More package advice...

Question

Hi there,
I'm having a bit of a conceptual problem with packages. At the moment, I am using a bunch of common classes that will be used throughout my desktop swing applications. As I see it right now, if I compile my application and distribute it to users, I also have to re-create the directory structure to the packages on their local machine or point to it via the CLASSPATH over the network.
Now, I don't know whether to just include all common classes in the current program directory, thus losing the explicit dependancy via the "import" keyword, but minimising the links to outside resources for the application or stick with the packages and have to set the CLASSPATH to somewhere public where all users can get at the common packages.
Advice, alternatives and suggestions?

Answer 1

If it helps here is the class that I want to use to call a couple of the classes in the commonfiles package...
import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.Statement;
import commonfiles.*;
public class OracleDataConnection {
    private Connection conn;
    private boolean bConnectionActive = false;
    public OracleDataConnection(String Host, int Port, String SID, String Username, String Password) {
        if (((Host.length() < 1) || (Host == null)) || ((SID.length() < 1) || (SID == null)) || ((Username.length() < 1) || (Username == null)) || ((Password.length() < 1) || (Password == null)) || ((Port < 1))) {
            return;
        } else {
            try {
                Class.forName("oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver");
                conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@PIMSDS20:1525:TEST", "jbaker", "nipples8");
                conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:oracle:thin:@" + Host + ":" + Port + ":" + SID, Username, Password);
                if (conn != null) {
                    bConnectionActive = true;
            } catch (Exception e) {
                bConnectionActive = false;
                return;
    public ResultSet returnRecords(String sQuery) {
        if ((sQuery.length() < 1) || (sQuery == null)) {
            ErrorList.addError(new Error(ErrorList.DATABASE_QUERY_FAILED, ErrorList.INTERNAL_GUI_NONE, "OracleDataConnection::returnRecords()", "SQL query string is blank"));
            return null;
}....and here are the ErrorList and Error classes in the "H:\Java\commonfiles" directory.
// Error class.
package commonfiles;
public class Error {
    private String sErrorCode;
    private int iErrorScreen;
    private String sErrorLocation;
    private String sUserMessage;
    // Constructor.
    public Error(String sErrorCode, int iErrorScreen, String sErrorLocation, String sUserMessage) {
        this.sErrorCode = sErrorCode;
        this.iErrorScreen = iErrorScreen;
        this.sErrorLocation = sErrorLocation;
        this.sUserMessage = sUserMessage;
    public String toString() {
        return ("Error: " + sErrorCode + " on screen: " + Integer.toString(iErrorScreen) + " at code location: " + sErrorLocation + " with user message: " + sUserMessage);
    public String getErrorCode() {
        return sErrorCode;
    public String getErrorScreen() {
        return Integer.toString(iErrorScreen);
    public String getErrorLocation() {
        return sErrorLocation;
    public String getUserMessage() {
        return sUserMessage;
// ErrorList static class.
package commonfiles;
import java.util.Vector;
public class ErrorList {
    private static Vector vErrorList = new Vector(20,10);
    public static final int INTERNAL_GUI_NONE = 40001;
    public static final int DATABASE_CONNECTION_FAILED = 50001;
    public static final int DATABASE_QUERY_FAILED = 50002;
    public static void addError(Error newError) {
        vErrorList.add(newError);
    public static Error[] getAllErrors(boolean clearErrors) {
        Error[] objErrorList = (Error[]) vErrorList.toArray(new Error[vErrorList.size()]);
        if (clearErrors) {
            vErrorList.clear();
        return objErrorList;
    public static boolean hasErrors() {
        if (vErrorList.isEmpty()) {
            return false;
        } else {
            return true;
}