How to make a Java exe file or executable JAR file

In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a executable JAR – When you double click on it, it runs the defined main class in manifest file.

1. AWT Example

Create a simple AWT Java application, just display label and print out some funny characters ~

AwtExample.java

package com.mkyong.awt;
 
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.Label;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
 
public class AwtExample {
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
 
		Frame f = new Frame();
		f.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
			public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
				System.exit(0);
			}
		});
		f.add(new Label("This JAR file is executable!"));
		f.setSize(500, 500);
		f.setVisible(true);
	}
}

2. Manifest.txt

Create a manifest.txt file.

Manifest.txt

Main-Class: com.mkyong.awt.AwtExample

Uses Main-Class as the entry point of this Jar file, when you double click on this Jar file, the “AwtExample.class” main() method will be launched.

Note
Be sure that your manifest file ends with a new line, else your manifest file will not be parsed and failed to generate the manifest.mf. Read this http://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.4.2/docs/tooldocs/windows/jar.html

Read this jar reference guide :
“Be sure that any pre-existing manifest file that you use ends with a new line. The last line of a manifest file will not be parsed if it doesn’t end with a new line character.”

3. Jar file

Create a Jar file by adding “AwtExample.class” and “manifest.txt” files together.

Assume your project folder structure as follows :

c:\test\classes\com\mkyong\awt\AwtExample.class
c:\test\classes\manifest.txt

You can issue following command to create a “AwtExample.jar.

jar -cvfm AwtExample.jar manifest.txt com/mkyong/awt/*.class

Output

C:\test\classes>jar -cvfm AwtExample.jar manifest.txt com/mkyong/awt/*.class
added manifest
adding: com/mkyong/awt/AwtExample$1.class(in = 638) (out= 388)(deflated 39%)
adding: com/mkyong/awt/AwtExample.class(in = 880) (out= 541)(deflated 38%)

4. Demo

Now, the “AwtExample.jar” is executable, double clicks on it, see the output :

References

mkyong

Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuffs. Follow him on Twitter, or befriend him on Facebook or Google Plus.

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import java.util.Scanner; public class TestDriver { public static void main(String[]args) { System.out.println("Enter a number from 2 to 100 to find the prime factors"); Scanner s=new Scanner(System.in); int input=s.nextInt(); factorcounter f=new factorcounter(input); System.out.println("Here are the prime factors: "); f.FindPrimeNo(); } }

public class factorcounter { public factorcounter(int a) { input=a; } public int input; public int temp; public int[]counter=new int[101]; public void FindPrimeNo() { int judge; if(input%2==0) { judge=1; } else { judge=2; } switch (judge) { case 1: while(input>1) { if(input%2==0) { counter[2]++; input=(input/2); } else if(input%3==0) { counter[3]++; input=(input/3); } else if(input%5==0) { counter[5]++; input=(input/5); } else if(input%7==0) { counter[7]++; input=(input/7); } else { counter[input]++; input=1; } } case 2: while(input>1) { if(input%3==0) { counter[3]++; input=(input/3); } else if(input%5==0) { counter[5]++; input=(input/5); } else if(input%7==0) { counter[7]++; input=(input/7); } else { counter[input]++; input=1; } } for(int i=1;i<100;i++) { if(counter[i]!=0) { System.out.println(i+" occured "+counter[i]+" time"); } } } } }

Madhaiyan May 15, 2013 at 9:41 pm
Its working as expected,, Thank you so much…
Ram January 15, 2013 at 1:04 pm
friends i m creating jar programmatically . help me i surf lot of stuff in internet via them
i can create jar file but created jar not connected with ide. my concept is one program create jar with proper package structure that jar is going to used in other program.
but in my case the jar what i created is not linked. if i try to add that as in classpath it
not linked in programmes
Nishant Mishra December 4, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Thanks for this but am getting following error
I have copied full code to check but still giving the same
Error: Could not find or load main class Hello
Also in My code I am getting FileNotFoundException
Please Help
Anubhav November 16, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Hi I tried out this solution but my jar didnt run, the problem is in the jar, the jars that i had added in my project want not present in the newly built jar file so got the classNotFound exception. can anyone suggest a solution to it. Thanx in advance
venkateswara November 3, 2012 at 3:57 pm
thank you posting this information
Hiral Jhaveri October 26, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Thank you.
The information turned out to be really useful for my Project.
Nick October 2, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Thanks for the walk-through, was able to get my first .JAR working!
One question though, the .jar wasn’t working with my main method as:
public static void main(String args[])
but when I changed around the brackets to:
public static void main(String[] args)
it worked. I thought these two were supposed to be equivalent?
AmitBhole August 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Hi, Very easy to understand. But in my case its not working. If i double click on jar nothing happens.
I’ll give you a short description about my task.
I have created JAVA UI with WindowBuilder in Eclipse IDE. Then I have added Selenium scripts created using TestNG framework in Eclipse in same package that of java UI. I called selenium scripts on button click event. Now I am trying to create executable jar which can be executed on other machines also. By following your steps JAR is created, but on double clicking on it nothing happens.
Folder structure is as below:
C:\Selenium\Code\GUIForSelenium\bin\TestUI
Code where I have created project
GUIForSelenium is project
TestUI is package
TestUi folder contains all 3 class files 1 JAVA UI and 2 Selenium Code.
Can you help in this issue?
Bennybriel July 30, 2012 at 8:41 am
Thanks alot. l did got some new thing here about jar files

