I dont understand why this happens....

OK here's the situation, when this code is executed from an IDE (netbeans) It functions flawlessly. However once it is compiled into a .class and thrown into a jar it fails at the line classList.add(cl.loadClass("DocDoom")); class path is set to a accommodate the independent .class files it wants to load. DocDoom.class exists within that directory.

Code Java:

---

public static boolean loadRecipes() {
            try {
            ArrayList<Class> classList = new ArrayList<Class>();
            ArrayList<String> classes = new ArrayList<String>();
            File dir = new File("C:\\Users\\Akira\\Desktop\\New folder (2)\\Mods\\Recipes");
            ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{dir.toURI().toURL()});
                try {
                    logger.printMessage("1");
                    classList.add(cl.loadClass("DocDoom"));
                    logger.printMessage("2");
                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
 
            System.out.println(classList.toString());
        } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
            return true;
    }

---

when executed from netbeans the logger pushes out a 1 and a 2. from a jar the logger only pushes out a 1 (There is NO error in the logger)

Is an exception being thrown? If so, what is it? (you mention no error in the logger, but depending upon where your logger writes to you might miss the exception as if one is thrown it isn't printed to the logger - not sure what library you use for logging but there should be an error method allowing you to pass the exception to the logger) How are you running the app? Applet, webstart, or standalone? If its one of the first two you will need to sign the jar.

It throws an exception NoClassDefFound for DocDoom's super class, which was compiled with it (Lets call it Foo). They only way i can bypass the error is to put a copy of Foo in the same directory as DocDoom, but then when i cast a .newinstance() of the class DocDoom to Foo it says that Class DocDoom cant be cast to Foo...

Foo should be in the same location, as should any other references you make to classes you've written - make sure any other classes that you've written that 'Foo' or DocDoom reference are on the classpath (packaging them as a jar inside their respective packages might help as well).

Perhaps I'm going about this all wrong. I have been banging my head against this problem for several days now (nearing a week). Perhaps there is a better way and I am just not seeing it.

Let me explain in full what it is I'm trying to do.

In short is modular class loading at runtime. I write Foo.class and Bar.class Foo extends Bar. I am trying to write a program that knows what the definition of Foo is and goes to to a directory (entered at runtime) that loads all .class files there (assuming) that they are subtypes of Bar. Generate a new instance of each of these classes and cast them to Foo and use them within the program.

These are the 5 classes i am using

Code Java:

---

public class Main {
    public static void main (String args[]){
        Why w = new Why();
    }
}

---

Code Java:

---

public class Foo extends Bar{
    public Foo(){
        super();
    }
 
    @Override
    public void hitMe(Why w) {
        w.out("FROM FOO");
    }    
}

---

Code Java:

---

public class Bar {
    public Bar(){
 
    }
    public void hitMe(Why w){
        w.out("FROM BAR");
    }
}

---

Code Java:

---

import java.io.File;
import java.net.MalformedURLException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLClassLoader;
import java.util.ArrayList;
 
public class TestProject {
 
    public static boolean execute(Why w){
        try {
            ArrayList<Class> classList = new ArrayList<Class>();
            ArrayList<String> classes = new ArrayList<String>();
            File dir = new File("C:\\Users\\Akira\\Desktop\\Target");
            ClassLoader cl = new URLClassLoader(new URL[]{dir.toURI().toURL()});
                try {
                    classList.add(cl.loadClass("Foo"));
                    System.err.println(classList.size());
                    Bar r = (Bar) classList.get(0).newInstance();
                    r.hitMe(w);
                    return true;
                } catch (Exception ex) {
                    ex.printStackTrace();
                }
            System.out.println(classList.toString());
        } catch (MalformedURLException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        return false;
    }
}

---

Code Java:

---

public class Why {
 
    /**
     * @param args the command line arguments
     */
    public Why(){
        boolean execute = TestProject.execute(this);
        System.out.println(execute);
    }
 
    public void out(String string) {
        System.err.println(string);
    }
 
}

---

Once the code is compiled into .class files i cut the Foo.class and paste it into the target directory. I then get

java.lang.ClassDefNotFoundException: Bar
at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java: 202)
at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.j ava:190)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:3 06)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:2 47)
at TestProject.execute(TestProject.java:25)
at Why.<init>(Why.java:16)
at Main.main(Main.java:12)

{EDIT}: If i move Bar.class to the same target folder as Foo.class, it will not throw the ClassDeffNotFoundException, however it throws a ClassCastExcception when attempting to cast Foo to Bar.