Source code from blog post "Java Generics Example: Jar Manifest" at [http://octodecillion.com/blog/java-generics-manifest/]

JarInfo.java

/**
 * 
 */
package com.octodecillion.utils;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Map.Entry;
import java.util.jar.Attributes;
import java.util.jar.JarFile;

/**
 * Utility to access Jar manifest information.
 * 
 * @author josef betancourt
 * @since Dec 10, 2012
 */
public class JarInfo {

  /**
	 * Get value of a main attribute in jar manifest.
	 * 
	 * @param filePath
	 *            of jar file
	 * @param attributeName
	 *            of main attribute
	 * @return value of attribute
	 * @throws IOException
	 */
	public static String getValue(final String filePath,
			final String attributeName) throws IOException {

		return new JarFile(filePath).getManifest().getMainAttributes()
				.getValue(attributeName);
	}

	/**
	 * 
	 * Find an attribute whose key matches a regular expression.
	 * 
	 * @param filePath
	 * @param regex
	 *            should match the full key string
	 * @return matched attribute entry
	 * @throws IOException
	 */

	public static Entry<Object, Object> find(final String filePath,
			final String regex) throws IOException {

		MatchingFilter filter = new MatchingFilter(regex);
		scan(filePath, filter);
		return filter.getResult();
	}

	/**
	 * Get the manifest as a String.
	 * 
	 * The pecularities of the manifest format are not maintained, such as the
	 * 72 character line width.
	 * 
	 * @param filePath
	 *            of jar file
	 * @return string representation of MANIFEST.MF
	 * @throws IOException
	 */
	public static String getManifest(final String filePath) throws IOException {
		CollectingFilter filter = new CollectingFilter();
		scan(filePath, filter);
		return filter.getResult().toString();
	}

	/**
	 * Iterate thru the main attributes.
	 * 
	 * For each entry an accept method is invoked.
	 * 
	 * @param filePath
	 * @param filter
	 * @throws IOException
	 */
	private static <T> void scan(final String filePath,
			final Filter<Entry<Object, Object>, T> filter) throws IOException {

		Attributes attributes = new JarFile(filePath).getManifest()
				.getMainAttributes();
		Iterator<Entry<Object, Object>> iterator = attributes.entrySet()
				.iterator();
		while (iterator.hasNext()) {

			Entry<Object, Object> entry = iterator.next();
			try {
				boolean result = filter.accept(entry);
				if (result) {
					break;
				}
			} catch (Exception e) {
				throw new IOException(e);
			}

		}
	}

	/**
	 * Filter that collects entries into a String buffer.
	 * 
	 * @author jbetancourt
	 * 
	 */
	private static class CollectingFilter implements
			Filter<Entry<Object, Object>, StringBuffer> {
		private StringBuffer result;

		public CollectingFilter() {
			setResult(new StringBuffer());
		}

		@Override
		public boolean accept(final Entry<Object, Object> entry,
				final Object... args) throws Exception {

			getResult().append(entry + "\n");
			return false;
		}

		@Override
		public void setResult(final StringBuffer result) {
			this.result = result;
		}

		@Override
		public StringBuffer getResult() {
			return result;
		}

	}

	/**
	 * Filter that accepts entry whose key matches a regex.
	 * 
	 * @author jbetancourt
	 * 
	 */
	private static class MatchingFilter implements
			Filter<Entry<Object, Object>, Entry<Object, Object>> {
		private final String regex;
		private Entry<Object, Object> result;

		public MatchingFilter(final String regex) {
			this.regex = regex;
		}

		@Override
		public boolean accept(final Entry<Object, Object> entry,
				final Object... args) throws Exception {

			boolean flag = false;
			if (entry.getKey().toString().matches(regex)) {
				setResult(entry);
				flag = true;
			}

			return flag;
		}

		@Override
		public void setResult(final Entry<Object, Object> result) {
			this.result = result;
		}

		@Override
		public Entry<Object, Object> getResult() {
			return result;
		}

	}

	/**
	 * Generic filter support base type.
	 * 
	 * @author jbetancourt
	 * 
	 * @param <T>
	 *            type argument to accept method
	 * @param <R>
	 *            type of result
	 */
	private static interface Filter<T, R> {
		/**
		 * 
		 * Evaluate acceptance of Object.
		 * 
		 * @param obj
		 *            object to use for evaluation
		 * @param args
		 *            zero or more Object arguments
		 * @return true if accepted
		 * @throws Exception
		 */
		public boolean accept(final T obj, Object... args) throws Exception;

		/**
		 * setter
		 * 
		 * @param result
		 */
		public void setResult(final R result);

		/**
		 * getter
		 * 
		 * @return the result
		 */
		public R getResult();

	}

}