Each process needs to be allowed to run and finish. You can use Process#waitFor for this purpose. Equally, you need to consume any output from the process at the same time. waitFor will block so you will need use a Thread to read the input (and if you need to, write output to the process)

Depending on the location of the java/class file, you may also need to specify a starting folder from which the execution of the process can start.

Most of this significantly easier using ProcessBuilder

import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;

public class CompileAndRun {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new CompileAndRun();
    }

    public CompileAndRun() {
        try {
            int result = compile("compileandrun/HelloWorld.java");
            System.out.println("javac returned " + result);
            result = run("compileandrun.HelloWorld");
        } catch (IOException | InterruptedException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    public int run(String clazz) throws IOException, InterruptedException {        
        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("java", clazz);
        pb.redirectError();
        pb.directory(new File("src"));
        Process p = pb.start();
        InputStreamConsumer consumer = new InputStreamConsumer(p.getInputStream());
        consumer.start();

        int result = p.waitFor();

        consumer.join();

        System.out.println(consumer.getOutput());

        return result;
    }

    public int compile(String file) throws IOException, InterruptedException {        
        ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder("javac", file);
        pb.redirectError();
        pb.directory(new File("src"));
        Process p = pb.start();
        InputStreamConsumer consumer = new InputStreamConsumer(p.getInputStream());
        consumer.start();

        int result = p.waitFor();

        consumer.join();

        System.out.println(consumer.getOutput());

        return result;        
    }

    public class InputStreamConsumer extends Thread {

        private InputStream is;
        private IOException exp;
        private StringBuilder output;

        public InputStreamConsumer(InputStream is) {
            this.is = is;
        }

        @Override
        public void run() {
            int in = -1;
            output = new StringBuilder(64);
            try {
                while ((in = is.read()) != -1) {
                    output.append((char) in);
                }
            } catch (IOException ex) {
                ex.printStackTrace();
                exp = ex;
            }
        }

        public StringBuilder getOutput() {
            return output;
        }

        public IOException getException() {
            return exp;
        }
    }
}

Now obviously, you should check the return results of the processes, and may be produce a better mechanism for interacting with the processes, but that's the basic idea...

1. Create a runnable jar.
2. call the runnable jar on button click.
3. Exit from the current program.

@AlexR: IMO this is a valid scenario. Let's assume you want to upload a code from some where and then execute it, and validate the output.

Try using the below mentioned code:

    import java.io.BufferedReader;
    import java.io.IOException;
    import java.io.InputStream;
    import java.io.InputStreamReader;

    public class A {

      public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            Process processCompile = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("javac B.java");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        Process processRun = null;
        try {
            processRun = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("java B");
        } catch (IOException e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        try {
            printLines(" stdout:", processRun.getInputStream());
            printLines(" stderr:", processRun.getErrorStream());
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // TODO Auto-generated catch block
            e.printStackTrace();
        }


      }

      private static void printLines(String name, InputStream ins) throws Exception {
          String line = null;
          BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(ins));
          while ((line = in.readLine()) != null) {
              System.out.println(name + " " + line);
          }
        }
    }

The Problem here is you are passing argument

./Main.java

instead, you should pass Main.java as an argument else you need to change your getProgramName() method to return the Class name correctly.

Which will let you compile the program perfectly with javac command but problem happens when you need to run the program because that command should be

java Main

whereas you are trying to execute

java ./Main

You can either launch another JVM (as described in detail in other answers). But that is not a solution i would prefer.

Reasons are:

• calling a native program from java is "dirty" (and sometimes crashes your own VM)
• you need to know the path to the external JVM (modern JVMs don't set JAVA_HOME anymore)
• you have no control on the other program

Main reason to do it anyway is, that the other application has no control over your part of the program either. And more importantly there's no trouble with unresponsive system threads like the AWT-Thread if the other application doesn't know its threading 101.

But! You can achieve more control and similar behaviour by using an elementary plugin technique. I.e. just call "a known interface method" the other application has to implement. (in this case the "main" method).

Only it's not quite as easy as it sounds to pull this off.

• you have to dynamically include required jars at runtime (or include them in the classpath for your application)
• you have to put the plugin in a sandbox that prevents compromising critical classes to the other application

And this calls for a customized classloader. But be warned - there are some well hidden pitfalls in implementing that. On the other hand it's a great exercise.

So, take your pick: either quick and dirty or hard but rewarding.

You need to supply the full path to the javac, exec won't use the ath to find it for you

You also need to

pro2.waitFor();

because executing that process will take some time and you can't take the exitValue() before the process has finished.