Images Not Showing. Help appreciated.

Question

Hello. I've made an API that loads ImageIcons into some JLabels when they are clicked on. This works perfectly when run in the NetBeans IDE, but for when I run the JAR separately, they will not appear. I've tried putting both the images and JAR in the same folder, as well as creating a src folder in the location of the JAR and having the images in there. I know you can pack images into a JAR but I'm not sure how, or if there is another way were I can simply have the images in the same folder as the JAR. Thanks to anyone who can help.
Here's how I'm loading my images by the way. The first block assigns a string with the image filename to a variable and the second block actually loads it.
    public void Generate() {
        for(int i = 1; i <= 25; i++) {
            if(i <= maxGophers)
                imageName = "gopher.jpg";
            else if(i <= maxGophers+maxWolves && wolvesJCheckBox.isSelected())
                imageName = "wolf.jpg";
            else if(i > maxGophers)
                imageName = "hole.jpg";
            int j = generator.getNextInt(0, 25);
            panel[j] = imageName;
        } // end for
    } // end method Generate
imageIcon = new ImageIcon(panel[0]);
        jLabel1.setIcon(imageIcon);

Answer 1

If your images are in a JAR, then the ImageIcon constructors that take a string can not be used. They assume the String is a file path and not a resource inside a JAR.
Do something like this:
URL url = getClass().getResource("animal.jpeg");
Icon icon = new ImageIcon(url);This assumes animal.jpeg is in the same "location" as the current .class file. If your image file has the "absolute" path "/images/animal/jpeg" in your jar you can also write:
URL url = getClass().getResource("/images/animal.jpeg");The coolest thing about code using getResource is that it can work whether or not your images are jarred.
More info: [http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/components/icon.html#getresource]