I currently have a small text game I've written in Java that utilizes System.out.print(); to output text and a Scanner to receive input from the user.
I've compiled the runnable .jar and used IExpress to create a .exe that runs the batch command java -jar "foo.jar" upon execution. It's not the best way to distribute the game, but it's a quick way to distribute it to friends for play testing in Windows.
I'm wondering if there is an equivalent for this for OSX? I know I can write a shell script to open the terminal and execute the .jar file, but will it work if the shell script and .jar are distributed to other computers? Does each person have to give the .sh file "execute" permission? Some of these people aren't really tech savvy and even mentioning opening terminal would turn them off to helping me play test.
So is there a way to give them something to double-click on that will open terminal and run my .jar?
Thanks in advance!
Here are two possible options (the first of which will probably not open the terminal, but I'm leaving here in case you find a way to do so with the below mentioned JarBundler)
1 - Building a native java application bundle and installer
The answer is somewhat two-fold. OSX applications have a specific directory structure which the operating system expects to be in place, they are called application bundles (google for "osx application bundle programmers guide" for the messy intricate details). Jar Bundler is an Ant task which can build a bundle for you without you needing to understand the bundle format itself.
That alone is enough to allow you to drag the application onto the OSX dock. However, what is more common is an installer. To build an installer, you need to build a DMG file. Some good documentation on how to create this with ant can be found here.
The gist of it is to create a disk image, attach to it, copy your application into it, detach from it, and compress it. A typical OSX installer is a window with a copy of your application and a symbolic link to the /Applications directory. When the installer window opens up, it displays both of these items and you normally drag the application to the /Applications icon, "installing it" (in reality, just copying it to /Applications).
The following the relevant Ant build files from my project for building an application bundle as well as building a DMG file (both are google-code links). They do not require any of the GUI tools.
Both of those files are pretty heavily commented.
However, I have a feeling this will not open the terminal window as you desire (you may be able to work with the stubfile option in JarBunder to get it to do what you want).
2 - Create an application bundle from your shell script
This link shows you how to create an application bundle out of a shell script.
You can then create a DMG file out of your application bundle to simplify installation for your users. The DMG file will preserve the execution file attributes so they will not need to manually chmod +x your script.
Related
We currently ship a java(jar) installer of our application. Taking into acount the changes to jdk11 we want our users to have the same easy install experience. So, what we are looking for, is to have just one file that can be run even if there is no java installed, it should just start our old java installer.
Probably, this means that we jave to bundle the jre and have a script that runs the jar, but the problem is how to run the batch file natively ? We need this to work on Windows and Mac. Most tools we are looking into require java to run the wrapped jar.
You have to build 2 different scripts/installers, one for each platform. Even looking at very popular software like Chrome, the platform choice is still there (even though you're usually directed to the correct choice based on the information your browser provides them with)
Depending on how much time you can put in this task, the quickest (and dirtiest) solution would be having an archive for each platform that contains the script .bat for Windows and .sh for OS X together with the jre (also different per platform), ask the user to unarchive and run the script which will run your jar with the packed jre. Otherwise, you'll need to create an MSI/exe for windows and a dmg (or other installer type) for MacOs.
I have done the dmg before with a bundled jre and can try to look for the details if you need them (I no longer have access to the code but can probably find the details). It was a free solution but it did require an OS X computer to create the dmg.
One option that I used before and works very well is install4j but the price is not small.
LE: Self contained packaging - although I haven't used this before, it seems like the best current option for your problem.
And an open source option - packr.
that Self Contained packaging doesn't really help, same for packr, same for launch4j. Because all those just generate a application image with a lot of files and directories.
Problem is before that, as an installer you want 1 big exe (or dmg for mac) that does it all, single click
We are already at the stage like SCP or Packr. Because that is easy or current installer.exe and jre\ sub dir and a batch/sh file besides it. Problem is how to get from that directory structure to a single exe that runs.
