JavaFX build with shade, Location is required. Where is it looking?

Question

It's still not finding the FXML Location. I've messed with output Directory and directory and the URL going into FXMLLoader to no avail:

Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("fxml/ui.fxml"));

Where is this application looking for resources?

Directories:

In:

PROJECT/src/main/java/mypackage/Main.java

PROJECT/src/main/resources/fxml/ui.fxml

Out:

PROJECT/target/AppName-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

PROJECT/target/AppName-1.0-SNAPSHOT-shaded.jar

PROJECT/target/classes/myPackage/Main.class

PROJECT/target/fxml/ui.fxml

My POM:

<dependencies>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
            <artifactId>javafx-controls</artifactId>
            <version>11.0.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
            <artifactId>javafx-fxml</artifactId>
            <version>11.0.2</version>
        </dependency>
        <dependency>
            <groupId>org.openjfx</groupId>
            <artifactId>javafx-base</artifactId>
            <version>11.0.2</version>
        </dependency>
    </dependencies>

    <build>

        <plugins>

            <plugin>
                <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>2.5</version>
                <configuration>
                    <outputDirectory>${basedir}/target</outputDirectory>
                    <resources>
                        <resource>
                            <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
                            <filtering>true</filtering>
                            <includes>
                                <include>**/*.fxml</include>
                            </includes>
                        </resource>
                    </resources>
                </configuration>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <id>copy-resources</id>
                        <!-- here the phase you need -->
                        <phase>package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>copy-resources</goal>
                        </goals>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>



            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.8.0</version>
                <configuration>
                    <release>11</release>  <!--or <release>10</release>-->
                </configuration>
            </plugin>

            <plugin>
                <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
                <version>3.2.1</version>
                <executions>
                    <execution>
                        <phase>package</phase>
                        <goals>
                            <goal>shade</goal>
                        </goals>
                        <configuration>
                            <transformers>
                                <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
                                    <mainClass>com.potatospy.NewMain</mainClass>
                                </transformer>
                            </transformers>
                            <artifactSet>
                                <excludes>
                                    <exclude>classworlds:classworlds</exclude>
                                    <exclude>junit:junit</exclude>
                                    <exclude>jmock:*</exclude>
                                    <exclude>*:xml-apis</exclude>
                                    <exclude>org.apache.maven:lib:tests</exclude>
                                    <exclude>log4j:log4j:jar:</exclude>
                                </excludes>
                            </artifactSet>
                        </configuration>
                    </execution>
                </executions>
            </plugin>
        </plugins>
    </build>

Answer 1

For starters, the first issue is with your resource:

Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("fxml/ui.fxml"));

If you use getResource you have to use an absolute path:

Parent root = FXMLLoader.load(getClass().getResource("/fxml/ui.fxml"));

There are many questions at StackOverflow about this issue, this answer is a very valid reference.

maven-shade-plugin

Assuming your com.potatospy.NewMain class is a launcher class that doesn't extend Application, and your sources (under src/main/java/) are:

• com/potatospy/NewMain.java
• com/potatospy/Main.java
• com/potatospy/UIController.java

and your resources (under src/main/resources) are:

• fxml/ui.fxml

If you want to do a shade/fat jar, and you don't modify the default maven-resources-plugin, this will work just using the maven-compile-plugin and maven-shade-plugin plugins from your pom:

mvn clean package

then you can run your app:

java -jar target/AppName-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Note that the default resources plugin is applied, and your files are added to target/classes:

• target/classes/com/potatospy/NewMain.class
• target/classes/com/potatospy/Main.class
• target/classes/com/potatospy/UIController.class
• target/classes/fxml/ui.fxml

maven-resource-plugin

But if you add the resources plugin as you have done in your pom, when you run it, you will notice that your files are added to:

• target/classes/com/potatospy/NewMain.class
• target/classes/com/potatospy/Main.class
• target/classes/com/potatospy/UIController.class
• target/fxml/ui.fxml

and when the package is done, the fxml file is not even added to the jar!

If you need to include the resources plugin, you'll need something like this:

<plugin>
    <artifactId>maven-resources-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>3.1.0</version>
    <configuration>
        <outputDirectory>${basedir}/target/classes</outputDirectory>
        <resources>
            <resource>
                <directory>src/main/resources</directory>
                <filtering>true</filtering>
                <includes>
                   <include>**/*.fxml</include>
                </includes>
            </resource>
        </resources>
    </configuration>
    <executions>
        <execution>
            <id>copy-resources</id>
            <!-- here the phase you need -->
            <phase>package</phase>
            <goals>
                <goal>copy-resources</goal>
            </goals>
        </execution>
    </executions>
</plugin>

Note that I've added classes to the output directory (so the resources are included into it).