getResourceAsStream returns null

Question

Lifepaths.class.getClass().getResourceAsStream(...) loads resources using system class loader, it obviously fails because it does not see your JARs

Lifepaths.class.getResourceAsStream(...) loads resources using the same class loader that loaded Lifepaths class and it should have access to resources in your JARs

The rules are as follows:

1. check the location of the file you want to load inside the JAR (and thus also make sure it actually added to the JAR)
2. use either an absolute path: path starts at the root of the JAR
3. use an relative path: path starts at the package directory of the class you're calling getResource/ getResoucreAsStream

And try:

Lifepaths.class.getResourceAsStream("/initialization/Lifepaths.txt")

instead of

Lifepaths.class.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/initialization/Lifepaths.txt")

(not sure if it makes a difference, but the former will use the correct ClassLoader/ JAR, while I'm not sure with the latter)

So there are several ways to get a resource from a jar and each has slightly different syntax where the path needs to be specified differently.

The best explanation I have seen is this article from InfoWorld. I'll summarize here, but if you want to know more you should check out the article.

Methods

1. ClassLoader.getResourceAsStream().

Format: "/"-separated names; no leading "/" (all names are absolute).

Example: this.getClass().getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("some/pkg/resource.properties");

2. Class.getResourceAsStream()

Format: "/"-separated names; leading "/" indicates absolute names; all other names are relative to the class's package

Example: this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("/some/pkg/resource.properties");

Updated Sep 2020: Changed article link. Original article was from Javaworld, it is now hosted on InfoWorld (and has many more ads)

Don't use absolute paths, make them relative to the 'resources' directory in your project. Quick and dirty code that displays the contents of MyTest.txt from the directory 'resources'.

@Test
public void testDefaultResource() {
    // can we see default resources
    BufferedInputStream result = (BufferedInputStream) 
         Config.class.getClassLoader().getResourceAsStream("MyTest.txt");
    byte [] b = new byte[256];
    int val = 0;
    String txt = null;
    do {
        try {
            val = result.read(b);
            if (val > 0) {
                txt += new String(b, 0, val);
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } 
    } while (val > -1);
    System.out.println(txt);
}

You might want to try this to get the stream i.e first get the url and then open it as stream.

URL url = getClass().getResource("/initialization/Lifepaths.txt"); 
InputStream strm = url.openStream(); 

I once had a similar question: Reading txt file from jar fails but reading image works