Build standalone executable

[carl.manaster]

Hi, all,

I'm sorry if this is a silly question, but I've googled without
success. I have a little applet that processes some numbers and plots
them; it uses classes from my own body of code and from libraries like
JFreeChart. I want to package this up into a standalone application
that I can put on my colleague's desktop so he can try it out. We're
both on the same OS, Windows. I'm using Eclipse.

I have wrapped the JApplet up with a main() that creates a new JFrame,
pops the applet into it, and handles window close. I can run from the
Eclipse environment as either an applet or an application. It does
what I want. I don't want to put it on a web page, just create a
standalone executable. It does not need to be able to run across
multiple platforms; just Windows. What are the steps to do this? I
would like for Eclipse to figure out the dependencies and bundle
together whatever classes it needs. No fancy icon, just something my
colleague can double-click to launch. Thanks for any help with this.

Peace,
--Carl

 

[Joe Attardi]

No fancy icon, just something my
colleague can double-click to launch. Thanks for any help with this.

Hey Carl,

You don't necessarily need to wrap it up in an EXE. You have two
simpler options:

(1) An executable JAR file. If you package your entire application up
in one JAR file, including all the libraries it uses, and set the
Main-Class attribute of the JAR's manifest, then double-clicking the
JAR file in Windows should bring up your app.

(2) A batch file. This will let you set your CLASSPATH then run the
app. Something like:

@echo off
set CLASSPATH=jfreechart.jar;foo.jar;bar.jar;MyApp.jar
java -classpath %CLASSPATH% com.foo.MyApp

 

[Andrew Thompson]

.....
You don't necessarily need to wrap it up in an EXE. You have two
simpler options:

(1) An executable JAR file. If you package your entire application up
in one JAR file, including all the libraries it uses,

Onve you have this, you might also wrap it in a JNLP
and launch it using web start (the project would not even
need a main()/Frame.

...and set the
Main-Class attribute of the JAR's manifest, then double-clicking the
JAR file in Windows should bring up your app.

...but since the main/frame are already there, this also
makes sense....

(..and note that it is easy to add a fancy, or trivial,
splash image/launch icon to a web start project. )

Andrew T.

 

[Morten Omholt Alver]

I have wrapped the JApplet up with a main() that creates a new JFrame,
pops the applet into it, and handles window close. I can run from the
Eclipse environment as either an applet or an application. It does
what I want. I don't want to put it on a web page, just create a
standalone executable. It does not need to be able to run across
multiple platforms; just Windows. What are the steps to do this? I
would like for Eclipse to figure out the dependencies and bundle
together whatever classes it needs. No fancy icon, just something my
colleague can double-click to launch. Thanks for any help with this.

You can use JSmooth (http://jsmooth.sourceforge.net/) to create a
Windows .exe file after packaging your application in a jar file.
JSmooth allows you to set the application icon, and some other stuff.
The user must still have Java installed.

 

[Ian Wilson]

Hi, all,

I'm sorry if this is a silly question,

Don't be, it isn't.

but I've googled without
success. I have a little applet that processes some numbers and plots
them; it uses classes from my own body of code and from libraries like
JFreeChart. I want to package this up into a standalone application
that I can put on my colleague's desktop so he can try it out. We're
both on the same OS, Windows. I'm using Eclipse.

I have wrapped the JApplet up with a main() that creates a new JFrame,
pops the applet into it, and handles window close. I can run from the
Eclipse environment as either an applet or an application. It does
what I want. I don't want to put it on a web page, just create a
standalone executable. It does not need to be able to run across
multiple platforms; just Windows. What are the steps to do this? I
would like for Eclipse to figure out the dependencies and bundle
together whatever classes it needs. No fancy icon, just something my
colleague can double-click to launch. Thanks for any help with this.

This is a FAQ, the answers I've seen include:

1. Create an executable Jar. These can be run by double clicking and
icon on a Windows PC which has a JRE installed. It won't work without a
JRE. AFAIK this is the only deployment option supported by plain old
Eclipse. Eclipse can produce the Jar but doesn't package it in an
installer (setup-appname.exe). There are at least a dozen 3rd party
installers that will package up a Jar file for installation. The
commercial/proprietary ones seem the most fully featured. Some
installers still depend on a JRE being already installed on the target.

2. Use Java Webstart. This works well once the JRE is installed. I
suspect the whole installation process, for a brand-new Windows XP PC
without JWS/JRE preloaded, is still rather longer and more complicated
than most people would want.

3. Use an EXE wrapper. E.g. JSmooth. This can also take care of finding
a suitable JRE and downloading it as needed. Installing a JRE is still
an intrusive operation for end-users.

4. Compile to native binary. E.g. Gnu GCJ and Gnu Classpath.
http://javacompiler.mtsystems.ch/ is one packaging of GCJ. Excelsior Jet
is a commercial solution. No JRE required AIUI.

With 3 & 4 you can use a normal Windows installer to install the exe
with desktop icons etc.

As I see it, each of the above have their pros and cons, so no one
solution is right for all circumstances.

Some selection criteria (targeting Windows):
- How big is the installer bundle?
- Does the user have to work through Sun's JRE download procedure?
- Do shortcuts get installed (with icon) in Start menu & Desktop?
- Does the app get listed in Windows Control-Panel Add/Remove Programs?
- Is the running app listed under its own name in Task Manager?


For a one-off, small app, targeting a friend/colleagues PC, I'd use an
executable Jar. YMMV.