Java – How to set a long Java classpath in Windows

classpathjavajunit

I'm trying to run a particular JUnit test by hand on a Windows XP command line, which has an unusually high number of elements in the class path. I've tried several variations, such as:

set CLASS_PATH=C:\path\a\b\c;C:\path\e\f\g;....
set CLASS_PATH=%CLASS_PATH%;C:\path2\a\b\c;C:\path2\e\f\g;....
...
C:\apps\jdk1.6.0_07\bin\java.exe -client oracle.jdevimpl.junit.runner.TestRunner com.myco.myClass.MyTest testMethod

(Other variations are setting the classpath all on one line, setting the classpath via -classpath as an argument to java"). It always comes down to the console throwing up it's hands with this error:

The input line is too long.
The syntax of the command is incorrect.

This is a JUnit test testing a rather large existing legacy project, so no suggestions about rearranging my directory structure to something more reasonable, those types of solutions are out for now. I was just trying to gen up a quick test against this project and run it on the command line, and the console is stonewalling me. Help!

Best Answer

The Windows command line is very limiting in this regard. A workaround is to create a "pathing jar". This is a jar containing only a Manifest.mf file, whose Class-Path specifies the disk paths of your long list of jars, etc. Now just add this pathing jar to your command line classpath. This is usually more convenient than packaging the actual resources together.

As I recall, the disk paths can be relative to the pathing jar itself. So the Manifest.mf might look something like this:

Class-Path: this.jar that.jar ../lib/other.jar

If your pathing jar contains mainly foundational resources, then it won't change too frequently, but you will probably still want to generate it somewhere in your build. For example:

<jar destfile="pathing.jar">
  <manifest>
    <attribute name="Class-Path" value="this.jar that.jar ../lib/other.jar"/>
  </manifest>
</jar>

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Hashtable is synchronized, whereas HashMap is not. This makes HashMap better for non-threaded applications, as unsynchronized Objects typically perform better than synchronized ones.
Hashtable does not allow null keys or values. HashMap allows one null key and any number of null values.
One of HashMap's subclasses is LinkedHashMap, so in the event that you'd want predictable iteration order (which is insertion order by default), you could easily swap out the HashMap for a LinkedHashMap. This wouldn't be as easy if you were using Hashtable.

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Java is always pass-by-value. Unfortunately, when we deal with objects we are really dealing with object-handles called references which are passed-by-value as well. This terminology and semantics easily confuse many beginners.

It goes like this:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

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In the example above aDog.getName() will still return "Max". The value aDog within main is not changed in the function foo with the Dog "Fifi" as the object reference is passed by value. If it were passed by reference, then the aDog.getName() in main would return "Fifi" after the call to foo.

Likewise:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog aDog = new Dog("Max");
    Dog oldDog = aDog;

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}

In the above example, Fifi is the dog's name after call to foo(aDog) because the object's name was set inside of foo(...). Any operations that foo performs on d are such that, for all practical purposes, they are performed on aDog, but it is not possible to change the value of the variable aDog itself.

For more information on pass by reference and pass by value, consult the following SO answer: https://stackoverflow.com/a/430958/6005228. This explains more thoroughly the semantics and history behind the two and also explains why Java and many other modern languages appear to do both in certain cases.

Best Answer

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