I've been doing some research into how to make Apple flat packages from a Java webapp. There doesn't seem to be much out on the subject. I found a website that details the contents of a flat package but it seems like a bit of a project to start from scratch. Anyone have any experience building PKGs? Does anyone know of any libraries to aid in the process?
EDIT:
It seems I may not have been clear in my request. My goal is to have users go to a website that requires them to enter some information. After they've entered their information my code would create a PKG for them that contains some information about them. For example, maybe the postinsall script would run the command "say 'Hello USERNAME_THEY_ENTERED'". Silly example but it's the general idea. The user would then be able to run the PKG and the install that takes place would be customized with their information.
Why would you want a web application in a pkg file? What servlet container accepts pkg files?
Web applications are meant to be packaged as WAR or EAR files (since we are talking about Java) and to be deployed on a servlet container like tomcat, jetty, websphere, glassfish, jboss, ... running on a server. The client computer then uses a browser to access to web application on the server.
PKG files can be compared to MSI files. These are meant to facilitate the installation of software (or libraries) on a client. For that the website you linked seems to have valid information.
I am not sure why you want to do that for a webapp but we have done it for a standalone Java App (which actually was a collection of webapps including the server).
If this works for you, try to prepare your application.app folder using jarBundler. It provides an Ant task that will make things much easier.
If this does not work for you (as unfortunately was the case for us), then you have to prepare the application.app folder by hand and script adding the java resources. Start from an existing app, generated with Jar Bundler for instance, and adjust accordingly.
Then you need to install XCode and get PackageMaker. This app has a GUI but you really need to read the doc. The biggest issue we have met is that you cannot script the package build process.
I need to add that, unless you need to run some post-install scripts, building a DMG is probably much easier.
Related
I have an application that has an applet that does two simple things:
Download an executable jar file from our server (if the user doesn't already have it) to an specific folder in the user's PC
Execute the jar file with the corresponding parameters
This jar file monitors an Office file for changes and send it back to our server.
The problem is the war Chrome is creating with Java with this NPAPI thing. So I have until September to think of an alternate technology or stop the Chrome support.
Do you think of some other way to achieve the same result? Just download and execute. Doesn't seem that hard =(. Can HTML 5 do that?
EDIT
I was looking into Java Web Start and became a little happy. It appears that it can do what I want: executing a up to date jar file passing parameters. But I never worked with JWS, so I have some doubts:
Is it possible to pass parameters to it? I read about some JSP files that you can configure to do that, but I'm still unsure.
Theoretically, it should start automatically from a browser link, am I right? I tried this site:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/deployment/webstart/running.html
and it didn't work that way. I had to mark "always open files of that type" on Google Chrome. Is there a way for automatize it?
Thanks again!!
From what I know there are at least two things that allow you to stick with Java.
Webstart
Install4
Webstart is provided by Oracle and allows you to download Java program from the web and execute them. Update mechanisms exist, so you can always provide a current version.
Install4J (or any other installer for Java applications that offers an update mechanism) provides an installer which enables your customer to install an application which afterwards will be kept up to date by the integrated update mechanism. But Install4J comes at a price, there might be freeware / open source alternatives. Install4J and its alternatives are often discussed here on SO, you might want to check here.
I think the FileAPI of HTML5 is limited and can not access arbitrary files because a sandbox prevents this. You might check SO again for details about that.
My company produces Java Applications for Servers and delivers JNLP files to start local Applications. Since OSX 10.8.4 it is required to sign JNLP files with a Developer ID to keep Gatekeeper happy (it's actually in the release notes at the very bottom).
The question is: how to accomplish this? AFAIK you can sign Apps (we have some Java Apps signed with Developer IDs) - but JNLP - Files are just that: files.
Next: how to do this with generated JNLP files. We have to modify them as they come from a server - e.g. properties, base URL and so forth.
AFAIK Java has a certain mechanism to say JNLP files are signed via their respective JAR file (the one that holds the main class) - but: Jar files are signed with a different certificate they will not satisfy Gatekeeper as well.
I did find one reference on how to sign tools and stuff, but it does not apply the scenario of dynamic files.
What I do not want as answers: Right-Click and Open to override the Gatekeeper or change the System- or Java settings. This is not an option.
[UPDATE]
Since OSX 10.9.5 you also have to sign using OSX 10.9+ and have valid version 2 signatures. How will this be done?
I think I found a solution. The only one I can currently think up. We basically need to wrap the JNLP with a custom app launcher, sign the app, make sure we can modify the JNLP on the fly on a server and then have it run.
As you may be aware, there is an app bundler project which can wrap up any JAR files into an OSX executable. This can be signed, delivered and will not fail Gatekeeper. I made a custom fork (which is up for a pull int o the main fork) that can take an JNLP file, wrap it up and you have a custom application doing just all the stuff a JNLP should do.
A Requirement is, however, that you do have a valid "Developer ID Application" certificate
Head over to bitbucket.org and download the current version
Run the ant task and build the appbundler package.
Have a look at the documentation for an example build script that will create the app container.
The example does not include the JNLP into the application right now.
