Loading from the Classpath

 
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.Image;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import java.util.Properties;

public class ResourceLoader {

static public Properties loadProperties(String name) {
ClassLoader loader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();

if(loader != null) {
URL url = loader.getResource(name);
if(url == null) {
url = loader.getResource("/"+name);
}
if(url != null) {
try {
InputStream in = url.openStream();
Properties props = new Properties();
props.load(in);
return props;
} catch(IOException ioe) {
}
}
}

return null;
}

static public Image loadImage(String name) {
ClassLoader loader = ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader();

if(loader != null) {
URL url = loader.getResource(name);
if(url == null) {
url = loader.getResource("/"+name);
}
if(url != null) {
Toolkit tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
Image img = tk.getImage(url);
return img;
}
}

return null;
}

}