Creating a Jar File
Once you have successfully completed your programming assignment, you will need to create a Jar file to submit your assignment. This will help me grade your assignment. You will lose points if you do
not submit your programming assignments in a JAR file.
*** How to open and run a Jar File ***
- To check the contents of your JAR file, open it with an Archive Reader, such as WinZip, WinRAR, or Windows Archive Manager
- To run your JAR file, open a C: Prompt (Windows) or the Terminal application (MAC) and change your directory to the location of your jar file. (E.g.: cd Desktop/COMP110/workspace/...(This is the location of your jar file), Google how to do this if you do not know). Then type in the following command: java -jar nameofyourjarfile.jar
What's a Jar File?
Jar stands for "Java Archive". It's much like a compressed ZIP file
that
you may have used before. You'll be adding each Java source file in
your
assignment (usually only one file) to a Jar file before submitting.
The size of the final Jar file will be smaller than the original programs
and therefore be easier to e-mail.
How Do I Create a Jar File?
- In Eclipse, highlight your Project name and select File -> New -> Folder
-Name the Folder META-INF and Click Finish
- Create a New File inside of META-INF named MANIFEST.MF
Copy the following into MANIFEST.MF (make sure the last line in the file is a blank line, i.e. one extra blank line)
Manifest-Version: 1.0
Class-Path: .
Main-Class: MyProgram (replace MyProgram with the name of your Java class)
- After you've successfully compiled, run, tested, and commented your program, highlight your Project name and select File->Export
- Select Java -> JAR file and Click Next
- Check the boxes for both "Export generated class files and resources" and "Export Java source files and resources"
- Choose a Location to save the JAR file (be sure to name the file lastname_prg#.jar)(if you do not specify a folder, it will be saved in your Eclipse workspace)
- Click Next
- Check the boxes for both "Export class files with compile errors" and "Export class files with compile warnings"
- Click Next
- Choose "Use existing manifest from workspace" and Browse for the MANIFEST.MF file you created earlier under META-INF
- Click Finish
- When you submit your assignment, you will only need to submit the JAR file.