FAQ How do I distinguish between internal and external JARs on the build path?

The Java build path differentiates between internal JARs and external JARs. To find the file-system location for an internal JAR, the workspace path needs to be converted into a file-system location, as follows:

   IClasspathEntry entry = ...
   IPath path = entry.getPath();
   IWorkspace workspace = ResourcesPlugin.getWorkspace();
   IResource jarFile= workspace.getRoot().findMember(path);
   if (jarFile != null) {
      return jarFile.getLocation();
   } else {
      // must be an external JAR (or invalid classpath entry)
   }

See Also:

FAQ_What_is_the_difference_between_a_path_and_a_location?

---

This FAQ was originally published in Official Eclipse 3.0 FAQs. Copyright 2004, Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. This text is made available here under the terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0.