Creating EAR, JAR, and WAR file using java.util.jar.*

Hi all,

I want to ask something about java.util.jar.* package in java. I have created a class in java to create Jar/War/Ear file in java. This resulting jar/war/ear file will contain whatever files under the directory specified in ArrayList dirnameList.

I run the class file to create the JAR file and after that creating EAR file that contain this new JAR file. Afterwards, I try to deploy this EAR file into Websphere App Server, and I always encounter error that said that the EAR file is not valid.

But I can't seem to find out what's the problem with the EAR file generated and also what's the problem in the code. Everything looks okie to me.

My questions is:
1. Can this package (java.util.jar.*) be used to create Jar, Ear, and War file? Or do I need to add something else to create Ear file using this package?

2. I tried to use usual command: "jar -xvf xxx.ear" to extract this EAR file and then "jar -cvf xxx.ear * " to create the ear file, and then try to deploy this file to Websphere. I can deploy without getting the above error, but when I tried to start the server, I always encountered failure in deploying EJB, even though I have done no changes to the WAR file.

Below is my code for your reference:

public static void createJarFile (ArrayList dirnameList, String outfilename)
{
    try
    {  
        System.out.println("Creating " + outfilename + "...");
        
         FileOutputStream os = new FileOutputStream(outfilename);
         JarOutputStream jos = new JarOutputStream(os);

         Iterator idirList = dirnameList.iterator();
              
         while (idirList.hasNext())
         {
             String dirname = (String) idirList.next();
                  
            //check whether valid directory
             File dirnameCheck = new File (dirname);
            if(!dirnameCheck.isDirectory())
            {
                System.err.println(dirnameCheck + " is not a valid directory.");
                  return;
            }
                    
            byte[] buf = new byte[4096];            
            int retval;                            
                  
            //get the list of files under the dirname
            ArrayList filesList = new ArrayList();
            FileProj.readContents (dirname, filesList, true, false);
           
            Iterator ifilesList = filesList.iterator();
            while(ifilesList.hasNext())
           {
      FileInputStream is;
      String filename = (String) ifilesList.next();                      
                                             
      is = new FileInputStream(filename);
      filename = FileProj.getRelativePath(dirname + File.separator, filename);

                //System.out.println("files included: " + filename);
                              
              jos.putNextEntry(new JarEntry(filename));

                  do
                  {                        
            retval = is.read(buf, 0, 4096);                
                      if (retval != -1)
                     {
                          jos.write(buf, 0, retval);
                     }
                }while (retval != -1);
                  
                  is.close();
                  jos.closeEntry();
            }  
         }
        jos.close();
       os.close();
     }
        catch(Exception e)
        {
            System.out.println("Exception occurred during createJarFile: " + e);
            System.exit(1);
        }
    }

Some notes: this is the flow in my code:
- get the latest ear file
- extract the latest ear file (resulting in jar file)
- extract the resulting jar file
- replace the updated files in the extracted jar files
- create jar file
- create ear file

Thanks a lot :)