ClassNotFoundException when using Class.forName(), thx

Question

in a study app, i try to use Class.forName() to load any class then get its properties (fields, methods etc. vs reflect).
the (Frame based) app is in directory:
c:\app\StudyApp.class
there is a "Open class" button on the app, click the button, i use FileChooser to open any class file.
i.e. open a class (assume it is not packaged)
d:\dir\TheClass.class
coding in StudyApp.java is:
Class cls=Class.forName("TheClass");
now a ClassNotFoundException throws when call Class.forName() above.
it is easy to understand why throw the exception because i never tell where the class is. it is in directory
d:\dir
my question is: how to tell VM the directory.
the directory d:\dir can not be applied to -classpath when run java.exe StudyApp, because the directory is random one at run-time.
i tried to change System property (i.e. "java.class.path", 'user.dir" etc. none of them can fix the problem.
thanks in advance for any help

Answer 1

This probably does a lot more than you need:
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.jar.*;
import java.lang.*;
public class ClassFileFinder extends ClassLoader
     List cpath = new LinkedList();
     void addFile(File f) {
          if(f.isDirectory() || (f.isFile() && f.canRead() &&
                                      f.getName().endsWith(".jar")))
               cpath.add(f);
     public byte[] classData(String className)  {
          String cname = className.replace('.', File.separatorChar) + ".class";
          Iterator it = cpath.iterator();
          while(it.hasNext()) {
               File f = (File)it.next();
               try {
                    if(f.isDirectory()) {
                         File cFile = new File(f, cname);
                         if(cFile.isFile()) {
                              byte[] buf = new byte[(int)cFile.length()];
                              InputStream in = new FileInputStream(cFile);
                              int off  = 0, l;
                              while((l = in.read(buf, off, buf.length - off)) > 0) {
                                   off += l;
                                   if(off >= buf.length) break;
                              in.read(buf);
                              in.close();
                              return buf;
                    } else if (f.isFile()) {
                         JarFile jar = new JarFile(f);
                         JarEntry ent = jar.getJarEntry(cname);
                         if(ent != null) {
                              byte[] buf = new byte[(int)ent.getSize()];
                              int off = 0, l;
                              InputStream in = jar.getInputStream(ent);
                              while((l = in.read(buf, off, buf.length - off)) > 0) {
                                   off += l;
                                   if(off >= buf.length) break;
                              in.close();
                              return buf;
               } catch (IOException e) {
          return null;          
     public Class findClass(String className) throws ClassNotFoundException{
          byte[] data = classData(className);
          if(data == null)
               return getParent().loadClass(className);
          else
               return defineClass(className,data,0, data.length);
}Create an instance, Add directories and/or jar files with addFile then loadClass the class you want.