1st time compile not working

Question

I am having a problem compiling my 'SimpleProgram.
It is saying 'cant read SimpleProgram.java. I have my sourcei in a dir called javasc. My compiler is in jdk1.3.1_01\bin. I can call javac and it comes up ok but cant find the source. If I do a 'set' command on the dos command line, I can see the dir javac first , then jdk1 bla bla. My file does have an extension of .java. I have changed my auto exec and searched the archives and still it won't compile. When I do a dir of javac the entry
for my souce code does hav a entry description of JAV on the left of the description. My earlier attempts had a type of txt on the left. Is this my problem... I have tried adding the -classpath and-sourcepath option to javac to no avail. I used
javac -classpath javasc SimpleProgram.java.
I am at wits end. Help!

Answer 1

I'm no expert with MSDOS, but the Path setting is where DOS looks for a .exe or .bat or other 'executables' when you enter something at the command line prompt. It is a MS DOS setting, not Java. If you can launch javac.exe without having to type in the full path to it, then your Path is set correctly. You will always need to specify a path to the source file(s) you want to compile, unless they are in the current directory.
It is possible to create your own DOS variable and use that:
set myjava=C:\myjava\
javac %myjava%someclass.java
DOS converts %myjava% to c:\myjava\ and so javac.exe tries to compile c:\myjava\someclass.java (I tried the above with Windows 98 SE.)