The applications signature is created in a way so that the JNLP file can be modified later.
The application is being put into a zip file. This is important for downloading an application since they are only directories
Create your server code. Load the ZIP file, put the JNLP File into the directory <yourapp>.app/Contents/Java/
Deliver the zip file.
Now, if everything went fine, the zip file should automatically be unpacked in the Download folder and you should see your application icon. If you really made no mistake, you can execute the application as if it was a normal one.
I hope this will help a lot of developers fixing the broken JNLP behavior with OSX.
[UPDATE for modifiable JNLPs]
Since OSX 10.9.5 it is required to have valid version 2 signatures on your app. This means that it the trick that was previously used by the app bundler (set a resource list file) does not work anymore. Everything and anything has to be signed now and it is virtually impossible to change the signed app afterwards.
I did however find a way: Use the app bundler. Set the JNLP to a file inside the Contents/_CodeSignature directory. Do not yet copy your modifiable JNLP in there but do this e.g. using Java later on when patching the zip (you'll need some code here anyway).
Please note: this should really only be needed if you have to put another JNLP file dynamically into the app container (thats is what the questions was about)
UPDATE (08-2017)
Oracle will be releasing Java 9 by the end of September. The appbundler does not handle the java9 vm correctly. They changed a whole lot of the API and the way that javaws works. For I need to say: stick with java8 if you want to use wrapped JNLP apps.
We've been able to determine that you can sign a jnlp file with codesign, using the "Developer ID Application" Certificate, like this:
codesign -f -s "Developer ID Application: " foo.jnlp
The result from this operation seems to pass Gatekeeper on the local machine. However, it seems like the signature gets stored as extended HFS attributes, and as a result, it is not transmitted if a user fetches the file from a HTTP transaction.
It might work if you took the .jnlp file, and packaged it in some kind of container, like a .dmg or maybe a .tar.gz, however, that's both a lot of work, and it provides a fairly challenging user experience.
From an email thread with Apple tech support, it seems the official word is to use the xip tool to work around the reliance on HFS extended attributes with codesign:
Instead of codesign, use xip (pronounced "chip")
to create a signed archive of your JNLP file. Provide your Developer
ID Installer identity as the argument to the --sign option, not your
Developer ID Application identity.
A xip archive is essentially a signed zip archive so it can be served
over the Internet in the same way as a zip archive. It will be
unarchived automatically on the client Mac.
https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man1/xip.1.html
From my experimentation the xip tool always generates an archive with the jnlp contained in a folder when unxip'd.
Just to summarise the discussion; currently there is no existing solution on how to come around this.
This means that end users cannot launch an application via JNLP easily. Basically one needs to tell the user to Right-Click and Open to override the Gatekeeper.
The other solution would be to make an signed Mac application and have users install that via disk image.
Would it work to bundle a simple executable shell script called something like "myapp" in a signed .dmg which looks like this:
javaws http://path/to/my/app.jnlp
that way you can change the .jnlp however you like without changing your .dmg. I don't have an Apple Developer ID, so I can't try it myself right now.
I want to distribute a swing app to my client. In that application two property file are there, which should be visible to client so that they can edit, I can not give it as runnable jar. Also I want something like apache-tomcat zip file which once you extract it will arrange folder structure also will give property file to edit and on next run it reads that property. Also apache-tomcat starts with startup.bat or startup.sh like that I also want.
Use Java Web Start to install and update the application.
User editable properties
Put them in (a properties file in) the Jar
When you go to check for the properties, do so using the PersistenceService. If they do not exist, read them from the text file in the Jar, and put them there. Here is a demo. of the service.
When the user wants to see/edit the properties, show them via a JOptionPane.
Desktop integration
JWS offers desktop shortcuts and menu items to launch apps., when supported by the platform, as well as an API to install and remove them (see the IntegrationService). Much slicker than batch files!
Currently we are using GetDown to handle distribution of our swing applications. We use Tomcat to distribute updates and GetDown to download those updates. It's really flexible and powerful, and much better than java WebStart.
A good tutorial : http://www.hascode.com/2012/05/creating-updatable-java-applications-using-getdown-and-the-getdown-maven-plugin/
Project website : http://code.google.com/p/getdown/
If I understand you correctly you want a tool to make distribution package for your application. That generates folder structure and unpacks application and data files to this structure.
There are many free and commercial setup builders. I think you would prefer multi-platform builder, so look for java setup builder.
Check this thread, this question was discussed there.
i have a java based web application, i have the source code as well as the war file, the application uses mySql and need some web server like tomcat all to be added to some package that can be directly installed on window and linux machines directly..
i need to setup DB, WebServer, and app in one go. Would be great if it can create services for all as well.
is it possible???
i mean the user should just give the location to store and everything should get stored in one go, is it feasible? and if yes please guide me how to do so...
In short: Yes, it is.
Projects like XAMPP are already following that approach. All relevant software components are inside a single ZIP file which you can extract to an arbitrary location on the user's harddisk. All configuration then uses relative paths when referencing files.
