public static InputStream istream(File f){
  try {
    if (!f.isAbsolute())     f=new File(getResourcesDir(),f.getPath());
    return new FileInputStream(f);
  }
 catch (  FileNotFoundException e) {
    throw new RuntimeException(e);
  }
}

public static InputStream istream ( File f ) { try { if ( ! f . isAbsolute ( ) ) f = new File ( getResourcesDir ( ) , f . getPath ( ) ) ; return new FileInputStream ( f ) ; } catch ( FileNotFoundException e ) { throw new RuntimeException ( e ) ; } }
the location ( if relative ) is realtive to the resources dir
