getResource return null url in context of module - java-9

Question

I am new to Java Modularity. I am using Java 9.
The program compiles without complaint. It also runs perfectly well from the "exploded module" folder, but with one exception: it throws an exception whose cause originates with the following line of code:
URL introURL = AboutPanel.class.getResource("help.html");
introURL is being assigned null.
When running the program in Eclipse, or from a jar file exported from Eclipse, the URL is populated correctly with the address of a resource file (help.html) that is in the same directory as the calling class.
Here is the command I use to run the program from the "exploded module" that is in the "out" folder:
java -p out/ -m moduleTCD/com.adonax.tanpura.TCDLaunch
The project consists of two packages that I am bundling together in a single module.
src/moduleTCD/com/adonax/tanpura
/pfaudio
The "main" class (entry point) is tanpura.TCDLaunch.
Here is the module-info.java class contents:
module moduleTCD {
exports com.adonax.tanpura;
requires java.base;
requires java.desktop;
}
The error statement, when trying to run from the command line:
java.io.IOException: invalid url
at java.desktop/javax.swing.JEditorPane.setPage(Unknown Source)
at moduleTCD/com.adonax.tanpura.documentation.AboutPanel.<init>(AboutPanel.java:28)
at moduleTCD/com.adonax.tanpura.panels.ControlPanel.initializeHelpPanel(ControlPanel.java:525)
at moduleTCD/com.adonax.tanpura.panels.ControlPanel.<init>(ControlPanel.java:163)
at moduleTCD/com.adonax.tanpura.TCDLaunch.main(TCDLaunch.java:43)
This exception is thrown in a try/catch for IOException at the point where the JEditorPane method setPage is called with null as an argument.
textArea.setPage(introURL);
At first, I didn't have an exports line in my module-info.java, but added it when I read the following from the API for Class.getResource:
Returns:
A URL object; null if no resource with this name is found, the resource cannot be located by a URL, the resource is in a package that
is not open to at least the caller module, or access to the resource
is denied by the security manager.
This raised the possibility that the package might be needed by Class in the module Java.base. The exports command there now is the broadest possible. But adding it did not change the error. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with how I did this, or if there is something else I am overlooking.

Answer 1

Classic error on my part. I made assumptions about the error being related to tech that is new and unfamiliar to me, rather than first verifying the obvious.
The fail was due to not realizing that the javac command did not move required resources into the target folder system.
I also verified that an "exports" statement is NOT needed in module-info in order to allow the loading of the resource.
So, in fact, this was not a java-module issue at all, just an oversight which I credit in part to a lack of chops using shell-level Java commands.
Big thank you to Alan Bateman!