Using home directory now and copying resources if required.

pom.xml

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
         <link.name>${project.artifactId}</link.name>
         <launcher>${project.artifactId}</launcher>
         <appName>${project.artifactId}</appName>
-        <main.class>kst4contest.view.Main</main.class>
+        <main.class>kst4contest.view.Kst4ContestApplication</main.class>
         <java.version>17</java.version>
         <required.maven.version>3.6.3</required.maven.version>
         <jar.filename>${project.artifactId}-${project.version}</jar.filename>

src/main/java/kst4contest/ApplicationConstants.java

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package kst4contest;
+
+public class ApplicationConstants {
+    /**
+     * Name of the Application.
+     */
+    public static final String APPLICATION_NAME = "praktiKST";
+}

src/main/java/kst4contest/controller/AppRunner.java

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 package kst4contest.controller;
 
-import kst4contest.view.Main;
+import kst4contest.view.Kst4ContestApplication;
 
 public class AppRunner {
 
 	public static void main(String[] args) {
 		
-		Main.main(args);
+		Kst4ContestApplication.main(args);
 
 	}
 

src/main/java/kst4contest/controller/DBController.java

@@ -8,15 +8,29 @@ import java.sql.SQLException;
 import java.sql.Statement;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 
+import kst4contest.ApplicationConstants;
 import kst4contest.model.ChatMember;
+import kst4contest.utils.ApplicationFileUtils;
 
 public class DBController {
 
+	/**
+	 * Name of the database file.
+	 */
+	public static final String DATABASE_FILE = "praktiKST.db";
+
+	/**
+	 * Resource path for the database
+	 */
+	public static final String DATABASE_RESOURCE = "/praktiKST.db";
+
 	private static final DBController dbcontroller = new DBController();
 	private static Connection connection;
 //    private static final String DB_PATH = System.getProperty("praktiKST.db");
-	private static final String DB_PATH = ("praktiKST.db");
+	private static final String DB_PATH = ApplicationFileUtils.getFilePath(ApplicationConstants.APPLICATION_NAME, DATABASE_FILE);
 
+
+/*
 	static {
 		try {
 			Class.forName("org.sqlite.JDBC");
@@ -25,6 +39,7 @@ public class DBController {
 			e.printStackTrace();
 		}
 	}
+ */
 
 	public DBController() {
 		initDBConnection();
@@ -48,6 +63,11 @@ public class DBController {
 
 	private void initDBConnection() {
 		try {
+			ApplicationFileUtils.copyResourceIfRequired(
+					ApplicationConstants.APPLICATION_NAME,
+					DATABASE_RESOURCE,
+					DATABASE_FILE
+			);
 			if (connection != null)
 				return;
 			System.out.println("Creating Connection to Database...");

src/main/java/kst4contest/model/ChatPreferences.java

@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.dom.DOMSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;
 
+import kst4contest.ApplicationConstants;
+import kst4contest.utils.ApplicationFileUtils;
 import org.w3c.dom.Comment;
 import org.w3c.dom.Document;
 import org.w3c.dom.Element;
@@ -34,6 +36,16 @@ import javafx.collections.ObservableList;
 
 public class ChatPreferences {
 
+	/**
+	 * Name of file to store preferences in.
+	 */
+	public static final String PREFERENCES_FILE = "preferences.xml";
+
+	/**
+	 * Resource with the example properties xml file.
+	 */
+	public static final String PREFERENCE_RESOURCE = "/praktiKSTpreferences.xml";
+
 	/**
 	 * Default constructor will set the default values (also for predefined texts
 	 * and shorts) automatically at initialization
@@ -41,6 +53,7 @@ public class ChatPreferences {
 	 * TODO: delete this from the kst4contest.view/Main.java!
 	 */
 	public ChatPreferences() {
+		ApplicationFileUtils.copyResourceIfRequired(ApplicationConstants.APPLICATION_NAME, PREFERENCE_RESOURCE, PREFERENCES_FILE);
 
 //		shortcuts[2] = "pse";
 //		shortcuts[3] = "turn";
@@ -109,7 +122,7 @@ public class ChatPreferences {
 
 	String programVersion = "Chat is powered by ON4KST \n\nUsage is free. You are welcome to support: \n\n- my project (donations, bugreports, good ideas are welcome), \n- ON4KST Servers, \n- AirScout developers and \n- OV3T (best AS-data provider of the world). \n\n73 de DO5AMF, Marc (DM5M / DARC X08)";
 	String logsynch_storeWorkedCallSignsFileNameUDPMessageBackup = "udpReaderBackup.txt";
-	String storeAndRestorePreferencesFileName = "praktiKSTpreferences.xml";
+	String storeAndRestorePreferencesFileName = ApplicationFileUtils.getFilePath(ApplicationConstants.APPLICATION_NAME, PREFERENCES_FILE);
 	String chatState; // working variable only for use by primarystage (title bar)
 //	ObservableStringValue chatState;
 

src/main/java/kst4contest/utils/ApplicationFileUtils.java

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+package kst4contest.utils;
+
+import kst4contest.controller.DBController;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileOutputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
+import java.nio.file.Path;
+
+/**
+ * This class has utility methods to handle application files inside the home directory.
+ */
+public class ApplicationFileUtils {
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the path of a file inside the home directory of the user.
+     * @param applicationName Name off the application which is used for the hidden directory
+     * @param fileName Name of the file.
+     * @return The full path inside the user home directory.
+     */
+    public static String getFilePath(final String applicationName, final String fileName) {
+        return Path.of(System.getProperty("user.home"),
+                "." + applicationName,
+                fileName).toString();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Copies a resource to the application folder if required.
+     * @param applicationName Name of the application.
+     * @param resourcePath Path of the resource.
+     * @param fileName Name of the target file.
+     */
+    public static void copyResourceIfRequired(final String applicationName, final String resourcePath, final String fileName) {
+        File file = new File(getFilePath(applicationName, fileName));
+
+        if (file.exists()) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        File parentDir = file.getParentFile();
+        if (!parentDir.exists()) {
+            parentDir.mkdirs();
+        }
+
+        copyResourceToFile(resourcePath, file.getPath());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Copies a given resource at a resourcePath to the file path.
+     * @param resourcePath
+     * @param filePath
+     */
+    public static void copyResourceToFile(String resourcePath, String filePath) {
+        try (InputStream resourceStream = ApplicationFileUtils.class.getResourceAsStream(resourcePath);
+             FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = new FileOutputStream(filePath)) {
+
+            if (resourceStream == null) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Resource not found: " + resourcePath);
+            }
+
+            resourceStream.transferTo(fileOutputStream);
+        } catch (IOException ex) {
+            System.err.println("Exception when copying Application file: " + ex.getMessage());
+            ex.printStackTrace(System.err);
+        }
+    }
+
+}