Jar file and gif file

Question

why jar file cant load the .gif file? is it need to specify the directory for the .gif file in jar? when i run my applet, that can't load the picture, what is the problem? below is my code:
public static final ImageIcon ICON_FOLDER =new ImageIcon("folder.gif");
for (int i=0; i<v.size(); i++) {
               FileNode nd = (FileNode)v.elementAt(i);
               IconData idata = new IconData(DirTree.ICON_FOLDER,
                    DirTree.ICON_EXPANDEDFOLDER, nd);
               DefaultMutableTreeNode node = new
                    DefaultMutableTreeNode(idata);
               parent.add(node);
               if (nd.hasSubDirs())
                    node.add(new DefaultMutableTreeNode(
                         new Boolean(true) ));
          }

Answer 1

if the image is in your jar file,maybe you can use:
public static final ImageIcon ICON_FOLDER =new ImageIcon(this.class.getResource("folder.gif"));
variable "this" stands for your class which extends Applet or JApplet
...I'm not sure