🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <36E4A513.F1BDA7F1@emu.com>, Scott Ruda <scottr@emu.com> wrote:
>Tor Iver Wilhelmsen wrote:
>> 
>> aabdulla@student.ecu.edu.au (Ali Janah) writes:
>> 
>> > On the PC, you just go to the DOS prompt and type java (programname.java)
>> > and the apps will execute. Please help me !!
>> 
>
>
>> Drop the class on JBindery.
>
>This presumes that you are a developer, and have access to the MRJ-SDK
>to get JBindery. JBindery does not come in the user MRJ distribution.

>There is no current Apple provided solution for end users to launch
>'bare' java applications. I have asked them, and they say that it is
>the responsibility of the developer to JBind the app into a Mac
>double-clickable form for the end user.

>But that leaves out a user who gets a .zip, .class or .jar file
>written by the other 80% of the developers of the world that don't
>have any real incentive (or possibly the equipment) to make a Mac
>double-clickable version. Many of the apps will work fine on the Mac,
>if only the user could launch them at all!

Yes and no.  A simplified tool as you suggest would be a good idea,
and I do hope they put one together, but since normal mortals can
download the SDK, and thus get JBindery, you do not have to be a
developer to get JBindery.

This may appear to be quibbling, but I remember the Bad Old Days
when you had to take some serious effort to get anything Apple
considered a developer tool.  Since any user can get it with minimal
grief, the issue become whether JBindery is too complicated for an
end user.  I think we agree that it likely is, just because it has
options that may not be needed.

>Users that have command line interfaces can use a simple README text
>file + the CLI to launch the app. For them, the CLI is the 'default
>launcher' for Java apps. This is no surprise, since Java comes from
>Sun, and all their OSs have CLIs. Some developers supply BAT files,
>Shortcuts or sh scripts to even make it easier. So, those other
>platforms have _many_ ways they can launch the java apps.

I submit that most users would not be able to use a simple readme
and a CLI, at least judging from the people I work with, the end users
I support, and the end users my wife supports at the city she works
for.  I believe that the kind of user who can do this is exceptional,
and would likely be able to use JBindery.

JBindery certainly is a bit on the complex side, but I can see
Apple's point.  Of the people in my office here, every one of the PC
developers could handle a batch file, and could handle JBindery if
they felt the need.  The staff cannot handle modifications to batch
files at all, and I would not expect them to be able to do JBindery
either.

Similarly, every MIS person I know would have about equal problems
with JBindery and any changes to the batch file a developer created.
If the system is straightforward, or they have experience, no problem.
If not, things get dicey.  The people they support would have hissing
fits with even the most simple batch file or trying to figure out
JBindery, at least judging from the amount of anguish batch file
modifications produce when they arise.

Again, this may not be representitive of the whole computer using
population, but it seems to be true from my own personal experience.

>This is essentially what JBindery is, but it is designed for a
>developer, with alot of terminology and options that only a developer
>needs. A simplified version of it would do fine for users.

I do think we could see this being helped a great deal by Java2.  Sun
has added a tag to the jar manifest file which names the main class. 
If we assume that the jar file contains every needed class, then Apple
could fairly easily make drag and drop JBindery that just
auto-launched the main class.  I would like to see this, and I would
like to see CW add the main class tag as soon as possible.

Scott

Scott Ellsworth          scott@eviews.com
"When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment 
results" - Calvin Coolidge, (Stanley Walker, City Editor, p. 131 (1934))
"The barbarian is thwarted at the moat." - Scott Adams