How to access a resource (image, xml or properties file) insider a jar file?

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How to accessing a resource within a jar file? You access some resources (images, xml file or properties file) that are inside a jar. For example, you can retrieve an image with the following way:
    InputStream in = this.getClass().getClassLoader()
                         .getResourceAsStream("com/linar/java2com/plus.gif");
    int c;
    ByteArrayOutputStream byteArrayOutputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    while ((c = in.read()) != -1) {
        byteArrayOutputStream.write((char) c);
    }

Here is another example using the getResource() method that takes an URL parameter to retrieve an image:
    URL url = this.getClass().getClassLoader()
                  .getResource("com/linar/java2com/plus.gif");
    ImageIcon image = (new ImageIcon(url));