CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javawindowsuser-interfacefilepathsubdirectory
Yuuen
Yuuen

Reputation: 45

Opening txt in sub directories with notepad through java

I've been browsing the site since yesterday and I can't see to find anything that answers my question, so I decided to just ask.

I'm making a pretty basic java GUI, it's designed to be run alongside files that wont be included in the actual java package for compatibility and easier customization of those files, I doubt they could be included either way as they have their own .jars and other things.

So, the problem I'm having is that the GUI application is in the main folder and I need it to locate and open txt files a couple sub-folders deep, in notepad without requiring a full file path as I'll be giving this project out to some people when it's done.

Currently I've been using this to open the files, but will only work for files in the main folder and trying to edit in any file paths did not work.

private void jButton4ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {                                         

    Runtime rt=Runtime.getRuntime();

    String file;
    file = "READTHIS.txt";

    try {
        Process p=rt.exec("notepad " +file);
    } catch (IOException ex) {
        Logger.getLogger(NumberAdditionUI.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
    }
}

if someone knows a way to do this, that'd be great.

On another note, I'd like to include the file shown above (READTHIS.txt) inside the actual java package, where would I put the file and how should I direct java towards it?

I've been away from java for a long time so I've forgotten pretty much anything, so simpler explanations are greatly appreciated. Thanks to anyone reading this and any help would be awesome.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 601

Answers (1)

Jonny Henly
Jonny Henly

Reputation: 4213

Update 2

So I added to the ConfigBox.java source code and made jButton1 open home\doc\READTHIS.txt in Notepad. I created an executable jar and the execution of the jar, via java -jar Racercraft.jar, is shown in the image below. Just take the example of what I did in ConfigBox.java and apply it to NumberAdditionUI.java for each of its JButtons, making sure to change the filePath variable to the corresponding file name that you would like to open.

Note: The contents of the JTextArea in the image below were changed during testing, my code below does not change the contents of the JTextArea. Working jar...

Directory structure:

\home
    Rasercraft.jar
    \docs
        READTHIS.txt

Code:

// imports and other code left out

public class ConfigBox extends javax.swing.JFrame {
    // curDir will hold the absolute path to 'home\'
    String curDir; // add this line

    /**
     * Creates new form ConfigBox
     */
    public ConfigBox() 
    {
        // this is where curDir gets set to the absolute path of 'home/'
        curDir = new File("").getAbsolutePath(); // add this line

        initComponents();
    }

    /*
     * irrelevant code
     */

    private void jButton1ActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) {//GEN-FIRST:event_jButton1ActionPerformed
        Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();

        // filePath is set to 'home\docs\READTHIS.txt'
        String filePath = curDir + "\\docs\\READTHIS.txt"; // add this line

        try {
            Process p = rt.exec("notepad " + filePath); // add filePath
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            Logger.getLogger(NumberAdditionUI.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
        }

        // TODO add your handling code here:
    }//GEN-LAST:event_jButton1ActionPerformed

    /*
     * irrelevant code
     */


Update

This is the quick and dirty approach, if you would like me to add a more elegant solution just let me know. Notice that the file names and their relative paths are hard-coded as an array of strings.

Image of the folder hierarchy:

Directory structure.

Code:
Note - This will only work on Windows.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class Driver {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String[] FILE_NAMES = {"\\files\\READTHIS.txt",
                                     "\\files\\sub-files\\Help.txt",
                                     "\\files\\sub-files\\Config.txt"
                                    };
        Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();

        // get the absolute path of the directory
        File cwd = new File(new File("").getAbsolutePath());

        // iterate over the hard-coded file names opening each in notepad
        for(String file : FILE_NAMES) {
            try {
                Process p = rt.exec("notepad " + cwd.getAbsolutePath() + file);
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                // Logger.getLogger(NumberAdditionUI.class.getName())
                // .log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
            }
        }

    }
}


Alternative Approach

You could use the javax.swing.JFileChooser class to open a dialog that allows the user to select the location of the file they would like to open in Notepad.

JFileChooser dialog


I just coded this quick example using the relevant pieces from your code:

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JFileChooser;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;


public class Driver extends JFrame implements ActionListener {
    JFileChooser fileChooser;  // the file chooser
    JButton openButton;  // button used to open the file chooser
    File file; // used to get the absolute path of the file

    public Driver() {
        this.fileChooser = new JFileChooser();
        this.openButton = new JButton("Open");

        this.openButton.addActionListener(this);

        // add openButton to the JFrame
        this.add(openButton);

        // pack and display the JFrame
        this.pack();
        this.setVisible(true);
    }

    public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
        // handle open button action.
        if (e.getSource() == openButton) {
            int returnVal = fileChooser.showOpenDialog(Driver.this);

            if (returnVal == JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION) {
                // from your code
                Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();

                try {
                    File file = fileChooser.getSelectedFile();
                    String fileAbsPath = file.getAbsolutePath();

                    Process p = rt.exec("notepad " + fileAbsPath);                        
                } catch (IOException ex) {
                    // Logger.getLogger(NumberAdditionUI.class.getName())
                    // .log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex);
                }
            } else {
                System.exit(1);
            }
        }

    }

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                Driver driver = new Driver();
            }
        });
    }

}

I've also included a link to some helpful information about the FileChooser API, provided by Oracle: How to use File Choosers. If you need any help figuring out the code just let me know, via a comment, and I'll try my best to help.

As for including READTHIS.txt inside the actual java package, take a gander at these other StackOverflow questions:

Upvotes: 1

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