Question 1: How should I structure my project so the sound and images files can be loaded most easily? Right now, I have the folder:

C:\java\pacman

with the sub-directory

C:\java\pacman\src

containing all the code, and

C:\java\pacman\assets

containing the images and .wav files. Is this the best structure or should I put the assets somewhere else?

Question 2:

What's the best way to refer to the images/sounds without using the full path e.g C:\java\pacman\assets\something.png to them? If I use the getCodeBase() function it seems to refer to the C:\java\pacman\bin instead of C:\java\pacman\.

I want to use such a function/class which would work automatically when i compile the applet in a jar as well as right now when I test the applet through eclipse.

Question 3: How should I load the images/sounds? This is what I'm using now:

1) For general images:

import java.awt.Image;

public Image getImg(String file)
{
          //imgDir in this case is a hardcoded string containing
          //"C:\\java\\pacman\\assets\\"
	file=imgDir + file;
	return new ImageIcon(file).getImage();
}

The images returned from this function are used in the drawImage method of the Graphics class in the paint method of the applet.

2) For a buffered image, which is used to get subImages and load sprites from a sprite sheet:

public BufferedImage getSheet() throws IOException
{
	return ImageIO.read(new File(img.getPath("pacman-sprites.png")));

}

Later:

public void loadSprites()
{
	BufferedImage sheet;
	try
	{
		sheet=getSheet();

		redGhost.setNormalImg(sheet.getSubimage(0, 60, 20, 20));
		redGhost.setUpImg(sheet.getSubimage(0, 60, 20, 20));
		redGhost.setDownImg(sheet.getSubimage(30, 60, 20, 20));
		redGhost.setLeftImg(sheet.getSubimage(30, 60, 20, 20));
		redGhost.setRightImg(sheet.getSubimage(60, 60, 20, 20));	
	}
	catch (IOException e)
	{
		System.out.println("Couldnt open file!");
		System.out.println(e.getLocalizedMessage());
	}	
}

3) For sound files:

import sun.audio.*;
import java.io.*;
public synchronized void play() {
    try {
            InputStream in = new FileInputStream(filename);
            AudioStream as = new AudioStream(in);
            AudioPlayer.player.start(as); 

    } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
    }

}