To access a package, the calling class must reside in the root/parent direc

Question

My goal was to be able to access my package from anywhere within the
high level root folder (d:\zJava). But it seems the invoking class MUST
RESIDE IN THE TOP LEVEL PARENT DIRECTORY of the package. Was Java
designed to behave this way?
D:\zJava\zsamples\com\zswingpackage1>     <-- packages successfully compiled here
     swing_optgrp_eg1.{class/java}
          package com.zswingpackage1;
          public class swing_optgrp_eg1 extends JFrame implements ItemListener {
D:\zJava\zsamples\com> <-- classes residing here could NOT successfully                    access the package 'com.zswingpackage1'. The third                    level subfolder is 'com'.
     package_test4.java
          /* Following import stmt. causing RUN-TIME error "Exception in thread     "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/zswingpackage1/swing_optgrp_eg1". */
          import com.zswingpackage1;
     Package_Test4.class          
     /* Unsuccessful remedies:
     i) D:\zJava\zsamples\com>java Package_Test4
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples\com\zswingpackage1
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples\com
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples (also used in compile)
               -classpath .;d:\zJava
     ii) ran from the root/parent directory of the package d:\zJava\zsamples),with and without classpath i.e.
          D:\zJava\zsamples>java com\Package_Test4 [-classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples]
     iii) ran from the top level directory (d:\zJava), with and without classpath i.e.
          D:\zJava>java zsamples\com\Package_Test4 [-classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples]
     Possible causes:
          - maybe the above behaviours are by design i.e. the calling class/program CANNOT be stored within the package hierarchy?
D:\zJava\zsamples\net> <-- classes residing here could NOT successfully access the package 'com.zswingpackage1'. The third level subfolder is 'net'.
     package-test6.java
          /* Following import stmt. causing RUN-TIME error "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/zswingpackage1/swing_optgrp_eg1". */
          import com.zswingpackage1;
     Package_Test6.class
     /* Unsuccessful remedies:
     i) D:\zJava\zsamples\net>java Package_Test6
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples\com\zswingpackage1
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples\com
               -classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples (also used in compile)
               -classpath .;d:\zJava
     ii) ran from the root/parent directory of the package (d:\zJava\zsamples), with and without classpath i.e.
          D:\zJava\zsamples>java net\Package_Test6 [-classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples]
     iii) ran from the top level directory (d:\zJava), with and without classpath i.e.
          D:\zJava>java zsamples\net\Package_Test6 [-classpath .;d:\zJava\zsamples]
     Possible causes:
          - maybe the above behaviours are by design i.e. the calling class/program MUST be stored in the parent folder of the package hierarchy?
**D:\zJava\zsamples>     <-- classes residing here SUCCESSFULLY accessed package 'com.zswingpackage1'. NO -classpath parms. were necessary!
D:\zJava\ <-- classes residing here could NOT successfully access the package 'com.zswingpackage1'. Similar scenarios as above.
D:\zJavaB\ <-- classes residing here could NOT successfully access the package 'com.zswingpackage1'. I purposely created another folder with the 'B' suffix. Similar scenarios as above.
My PC configuration:
     java version "1.4.0_01"
     Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.0_01-b03)
     Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.0_01-b03, mixed mode)
     JRun 4 (Build 47304)
     WinNT 4.0 SP5
     IE 5.50
     CLASSPATH=.;D:\jakarta-tomcat-3.3.1\lib\common\servlet.jar;
          C:\JRun4\servers\default\default-ear\default-war\WEB-INF\classes
     JAVA_HOME=C:\j2sdk1.4.0_01
     Path=C:\j2sdk1.4.0_01\bin;C:\WINNT\system32;C:\WINNT;
          C:\Program Files\Network Associates\PGPNT;C:\Program Files\MTS;d:\MSSQL7\BINN
Thank you so much for your expertise.

Answer 1

Hello,
I think that you use the import-declarations incorrectly.
Your code says:
import com.zswingpackage1;
... The meaning of the above declaration is the following: Import the class "zswingpackage1" from the package "com". The compiler cannot find that class, but it is probably never asked to find it in your code, so it won't report an error.
If you want to import the whole package use the following declaration instead:
import com.zswingpackage1.*;
... That means: import all classes from from the package "com.zswingpackage1".
You can also import just the classes needed, e.g.:
import com.zswingpackage1.swing_optgrp_eg1;
... I hope that does the job.
S&oslash;ren