute path. For example, if you have your program setup such that there's a script in the directory "MyProgram" and your JAR files were all in "MyProgram\data\" then you would run it with "java -jar data\MyFile.jar" telling it to look in the data directory for MyFile.jar. If you wanted to use an absolute path it might look like "java -jar C:\Program Files\MyProgram\data\MyFile.jar" if you had your MyProgram directory under Program Files on the C drive.