JSmooth 0.9.9-7 User Manual

The minimum data you need to start the creation of the binary executable for your application is to specify a classpath and the fully-qualified name of your main class. You can configure both in the Application panel (add new jars or directories using the icon with a yellow + sign, and type the class name in the Main Class field.

Once done, go to the Windows Executable panel, and type the name of the executable in the Executable Name field. Do not forget to add the .exe suffix, for your executable name. Something like my-app.exe should be fine.

Of course, you can specify many more options for the java wrapper, but this is enough for a basic java application. Now, click on the save button (or in the File+Save menu) and select a filename for the project. This is an important step, because all the path stored in the file, and displayed in the GUI are relative to this project file. Selecting a location under the root directory of your project is a good (and safe) choice.

Once your project is saved, it is just a matter of clicking on the Project+Create Exe. And that's it. You can use the Project+Run Exe to run the program, or use the windows explorer to run the executable.

	Warning
	You can modify the location of the every file in the project, but you must always keep this simple rule in mind: All the files saved and displayed in the Graphical User Interface are relative to the project file.

If your application requires a minimum or a maximum version of Java to run, the Version of Target VM subpanel will probably be of high interest for you.

Just leave the field empty if you do not wish to any constraint on the JVM version required for your application.

To specify a version, either as a minimum or a maximum, you must specify the major, minor, and sub-minor version number you want to set the constraint on. You don't need to specify all of those three numbers, but remember that if you leave it empty, it is considered as 0.

The values are inclusive. For instance, if you specify 1.4 as a maximum means that the java wrapper accepts 1.4.0 JVM, but not 1.4.1.

If your application runs exclusively with JVM 1.2 and 1.3, but not 1.1 nor 1.4 or above, just specify 1.2 for the minimum version, and 1.3.99 as a maximum version.

Even if the wrappers of JSmooth provide a reasonnable user experience for the users who do not have Java installed, you may wish to bundle a JRE with your application. In such a case, tick the Use JVM Bundle checkbox, and specify the directory location of the JRE.

	Warning
	What the "JVM Bundle" option really specifies, is a path (relative to the generated EXE) where a JRE can be found. This is NOT an option to bundle a JRE in the EXE, as many people think.

For the option to work correctly, you have to put a JRE in a directory near the EXE (generally in a subdirectory called "jre" or whatever). Once the exe is generated, it will FIRST try to locate the JRE at the location mentionned. If it can't be found there, then it will fallback in the normal jre look-up mode (search for a jre or a jdk in the Windows registry or in commonly-used environment variables). There is no JVM-version check when using a bundled JRE, as the packager is supposed to bundle a suitable JVM for the application.

Consequently, if you use the "Bundle JVM" option, you'll need to install yourself the JRE at the same relative path to the EXE.

For instance, take the following example:

+myprog/
|- myjar.jar
|- lib/
+ mylib1.jar
+ mylib2.jar
|- jre/
+ [full jre stuff here]
|- myexe.exe
        

In this case, the generated myexe.exe tries to use the jre in the "jre" sub-dir as its first-choice JRE. To deploy it, either simply zip all the "myprog" directory, or tell your favorite installer to set-up the jre directory in the same configuration as in your original folder tree.

The wrappers are able to detect most, if not all, the JVM available on the end-user computer. Before launching the java application, they try to find a JVM using a preference order. The default is to use the Windows registry to look-up the JRE that have been installed, then use some environment variable, and finally try to use Microsoft's JView.

This search sequence is fine for most configuration, however you can still modify it to best suit your needs. Use the and button to modify the priorities..

The Options panel provides editable fields to configure the memory configuration of the JVM. Specify the numeric value in the text field, and the unit in the combo box.

Java properties are name/value pairs that are passed to the JVM, and are accessible by java applications using the System.getProperty() method.

To add a new Java Property, click on the . A dialog box pops up.

Using the shellExecute(), you can start the default application associated by windows to a document and perform any of the action among SHELLEXECUTE_OPEN (opens the file for visualization), SHELLEXECUTE_EDIT (opens the file for editing), SHELLEXECUTE_PRINT (print the document), SHELLEXECUTE_FIND (launch the windows Find utility on a specific folder), SHELLEXECUTE_EXPLORE (launch the windows file Explorer tool on a specific folder).

 if (jsmooth.Native.isAvailable())
   {
    jsmooth.Native.shellExecute(jsmooth.Native.SHELLEXECUTE_OPEN, 
                                "c:\\myfile.pdf", 	null, null, 
                                jsmooth.Native.SW_SHOWNORMAL);
   }

There are some java libraries available around to launch the default browser on an URL, but using the shellExecute() is probably the best solution for the windows platform on this traditional problem.

 URL target = "http://jsmooth.sourceforge.net/"; 
 if (jsmooth.Native.isAvailable())
   {
     jsmooth.Native.shellExecute(jsmooth.Native.SHELLEXECUTE_OPEN, 
                                 target.toString(),  
                                 null, null, 
                                 jsmooth.Native.SW_NORMAL);
   }
  else
   {
     // Use a traditionnal java-based guessing method 
     // to find and launch the default browser
   }

It may be useful to reboot or log off the computer/session programmatically at a given time. You can use the jsmooth exitWindows() method to shutdown or reboot the computer, but also disconnect the session of the user.

 // Log off the user session
 if (jsmooth.Native.isAvailable())
   {
     jsmooth.Native.exitWindows(jsmooth.Native.EXITWINDOWS_LOGOFF);
   }

There is no way to distinguish between a removeable media, a cdrom drive, or a fixed disk using the standard java API. It is however a good usability point to use different icons to display fixed, removeable medias, remote drives, or cdrom. It may also be useful to know if there are enough free space on disk before saving a file, or to be aware that the filesystem used for a media is FAT16, in order to alert the user of a possible loss of precision in the filenames.

The jsmooth.DriveInfo object provides all this information for free, provided your application is launched with a jni-enabled jsmooth wrapper.

  File f = new File("d:/my/file/somewhere");
  jsmooth.DriveInfo di = jsmooth.Native.getDriveInfo(f);

  if (di.getDriveType() == jsmooth.DriveInfo.DRIVE_REMOVABLE)
  {
     // This file is on a removeable drive !
  }

  if (di.getFreeSpaceForUser() < (1024*1024*64))
  {
    // there are less than 64MB free for the
    // user on this drive !
  }