Use

// using getResource
URL url = this.getClass().getResource( "picture.gif" );
// or
URL url = MyClass.class.getResource( "stuff.ser" );
// or
URL url = MyApp.class.getClassLoader().getResource( "InWords.properties" );

Class.getResource is similar, giving you the URL of the resource instead of an InputStream to read it. Note that getResource is an instance method. Class.getResource makes these changes to the resource name: if the resource name starts with "/", it is unchanged; otherwise, the package name is prepended to the resource name after converting "." to "/". This allows you to use either dots or slashes to separate the components of the name. So normally your resource member name includes the package name, but you don’t specify the package name to getResource. Alternatively, but not recommended, you can specify the fully qualified name of the resource by using a lead / on the name you feed to getResource. Never use \ in resource names. So you can access by either: /com/mindprod/entities/entitytable.ser or the short form entitytable.ser. The short form only works from classes in the com.mindprod.entities package.

Recipe

1. Using jar.exe, pack the resource in the jar under the package name and resource name. For example, a resource for use by com.mindprod.entities. Entities would be stored in the jar under the name com/mindprod/entities/entitytable.ser. Note that the class name does not appear, just the package and resource name. See jar.exe for how. Use winzip or similar ZIP utility to verify the package name and resource name are correct inside the jar, including case.
2. In your class, access the resource with:

   // accessing a resource with getResource to give you its URL
   
   URL url = Entities.class.getResource( "entitytable.ser" );
   System.out.println( url );
   
   // Note that getResource is an instance method of Class,
   // so You CANNOT say:
   URL url = Class.getResource( "entitytable.ser" );

   Note the lack of dots, slashes, package name or class name in the resource. Dump the URL out so you can double check where it found it.

Cramfull

Old Netscape