So what we should have is something that can zip that in a self extracting archive, when clicking on that it should auto extract to the temp dir of the OS, then run directly a command on it (like a batch file or directly in that extracted dir: .\jre\bin\javaw.exe -jar installler.jar)
But nobody seems to have made such a thing, the closest that we have is eclipse with Oomph:
[1] https://git.eclipse.org/c/oomph/org.eclipse.oomph.git/tree/plugins/org.eclipse.oomph.extractor/src/extractor.c
[2] https://git.eclipse.org/c/oomph/org.eclipse.oomph.git/tree/plugins/org.eclipse.oomph.extractor.lib/src/org/eclipse/oomph/extractor/lib/BINExtractor.java
problem is a bit that is doing the extracting through java and still wants a vm first.
I'm new at Java for Mac developement and I spent a lot of time finding a way how to create an installer. It's strange but it's not too much information about it. All the ways lead to using of JavaAppLauncher. (I use appbundler-1.0.jar and Ant to build .app) But I faced a following problem.
JavaAppLauncher sets working directory to user folder. My application consists of several jar files, resources and configuration files. All of them located in Contents/Java inside the .app structure. I use relative paths to them, relative to the executable jar with Main class.
I googled 2 discussions only, where someone asked how to set the working directory inside the .app bundle. Threre is a way to sed -Duser.dir JVM option in plist file of .app bundle. I tried this and it behaves strange. When I use "new File(".").getAbsolutePath()" - it shows the directory I pointed in -Duser.dir parameter, but when I try to create file on disk or read file from disk - it still goes to the user folder as it was by default.
May be someone knows what is wrong there?
Or is there any better way to create a java application bundle for Mac?
Thank you, guys.
Use JarSplice to create OS X app bundle. Compile all your jars and resources into one jar file and export as mac .app file.
Deploying Java Applications can be a pain if your application has multiple jars and native libraries. There are the options of using Java Web Start or Java Applets however these are not always suitable.
Executable Jars are an option, however if your project has multiple jars or native files then it can be tricky to use this option.
JarSplice attempts to solve this issue by allowing you to merge all your jars and native files into one, easy to use executable jar file.
Features:
Creates a single executable fat jar via an easy to use GUI.
Automatically extracts only the native files needed for the OS the jar is running on.
Automatically cleans up any extracted native files after the application quits.
Add VM arguments on jar creation which removes the need to enter them via the command line.
Optionally create a Shell Script (.sh) launcher for Linux with embedded fat jar.
Optionally create an OS X App Bundle (.app) for running your application.
Optionally create a Windows Application (*.exe) for running your application.
This is the best cross-platform installer creator i have found yet. You can get the java executable from here
Background: I created a simple GUI in java and can run that GUI by clicking its executable jar file. I created the GUI in java so that it could be ran on more than one OS.
Question: Is there a way to make some sort of "wrapper icon" for the jar file so that when I click it (the icon) the GUI opens up?
To be clear I am not talking about changing the .jar file icon, that is determined by the OS. I successfully converted the jar file to a .exe, .app and .sh file with the intent of running a cmd file that would determine the OS and run the appropriate file. But then I started feeling like I was backtracking. I know I am being picky but I just thought I would be useful for my Java programs to have different icons. Any ideas?
I created a simple GUI .. Is there a way to make some sort of "wrapper icon" for the.. (GUI)
Sure. Launch the app. using Java Web Start. It can install desktop icons and menu shortcuts with icons on supported platforms. For further branding, add a splash.
Windows: Launch4J creates an EXE from you JAR and lets you choose its icon. If you want to keep whatever tool you are currently using for building the EXE and then go and change the icon of that EXE, try Resource Hacker:
http://download.cnet.com/Resource-Hacker/3000-2352_4-10178587.html
Mac:
For changing the Mac app bundle icon, add the following in your info.plist
<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>maciconfile</string>
having put a maciconfile.icns file in your Resources directory.
Xcode Developer Tools which you can get for free if you own a Mac have the tools you need. If you do not have a Mac, there are tools on other platfroms that allow you to build bundles for Mac (such as the OS X Application Bundle Plugin for Maven).
I've created a game project in NetBeans 6.9, and I want to run the project on another computer. The problem is if NetBeans is not installed on the other computer then surely I cannot run the project.
Therefore I have to convert my project into a .exe that can be run on other computers without having to install NetBeans.
Is there a free application that can convert .java to .exe?
Please help me to convert my project into a .exe file. Thanks.
