I have created a Java software with a graphical interface using SWING. I have packaged it in a runneable JAR file by using he "export" function of ECLIPSE and it runs fine on my computer.
However, the function of reading files of my software does not work on some other computers.
I guess that it must be a security permission problem.
So my question is: how to give the permissions to my Jar file or how the user can give the permissions so that my software is allowed to read file?
I'm looking for something as simple as possible as i'm not going to sell my software.
EDIT: My application is a desktop application (not an applet).
Thanks,
Digitally sign the Jar.
Create an XML based (JNLP) launch file for it.
Launch it from a link using Java Web Start. JWS can install desktop shortcuts & menu items for it, if requested in the launch file and supported on the target OS.
I'm looking for something as simple as possible..
Installing applications in a way that is reliable & simple for the end user, is not easy for the developer.
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.
I'm afraid that many users still don't know what Java Web Start, so they may get confused by the small, single .jnlp file. So is it possible to wrap it as a very normal application, i.e. Windows .exe(or OSX .app) with pretty icon?
"The shortcut element can be used to indicate an application's preferences for desktop integration." The desktop element in particular allows platform-specific integration in a way that users expect.
I wrote a script to fix-up the file association for executable .jar files. You could just modify my script and that would give your users a way to register the .jnlp extension if it wasn't yet registered on their system.
NOTE: In the case where you have a user who hasn't installed Java on their system, they wouldn't have this file association, and you could use this script to associate a "bundled jre" with .jnlp extensions without the user needing to install Java.
Basically JAVA runs on a virtual machine, but cross-compilers can be used to re-compile your java code , creating an .exe or .app file
if javafx is an option, linked article describes nice ways how to deploy the same application both as .exe and .jnlp
http://docs.oracle.com/javafx/2/deployment/self-contained-packaging.htm#A1324980
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 know how to make a java program that can be used to open stuff up. Ex: notepad++, win zip.... Do I have convert the jar to .exe first? Also, does the file chosen get passed in to String[] args?
By the way, I know that it works with cmd but thats not what I'm asking.
Depends on the OS. Under windows, you need to attach some details into the registry.
Have a look at the 3rd answer in Utilising a file association in a Java application for an example?
You could also have a look at http://www.rgagnon.com/javadetails/java-0592.html
UPDATE
Also, when the OS executes the program, you should receive the file as a command line parameter through the main method
I don't know if this will work suit your needs or not, but you could also take a look at File association in Mac
There's many choices on how to make a Java program runnable. Like you mention, the simplest choice is to use the command line. If you want to make it work with most OS's GUI interfaces (and the Open With dialog) the easiest choice is to make an executable jar. IDEs can make this very easy for you, in Eclipse just right-click on the project and select Export > Java > Runnable JAR file.
Another excellent option is to turn your application into a Java Web Start application, which lets users easily run Java programs being served up online.
Alternatively, like you mention, you could convert it into an .exe file:
Compiling a java program into an executable
How do I create an .exe for a Java program?
How can I convert my Java program to an .exe file?
Deploy the app. using Java Web Start.
JWS provides many appealing features including, but not limited to, splash screens, desktop integration, file associations, automatic update (including lazy downloads and programmatic control of updates), partitioning of natives & other resource downloads by platform, architecture or Java version, configuration of run-time environment (minimum J2SE version, run-time options, RAM etc.), easy management of common resources using extensions..
Here is a demo. of the file services in which the app. is associated with the file type .zzz.
..does it get passed via the windows file chooser?
No. It gets passed to the main as either -open filename or -print filename. What the app. does with those strings is up to it. The demo. linked above will prompt the user in the sand-boxed version, simply because it is sand-boxed. The other one should work without showing prompt or dialog.
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.