amin March 9, 2012 at 4:12 pm

Thanks a lot for this really useful tutorial and it makes a lot of sense.But as i am a sort of beginner, I really need some help :(
First of all, what exactly i have to do with the manifest file.What do i write in it?
then If i have multiple class files how do i define them and i have to do all these things in cmd promt right?
I have two classes here, a simple prime factor find program.One of them is main
please tell me what else do i need to add in the code and what would be my manifest file in this case and also the commands for making them a runnable .jar file . please!

public class factorcounter
{
  public factorcounter(int a)
  {
    input=a;
  }
  public int input;
  public int temp;
  public int[]counter=new int[101];
  public void FindPrimeNo()
  {
    int judge;
    if(input%2==0)
    {
      judge=1;
    }
    else
    {
      judge=2;
    }
    switch (judge)
    {
      case 1:
        while(input&gt;1)
      {
        if(input%2==0)
        {
          counter[2]++;
          input=(input/2);
        }
        else if(input%3==0)
        {
          counter[3]++;
          input=(input/3);
        }
        else if(input%5==0)
        {
          counter[5]++;
          input=(input/5);
        }
        else if(input%7==0)
        {
          counter[7]++;
          input=(input/7);
        }
        else
        {
          counter[input]++;
          input=1;
        }
      }
      case 2:
        while(input&gt;1)
      {
        if(input%3==0)
        {
          counter[3]++;
          input=(input/3);
        }
        else if(input%5==0)
        {
          counter[5]++;
          input=(input/5);
        }
        else if(input%7==0)
        {
          counter[7]++;
          input=(input/7);
        }
        else
        {
          counter[input]++;
          input=1;
        }
      }
        for(int i=1;i&lt;100;i++)
        {
          if(counter[i]!=0)
          {
            System.out.println(i+&quot; occured &quot;+counter[i]+&quot; time&quot;);
          }    
        }
    }
  }
}

anup March 8, 2012 at 2:47 pm
I have created executable jar TestDS32.jar which uses some external Axis jars.
Required jars path and main class name are set in the manifest file.
My manifest file is look like :
Main-Class: test.TestDS32
Class-Path: TestDS32.jar D:\Axis\lib\log4j-1.2.8.jar D:\Axis\lib\axis-ant.jar D:\Axis\lib\axis.jar D:\Axis\lib\commons-discovery-0.2.jar D:\Axis\lib\commons-logging-1.0.4.jar D:\Axis\lib\jaxrpc.jar D:\Axis\lib\saaj.jar D:\Axis\lib\wsdl4j-1.5.1.jar
But while executing TestDS32.jar from cmd by command java -jar TestDS32.jar i got below error :
Exception in thread “main” java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: \test\TestDS32
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: \test\TestDS32
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:202)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:190)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:307)
at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:301)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:248)
Could not find the main class: \test\TestDS32 . Program will exit.
can you please tell me why this error is coming and how to solve it?
Namrata Kamble March 1, 2012 at 11:56 pm
thankx thats realy easy to Understand
but don’t know why my jar file is not Running.(Executing)
(when i m going to Double click on my jar File, its not Working)
:(
- mkyong March 2, 2012 at 5:08 pm
  Can you show me your code and mainfest?
  - amin July 30, 2012 at 4:13 pm
    sir,
    i had a problem life time ago
    but still no reply
    :(
    i would still love to have a reply……
  - Namrata Kamble October 27, 2012 at 12:10 am
    Actuly Sir, My Code is So large. its not easy to Post over here.
    in my Code there are 2 Parent class & many child classes.
    having many classes in my code,is that really Creating any Problem for my JAR file.
novo December 24, 2011 at 6:52 am
Than you!!! simple and easy :)))
Srinivas Charan December 12, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Thank u very much, excellent content.great job

How to make a Java exe file or executable JAR file

1. AWT Example

2. Manifest.txt

3. Jar file

4. Demo

References

Popular Posts

What is your opinion?

Do you know the answer?

1. AWT Example

2. Manifest.txt

3. Jar file

4. Demo

References

Related Posts

Popular Posts

What is your opinion?

Do you know the answer?