What causes java.lang.ClassNotFoundException in running code

Question

This error : java.lang.ClassNotFoundException : javax.xml.soap.SoapException

I can see javax.xml.soap.SoapException is on the classpath so what could be causing this error ?

In more general terms how could a java.lang.ClassNotFoundException be thrown in running code, should the compiler not catch this error ? The only situation I could this occurring is that if a jar was built using a library and the library that jar depends on is not on the classpath when using the jar.

Answer 1

The classpath you use to compile an app, is not the same as the classpath you use to run the application. When an application is run using java you still need to have the -cp to load all the supporting jars