IOException loading PNG image - java-me

Question

I am currently working on a school J2ME project using Canvas and I am trying to get the Ping Pong ball app ready for tomorrow's exam, but when loading a PNG image with Image.createImage(url) I get an IOException (the image is in the right src file and it's 32x32 pixels)
This is my code:
public class BallGame extends GameCanvas implements Runnable {
private Image ballImg;
private Sprite ballSprite;
private String url="/ball.PNG";
private int ballX = getWidth() / 2;
private int ballY = getHeight() / 2;
public BallGame() {
super(false);
}
public void run() {
while (true) {
try {
updateScreen(getGraphics());
} catch (Exception e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
public void start() {
try {
ballImg = Image.createImage(url);
} catch (IOException ex) {
System.out.println("*********");
ex.printStackTrace();
System.out.println("********************");
}
ballSprite = new Sprite(ballImg, 32, 32);
ballSprite.setRefPixelPosition(16, 16);
ballSprite.setPosition(ballX, ballY);
Thread runner = new Thread(this);
runner.start();
}
public void Createbackground(Graphics g) {
g.setColor(0x000000);
g.fillRect(0, 0, getWidth(), getHeight());
}
public void updateScreen(Graphics graphics) {
Createbackground(graphics);
ballSprite.setRefPixelPosition(ballX, ballY);
ballSprite.paint(graphics);
flushGraphics();
}
public void moveBall() {
}}

Answer 1

Looks to me like you have a wrong path or some problems with the ownership of the file. Check if some other program is editing it.
Have you tried adding a full absolute path?
Also have you tried using the "ball.png" image inside the same folder without folder paths like:
private String url="ball.PNG";
If that works it's definitely a path problem.
In my J2ME device version when I open a file my path starts like this:
String path_start="file:///a:/";