Java Web Start Questions

My company has been developing a desktop application for a long time and have been installing it with Installshield on Windows machines.

But because we are going to add JavaFX to the application 开发者_如何学运维we cannot deploy it the way we used to so I am looking into Java Web Start as a way to move forward. But I am totally lost on it and want to ask some questions.

1) There does not seem to be any recent document discussing it, all the docs on the Oracle site seem to be older then 2005 some as old as 2001. Is Java Web Start still viable?

2) My application needs access to the file system, dll's and what not. It discusses needing to sign my code, but I see no real documents on how to do this and even then how do I do this for the specific need of Java Web Start so that I immediately have access to the file system.

3) I need to put on the file system files other then my jar file, such as image files and other jar and dll files. Can I do that in Java Web Start?

4) Can our application have more then one entry point? Basically we offer a suite of applications that each have menu entries from the start menu (all the entry points are in the main jar file). Can this be done?

5) Can my application be available to all users of the computer using a shared set of config files?

6) On Windows I HAVE no choice but to use ONLY 32 bit Java and JavaFX because of the DLL's we package with the system so even on 64 bit machines I need to have 32 bit Java loaded and make sure only the 32 bit Java launches my program. Can this be done with Java Web Start?

Sorry for my ignorance.

Bodger

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1) Yes, definitely still available. I use it nearly every day on our apps!

2) Yes, code needs to be signed. Can't tell you how to do it off-hand though, I use Netbeans and it's got a simple "push this button and all the signing magic happens automatically" setup.

3-4) Good questions. I think so, but am not sure. I've only had to manually tweak a couple of Java Web Start files on very rare occasions. Can't remember what can be done and what can't.

5) Not sure exactly what you mean by that. Shared config files on Windows ends up going down this ugly road of dealing with UAC (some other platforms have similar permissions issues as well).

6) I can't think of a way to explicitly enforce 32-bit launches, but 32-bit is the standard, you have to go out of your way to use 64-bit Java... I suppose you could have a user that does go through all the contortions of launching it in 64-bit, but that seems like one of those outliers that you might be able to just say "well, don't fiddle with that stuff". :-)

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1). Cant say, i have stopped developing WebStart for Clients several years ago.

2&3). Yes you use the security setting in your config/start (jnlp) file.

<security>
    <all-permissions/>
<security>

For the security you need the users permission which requires the application (basically all jars) to be signed.

4). Yes. Webstart can create links on the users desktop that use a specific jnlp file. This file includes the entry point.

<application-desc main-class="us.fl.k12....letters.clients.Main"/>

5). Since you can copy your config files to a folder shared by all users i would say yes.

Also AFAIK all resources need to be bundled inside jars.

Edit: Very useful http://lopica.sourceforge.net/faq.html

Edit2: 2). You can self sign your jars if you are using the app in house. There is no need for a fancy certificate. See http://wiki.plexinfo.net/index.php?title=How_to_sign_JAR_files for an easy way to create your own certificate.