title: How to enable the (JAR) file to access an external folder that is needed in the application?
body: <p>Please, My Java application is suppose to access an external folder which contains some other files. It was working perfectly under the Netbeans IDE but not when i run the (jar) file alone. I thought including the external desired folder within the same path as the jar file will solve the issue but sadly it gave me the same results. </p>
  
  <p>Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated! </p>
  
  <p>Thanks in Advance!</p>
  
  <p>P.S: I am using the following command: java -jar MyJarFile.jar </p>
  
  <p>[Added]</p>
  
  <p><strong>My File structure:</strong> </p>
  
  <p>In the main folder of the project i have the following: </p>
  
  <p><strong>build<br>
  build.xml<br>
  Data: Inside this folder is my log file (log.dat).<br>
  dist: Inside this folder is my (.Jar) file.<br>
  manifest.mf<br>
  nbproject<br>
  README<br>
  src</strong>                      </p>
  
  <p>The code to access the file is written as follows: </p>
  
  <p><strong>File logs_File = new File("Data" + File.separator + "log.dat");</strong></p>
  
  <p>Again within my NB it is working this way but not when i lunch the .Jar file.</p>
  
  <p><strong>[Updated]</strong></p>
  
  <p>Up to know, i have been trying the following: </p>
  
  <p>The file to access the file looks as follows now: 
  File logs_File = new File(this.getClass().getResource("/Data/log.dat").toString());</p>
  
  <p>Then i copied the Data folder to following directories:<br>
  <strong>src<br>
  build/classes/<br>
  dist</strong><br>
  <strong>and in the main directory</strong>  </p>
  
  <p>And still it is not seeing the file. Though this time not even netbeans is able to locate the file.</p>
  
  <p>Thanks in advance for your help</p>