The ClassNotFoundException when running a jar from command line - jar

Question

I am not sure what is missing from this jar file but when I try to run the jar from the command line, it cannot load the main entry point:
This is the directory that contains the classes and the resources for my application.
C:\Users\hrh74\Documents\ABack up\NetBeansProjects\mavenfxedittableview\target\classes\org\openjfx\mavenfxedittableview
09/04/2020 08:48 PM <DIR> .
09/04/2020 08:48 PM <DIR> ..
09/03/2020 04:24 PM 2,502 addressBookData.xml
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 9,562 Address_Book.png
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 859 birthdaystatistic.fxml
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 3,274 BirthdaystatisticController.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 3,224 DarkTheme.css
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 2,072 DateUtil.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 1,214 LocalDateAdapter.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 3,523 Person.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 4,535 personeditdialog.fxml
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 5,128 PersoneditdialogController.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 1,029 PersonListWrapper.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 6,412 personoverview.fxml
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 1,904 rootlayout.fxml
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 4,490 RootlayoutController.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 9,060 TableEditApp.class
09/02/2020 05:52 PM 6,812 TableVieweditController.class
16 File(s) 65,600 bytes
2 Dir(s) 57,686,331,392 bytes free
I created an app.jar for my application and specified the application's main entry class.
C:\Users\hrh74\Documents\ABack up\NetBeansProjects\mavenfxedittableview\target
\classes\org\openjfx>jar cvfe app.jar TableEditApp.class -C mavenfxedittableview .
added manifest
adding: addressBookData.xml(in = 2502) (out= 376)(deflated 84%)
adding: Address_Book.png(in = 9562) (out= 9567)(deflated 0%)
adding: birthdaystatistic.fxml(in = 859) (out= 372)(deflated 56%)
adding: BirthdaystatisticController.class(in = 3274) (out= 1544)(deflated 52%)
adding: DarkTheme.css(in = 3224) (out= 826)(deflated 74%)
adding: DateUtil.class(in = 2072) (out= 941)(deflated 54%)
adding: LocalDateAdapter.class(in = 1214) (out= 537)(deflated 55%)
adding: Person.class(in = 3523) (out= 1277)(deflated 63%)
adding: personeditdialog.fxml(in = 4535) (out= 872)(deflated 80%)
adding: PersoneditdialogController.class(in = 5128) (out= 2418)(deflated 52%)
adding: PersonListWrapper.class(in = 1029) (out= 485)(deflated 52%)
adding: personoverview.fxml(in = 6412) (out= 1149)(deflated 82%)
adding: rootlayout.fxml(in = 1904) (out= 542)(deflated 71%)
adding: RootlayoutController.class(in = 4490) (out= 2097)(deflated 53%)
adding: TableVieweditController.class(in = 6812) (out= 2835)(deflated 58%)
The app.jar created successfully. Here is the content of META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file.
Manifest-Version: 1.0
Created-By: 14.0.2 (Oracle Corporation)
Main-Class: TableEditApp.class
Here is my classpath having the current directory '.' in the beginning.
.;C:\Users\hrh74\Documents\ABack up\NetBeansProjects\javalearning\build\classes;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-14.0.2;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-14.0.2\bin;C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_251\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-14.0.2\lib;
When I list the content of the jar file, all the classes are properly packaged in the jar.
C:\Users\hrh74\Documents\ABack up\NetBeansProjects\mavenfxedittableview\target\classes\org\openjfx>jar tvf app.jar
0 Fri Sep 04 23:22:18 IRDT 2020 META-INF/
98 Fri Sep 04 23:22:18 IRDT 2020 META-INF/MANIFEST.MF
2502 Thu Sep 03 16:24:22 IRDT 2020 addressBookData.xml
9562 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 Address_Book.png
859 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 birthdaystatistic.fxml
3274 Wed Sep 02 17:52:40 IRDT 2020 BirthdaystatisticController.class
3224 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 DarkTheme.css
2072 Wed Sep 02 17:52:40 IRDT 2020 DateUtil.class
1214 Wed Sep 02 17:52:38 IRDT 2020 LocalDateAdapter.class
3523 Wed Sep 02 17:52:38 IRDT 2020 Person.class
4535 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 personeditdialog.fxml
5128 Wed Sep 02 17:52:40 IRDT 2020 PersoneditdialogController.class
1029 Wed Sep 02 17:52:40 IRDT 2020 PersonListWrapper.class
6412 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 personoverview.fxml
1904 Wed Sep 02 17:52:36 IRDT 2020 rootlayout.fxml
4490 Wed Sep 02 17:52:38 IRDT 2020 RootlayoutController.class
9060 Wed Sep 02 17:52:38 IRDT 2020 TableEditApp.class
6812 Wed Sep 02 17:52:38 IRDT 2020 TableVieweditController.class
Finally, when I run the application from the command line using java –jar app.jar, I get the ClassNotFoundException.
C:\Users\hrh74\Documents\ABack up\NetBeansProjects\mavenfxedittableview\target\classes\org\openjfx>java -jar app.jar
Error: Could not find or load main class TableEditApp.class
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: TableEditApp.class
I tried to adhere to the spec to the best of my knowledge, so I am not sure why this is not working. Any idea, what might be causing this exception?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I discovered something interesting in respect to the HelloWorld.java that I mentioned in my last comment. I abandoned using the "jar cvfe" and instead created a file name mymanifest.txt and placed the name of the class with the main entry as "Main-Class: org.me.HelloWorld" followed by two blank lines (per specification). I packaged the jar using the "jar cvmf" instead of "jar cvfe" and it WORKED FINE. I then applied the same method to my application jar creation, and now I am getting a Linkage Error instead of ClassNotFoundException. Perhaps, it has something to do with the JavaFX library that I have to investigate deeper. In summary, I suspect that the "jar cvfe" switch might not be working as described in the Java tutorial. I have had found errors in the tutorial in the past and this MIGHT be another one.
Anyway, thank you all for your comments.