How to load DTDs from a jar file?

Question

The intended machine doesn't have a connection to the internet and I do not want to load it using a fixed location.

Aim: To load DTDs from a jar, the jar will be a dependency.

Answer 1

To load any file from the classpath (it is, the space where youre classes reside, usually a bunch of jars) you can do:

InputStream is = this.getClass().getResourceAsStream("my/package/ResourceFile.dtd");

And then you can use the input stream where you want.

Note: getResourceAsStream() loads the resource using the class loader that loaded the class. If you are making an application any class from your application (and hence loaded by the same classloader with your jars) will be fine.

Answer 2

There is no standard way to provide a local cache (CATALOG if I recall correctly) of DTD's.

Hence, you will need to investigate the parser that will use the local copies, and use its non-standard configuration API to let it know about these local copies so that the trip to the net is avoided.

Use the getResourceAsStream() method to pick out entries from the classpath.