How to get external files into class path?

[Bill Ewing]

We are able to build a fat jar that runs when we include a certain configuration file in the fat jar.

But, we want it to be outside of the jar so we can edit values in it.

We tried specifying the file in the class-path setting of the fat jar dialogs, but this did not work. 

Any ideas, workarounds will be appreciated.

TIA,
Bill

[Ferenc Hechler]

Hi Bill,

try setting Class-Path to '.' and put the file into the same dir as the jar.
If this will not work, please report some details about how the file is accessed from within the program.

Best regards,

      feri

[Bill Ewing]

I tried doing what you recommended, Feri, but it did not work.

The files are
hibernate.cfg.xml
log4j.xml
log4j.dtd

All three need to be in the class path.  The only way we can get things to work is by including them in the jar.  We would prefer to have them outside of the jar where we would occassionally tweak a parameter setting.

Your help is appreciated,
Bill

[Ferenc Hechler]

I have used Log4J without any problems. I used
PropertyConfigurator.configure("./log4j.properties")
which reads the configuration file from the file system. I am sure hibernate also supports reading the config from the file system.

feri