How to extract a folder from JAR

Question

I need to copy a folder, packed in a Jar on runtime. I want to do it by calling a function in a class which is also contained in the same folder.

I\'ve tried using <

Answer 1

I had the same problem, there are various solutions proposed if you browse SO, usually not so simple to implement. I tried several of them and finally the best for me was the simplest:

• pack the folder content in a .zip file
• put the.zip file as a resource file in the .jar
• access the .zip file as a resource file and extract it using the ZipInputStream API.

Here a generic method to do this:

   /**
    * Extract the contents of a .zip resource file to a destination directory.
    * 

    * Overwrite existing files.
    *
    * @param myClass     The class used to find the zipResource.
    * @param zipResource Must end with ".zip".
    * @param destDir     The path of the destination directory, which must exist.
    * @return The list of created files in the destination directory.
    */
   public static List extractZipResource(Class myClass, String zipResource, Path destDir)
   {
      if (myClass == null || zipResource == null || !zipResource.toLowerCase().endsWith(".zip") || !Files.isDirectory(destDir))
      {
         throw new IllegalArgumentException("myClass=" + myClass + " zipResource=" + zipResource + " destDir=" + destDir);
      }

      ArrayList res = new ArrayList<>();

      try (InputStream is = myClass.getResourceAsStream(zipResource);
              BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream(is);
              ZipInputStream zis = new ZipInputStream(bis))
      {
         ZipEntry entry;
         byte[] buffer = new byte[2048];
         while ((entry = zis.getNextEntry()) != null)
         {
            // Build destination file
            File destFile = destDir.resolve(entry.getName()).toFile();

            if (entry.isDirectory())
            {
               // Directory, recreate if not present
               if (!destFile.exists() && !destFile.mkdirs())
               {
                  LOGGER.warning("extractZipResource() can't create destination folder : " + destFile.getAbsolutePath());
               }
               continue;
            }
            // Plain file, copy it
            try (FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(destFile);
                    BufferedOutputStream bos = new BufferedOutputStream(fos, buffer.length))
            {
               int len;
               while ((len = zis.read(buffer)) > 0)
               {
                  bos.write(buffer, 0, len);
               }
            }
            res.add(destFile);
         }
      } catch (IOException ex)
      {
         LOGGER.log(Level.SEVERE, "extractZipResource() problem extracting resource for myClass=" + myClass + " zipResource=" + zipResource, ex);
      }
      return res;
   }