Accessing Video File within .Jar

Question

Ok, I am creating a project where I am using JMF to display several pre-created videos. The finished project is going to be placed on a cd and submitted in a contest. Because of this, I am compiling the finished project into an executable .jar file. From my previous experiences, I have found that accessing files inside a jar is much more complex than accessing just any old file. The only way I have found to successfully access files inside a jar is through InputStreams (opposed to URLs). This is where my issues begin.
I have been searching throughout the internet for the past 2 days trying to find any way to create a Player using a type of InputStream. This doesnt seem to be possible the way it is set up. My obsticle here seems to be getting the Manager to realize the File. Here is what I've tried and the errors I got:
File -- NoPlayerException -- Expected. When creating a file, it doesnt know to look inside the jar for the file, but to the location of the jar instead. Perhaps there is a way to tell URL to look for the file inside the jar. If so, please tell me how.
File movie = new File("video1.mpeg");
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "File: " + movie + "\n URL: " + movie.toURL() + "\n URI: " + movie.toURI() + "\n URL Parsed URI: " + movie.toURI().toURL(), "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); //JOptionPane used to display background information while program is running after compiled in .jar
MediaPanel mediaPanel = new MediaPanel(movie.getURL());
InputStream -- Compiling Error -- So my primary method of getting Files inside jars are out the window since there is no way to get the URL of InputStreams.
InputStream movie = getClass().getResourceAsStream("video1.mpeg");
MediaPanel mediaPanel = new MediaPanel(movie);
Creating MediaLocator to file location -- java.net.MalformedURLException: no protocol: video1.mpeg -- I assume that basically means I'm screwed.
MediaLocator movie = new MediaLocator("video1.mpeg");
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "File: " + movie + "\n URL: " + movie.getURL(), "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
MediaPanel mediaPanel = new MediaPanel(movie.getURL());
Using URL to get into .jar -- NoPlayerException -- No clue about this one. Just tried this a minute ago.
URL movie = HannibalProject.class.getResource("video1.mpeg");
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "URL: " + movie, "Error", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE); // Displays "URL: jar:file:/G:/Latin/HannibalProject.jar!/video1.mpeg" I do not know if this is correct or not, perhaps someone could tell me.
MediaPanel mediaPanel = new MediaPanel(movie);If anyone can help me with this, I will be GREATLY appreciative. If anyone needs more information, additional code snippets, ect. please ask and I'll provide what is needed to help me.
Edited by: Aussiemcgr on Jan 10, 2010 7:03 PM

Answer 1

And there arises the pain-in-the-ass that is not yet clear to me. For this particular thing, it needs to be an application, not an applet. Which means I have to make it an executable (alternative might be a .bat, havent played with those for anything other than scripts) instead of something embedded. For whatever reasons, this is the efficiency of the school system or whatever the hell it is.
The simple fact in all of this is that I have no information about the computer this is going to be ran on. Effectively, I am doing this all in the dark right now because I have been given NO guarantee that the computer(s) I attempt to run this on will even have the Java Virtual Environment on it. And, unfortunately, I have no way of finding any of this out because the Computer Program category of these things are not yet been taken seriously so preparation for judging is a last-minute thing.
Basically, I am wanting to do this with the least amount of possibilities for Murphy's Law (which means I probably shouldnt be using JMF to begin with, but I hate that incomplete feeling) to happen. For the dark abyss I am traveling into, I'm wanting to leave as little external dependencies as possible. For applets, I have to assume that the computer has some sort of browser (sounds stupid, but it is the school system). Not to mention I've designed it from the ground up to work as an application, instead of an applet (roughly 20 hours of work so far, including text research and coding).
The contest is Jan 30 so the date is approaching real quick. Quite honestly, the more I am looking at it, the more I am starting to consider getting rid of the videos altogether since I am pretty much done with the project with the exception of that. I would have 9 videos total (made only 1 to make sure it would work before making the other 8). The videos itself would only add an additional flair at best, and pretty much guarantee the 1st place for me. My teacher thinks my program's current capabilities, with just a mouse hover and mouse clicking interface with some animated gifs that allows access to several neatly displayed texts, would probably win me first place. However I feel I would go crazy if I actually had legitimate competition for once and lost because I didnt include this damn multimedia. Not to mention I want to include this on my portfolio in the somewhat distant future (along with my Poker Program I finished last month)...I dont know where I'm going with this...