Check out these official netbeans article for Packaging and Deploying Desktop Java Applications and Developing General Java Applications.
From the article
Running the Application Inside of the IDE
When developing applications in the IDE, typically you will need to test and refine them before distributing them. You can easily test an application that you are working on by running the application from the IDE.
To run the AnotherGrep project in the IDE, right-clicking the project's node (AnotherGrep) in the Projects window and choose Run Project.
The xGrep window should open. You can click the Browse button to choose a file in which to search for a text pattern. In the Search Pattern field, type text or a regular expression pattern that you would like to match, and click Search. The results of each match will appear in the xGrep window's Output area.
Information on regular expressions that you can use in this application are available here and in many other places on the World Wide Web.
Running the Application Outside of the IDE
Once you have finished developing the application and before you distribute it, you will probably want to make sure that the application also works outside of the IDE.
You can run the application outside of the IDE by following these steps:
In your system's file manager (for example, in the My Computer window on Windows XP systems), navigate to PROJECT_HOME/dist and double-click the AnotherGrep.jar file.
You will know that the application has started successfully when the xGrep window opens.
If the xGrep window does not open, your system probably does not have a file association between JAR files and the Java Runtime Environment. See Troubleshooting JAR File Associations.
Distributing the Application to Other Users
Now that you have verified that the application works outside of the IDE, you are ready to distribute it.
You can distribute the application by following these steps:
1: Create a zip file that contains the application JAR file (AnotherGrep.jar) and the accompanying lib folder that contains swing-layout-1.0.jar.
2: Send the file to the people who will use the application. Instruct them to unpack the zip file, making sure that the AnotherGrep.jar file and the lib folder are in the same folder.
The users of your application should be able to run it by double-clicking the JAR file. If this does not work for them, show them the information in the Troubleshooting JAR File Associations section.
Also some third party tools like Launch4j may do the trick. For more information see this article on java-to-exe
See Launch4j. I dislike starting java apps with a batch file. This wraps anything from the root jar all the way up to a complete Java environment in an exe. You get your own icon in the system tray rather than the generic coffee cup. I've used it successfully on a project that has about 300,000 downloads, and it's never been the source of a reported bug. NB It does take some careful reading to pick the right options for your project. But you can set it up with the Ant build script in Netbeans to make the .exe automatically. Very nice and clean. My project includes native libraries. They work fine as well.
I think the NSIS will help you . Most of the applications using NSIS. Because it is open source.
Also there is a Eclipse plugin for NSIS to make the process easy.
http://hmne.sourceforge.net/
Is it possible to create a stand alone application in Java (using Swing) and package it into an exe file?
My Idea is, we should be able to double click it and run the application.
If you export a runnable .jar file you will be able to double click and run, but you'll still need the JVM in order to interpret the bytecode.
The best way to deploy a Swing based app. to a client's desktop is using Java Web Start.
JWS offers desktop integration - making a desktop shortcut and menu item, each using an icon if specified. The end use can double-click the desktop shortcut cut to launch the app. ( or single-click the menu item to do the same ;).
Best of all, JWS works for all platforms for which the J2SE is supplied. Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, Solaris, Mac. OS..
For ensuring the user has the correct minimum JRE needed to run the app., use deployJava.js to write the link to the JNLP launch file.
If you export your project in a .jar file, you will be able to run it when you click on it.
I suppose that you know that you must have the virtual machine installed in the computer that runs the program.(The virtual machine is the thing that allows java to be operative system independent)
And also you must know that if you transform that .jar to an .exe file using some kind of gadget... Then java will not be java anymore, because will not be able to run it in non-windows operative systems.
Remember java slogan
'Write once run everywhere"
See this image here i will explain you how to create a .jar using the eclipse IDE:
1-Select your project in the package explorer
2-Select File>Export from the menu
3-Pick Runnable JAR file from the dialog and
4-Click next and follow the rest of the wizard
You can package your application to JAR file. Application in jar file runs on duoble click.
Here is tutorial. http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/jar/
You can already do this with a normal .jar file if the user has configured the extension to be executed with the JRE. But you can always use something like Launch4J. Please Note this simply wraps the Jar in a EXE file. The file still needs your Dependencies (.jars) and the JRE enviroment.