So essentially, you will have to put in a little effort in advance to make the "installation" as easy as possible. Maybe you can simply build upon a project like XAMPP and use the infrastructure already provided?
so now i think i have learned all basics and terminology for java. but what i don´t know is how to code and display a web page with Netbeans in Java.
the most tutorials contains lots of talks about different technologies "Java uses Java Beans, JSP and servlets" and so on. Where can i find short practical tutorials that actually teach me where to code what and then compile and where to put all the files (war, jar, ear..) in Glassfish to be able to see the output from a Web browser. Simples things that makes one understand all these different "layers" which are just classes using classes. Feels like i never get to know how i can put up a web server with Java cause I can´t find this kind of tutorials.
Would be great if someone could send some links to such practical stuff.
Thanks.
This is the first such document I found: http://www.java-tips.org/java-tutorials/tutorials/introduction-to-java-servlets-with-netbeans.html
More:
http://netbeans.org/kb/docs/web/quickstart-webapps.html
http://blogs.oracle.com/jonasdias/entry/webservices_with_jsp_on_netbeans
http://www.fuzzylizard.com/archives/2005/09/18/628/
http://cit.wta.swin.edu.au/cit/subjects/CITP0014/tutorials/netbeans/tomcat/Running_Tomcat_from_Netbeans.html
http://supportweb.cs.bham.ac.uk/documentation/java/servlets/netbeans-webapps/
I even found a small ebook on this (PDF!) http://www.comp.dit.ie/bduggan/Courses/projects/Getting%20Started%20with%20Tomcat%20&%20NetBeans.pdf
How do I code and display a web page with NetBeans in Java?
Let's go! Fire up NetBeans. I'm using NetBeans 6.7.1 with the Java EE stuff installed, and I've got a GlassFish installed and tied up, so I don't have to care about that stuff. Your setup might differ in the details.
Do a File->New Project, and pick "Java Web" from the categories. Select "Web Application" and hit Next. Enter a project name and tweak the location, if liked. Hit Next. The next page should have a server selection drop-down; as hinted above, mine has "GlassFIsh v2.1" selected. That's fine - as long as NetBeans can interact with a Java application server of some sort, this crash course will run okay.
Make a note of the "context path" - this will be based on the project name, and basically forms the base of the URL at which your application will reside. Hit Next. Ignore the next page, for now, which talks about various frameworks, and hit Finish.
Churn, churn. You should eventually see your web project created. It's a very simple application which contains a single JSP file, and that will be open in the main editor. It's got a bunch of HTML in it, and some JSP syntax.
Take a look at the project structure. You've got a "web pages" folder which contains a WEB-INF directory, and an index.jsp file. That's the same file you're looking at. WEB-INF is a standard directory which contains the metadata used to deploy your application, and also the compiled classes that power it.
The only thing you should need to do now, in order to get to the original objective, is to hit the big ol' Run button, or right-click on the project and select "Run" from the menu. NetBeans will compile, and then fire up your application server and deploy the application to it. Finally, your web browser should pop open a new tab with the classic "Hello, world" page in it.
At this point, what do you actually have? You've got an empty web project with a single JSP file in it. You could customise it, but that's maybe not very exciting. What you're really looking at is a basic framework in which you can apply your learning of JSP and of servlets as you get to grips with them.
How to proceed with said knowledge transfer? I recommend a decent book or two. The one I used to get going was "Beginning JSP, JSF and Tomcat Web Development: From Novice to Professional" (Zambon, Guilio; Apress; ISBN 1-59059-904-7), which has a decent beginner's guide to how JSP and servlets work together, and a handy reference guide for the former.
As soon as possible, you're going to want to migrate away from raw servlets and JSP to tying them together in a slightly more flexible way using one of the frameworks I skipped over earlier. I'm not going to tell you which one to learn; there are several pretty decent ones. Try Spring MVC, or Struts. Once again, I'd suggest getting a decent book.
I would start by taking a look at servlets and JSP. I found this book helpful when I read it: Head First Servlets and JSP
Netbeans comes with many sample projects, create a few and browse the source code.
A already working sample is always a good starting-point for your coding.
If you're also interested in using Eclipse, which makes it very simple to create and deploy web applications here's a nice tutorial - WTP Tutorials
Hi to start code and setting up web server with java follow the following procedure.
First you need to install Apache-Tomcat or Jetty any web container or servlet container.
And you have set the classpath of servlet-api.jar file.
Next you will have to save your web-page code stuff in web-apps folder of tomcat.In web-apps folder there you have to create a web-inf folder in which web.xml file is stored.And after writing servlet and jsp programs the compiled class files are stored in classes folder of web-inf folder.JSP files are stored along with WEB-INF folder.
You have to keep all the jar files in LIB folder of classes folder.
The web container will take care of initalizing servlet, loading class using inti method.Using service method it will create two objects request and response.
The Java EE stack is quite a mouthful. I suggest you just look at writing a Web Application (WAR), and deploy it to Tomcat.
Unfortunately doing a full WAR-file deployment is rather tedious so you generally want some help from your IDE or the web container.
The easiest place to start is probably installing and starting Tomcat and then fiddle with the files in the file system. There is an example application.