Can getResourceAsStream() find files outside the jar file?

Question

I'm developing an application that uses a library that loads a configuration file as:

InputStream in = getClass().getResourceAsStream(resource);

My application in then packed in a .jar file. If resource is inside the .jar file, I can specify the path as "/relative/path/to/resource/resource".

I'd like to know if is it possible to find the resource if it is outside the .jar file, and in this case, how would I specify the path.

(Assuming my application's jar is in app/ and the resource is in app/config).

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The program uses a 3^rd party library. The library uses the resource as a configuration file.

I also want to tweak the configuration file without having to unzip/zip the jar file all the time.

Answer 1

In general, yes it can. Technically, the class's ClassLoader is used to locate the resource named in the parameter (see Javadoc here). If you're not using a special ClassLoader then you'll get the bootstrap class loader, which searches the class path. So, if you have directories or other jar files on the classpath, they will be searched.