Class files question

[bos]

I'm new to programming in Java and I noticed a lot of class files being created as I program. Is there a way to archive or compress the class files and still be able to run the program I've written?

Thanks in advance.

 

[wushutwist]

You could place all of the class files into a jar and run them from there. The classes in the jar may be compressed or uncompressed, it is your choice.

 

[Guest_imported]

put it in a jar, reall? youre kidding?

 

[wushutwist]

<sarcasm>
Yes, really. I also prefer to keep my jars on the top shelf because I think they perform better due to the higher altitude.
</sarcasm>
On another note, I feel sarcasm should official be supported in html as a markup tag. It would lead to less confusion in places like this.

 

[bos]

I tried placing them into a .jar before. I placed all the class files in their own directory and made them into a .jar file. However when I tried to run the program it didn't work right. Was there something I did wrong?

 

[wushutwist]

You either need to have the jar on your CLASSPATH or you need to set the Main-Class attribute in the jar Manifest and run it from the jar.

Check the jar section of the Java Tutorial for more detailed information at:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/jar/index.html

 

[bos]

I created a .jar file out of all of my class files. I then created a text file to try and set up my Main-Class attribute:

Main-Class: Program

I then tried running the program and recieved the following error:

Exception in thread &quot;main&quot; java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Program

Could you please let me know what the problem might be. And thanks for the site listed above. It was very helpful.

 

[wushutwist]

The Manifest with the Main-Class attribute has to be IN the Jar in the META-INF directory in the file called MANIFEST.MF.