How to deploy Java Applications To People W/O Having To Use The Command Line?

[res7cxbi]

How do you deploy Java Applications to other people? I don't think
average people is gonna open up the command line and type in "java"
everytime they want to run it.

 

[Ian Mills]

How do you deploy Java Applications to other people? I don't think
average people is gonna open up the command line and type in "java"
everytime they want to run it.

The simplest way is to provide a batch file or a shell script to run the
application.

 

[ossie.moore]

Web Start is an excellent method of deployment. It provides a way to
auto update, inclusion of a start menu icon (and equivalent on
OSX/Linux) and even provides an "Add/Remove Program" entry on windows.

 

[ossie.moore]

Here is an example... This launches a full blow Java application via
WebStart. The program is regenerated once every two minutes. It is
simply a JFrame containing a JButton who's label is the current date
and time the application was generated. The link below shows the source
of the program and a script used to generate it once every two minutes.
(This example will be left up for a week or so, I'll stop the script
from running that regenerates it at that point, but leave the content
up)

http://www.linux4real.com/java/20060211/webstart/

For a pretty good tutorial, on how to use webstart.. go to the link
below. It also talks a bit about signing a jar to enable full
permissions. The above I gave above doesn't allow the application
delivered to have full access, it is meant to demonstrate webstart in
general. Signing jars is not a complicated process and will allow a
program to be deployed and auto-installed via the web *and* have as
much access as required (if the user permits it).

http://www.cokeandcode.com/info/webstart-howto.html

 

[ossie.moore]

btw.. The point of regenerating once every two minutes is to
demonstrate the auto-update aspect. Once you click on the link once,
and launch the do nothing app, click again quickly, you'll note it
loads from local disk. Wait a couple minutes, click on the link again,
it will be reloaded from the webstie as it as been updated. But it
won't download unelss the webserver version has updates.

 

[Roedy Green]

I'll stop the script
from running that regenerates it at that point, but leave the content
up)

I gather the process blows up during the jar build. You might want to
build the jar then in a fast move delete and rename. That can always
fail if the jar is being served.

I hope to find tools that deal with this problem with FTP, by
uploading, then swapping in the newly uploaded files to replace the
old ones only once the whole batch is up, and only when the old files
are not busy.

 

[Roedy Green]

But it
won't download unelss the webserver version has updates.

does the jnlp file have to change to trigger the update or just the
jar?

 

[ossie.moore]

just the jar. Infact, you'll note that my example only updates the jar,
not the jnlp file (see recompile.sh content in the index.html page)

 

[ossie.moore]

I'm doing exactly what you state. I mentiont that i'll stop it runnign
simply because i don't want to leave a script compiling a source file
once every two minutes forever.