I just noticed, that I forgot to provide some solutions (tools) for the (I think) most tricky problem of JAVA world: “how to bundle and run a java program in a user friendly way?”.

Back in the days there was the good old batch script (I have already posted something related to this here), but that’s history…

Nowadays the spotlight is on executable wrappers, which let you bundle your java app into a standalone good old exe. Using these you can avoid those jvm version problems and many others which appeared in the batch start era…

Here are some of the Executable Wrappers I ran into (I also used them with success):

Launch4j

URL: http://launch4j.sourceforge.net

Launch4j is a cross-platform tool for wrapping Java applications distributed as jars in lightweight Windows native executables. The executable can be configured to search for a certain JRE version or use a bundled one, and it’s possible to set runtime options, like the initial/max heap size. The wrapper also provides better user experience through an application icon, a native pre-JRE splash screen, a custom process name, and a Java download page in case the appropriate JRE cannot be found.

JSmooth

URL: http://jsmooth.sourceforge.net/

JSmooth is a Java Executable Wrapper. It creates native Windows launchers (standard .exe) for your java applications. It makes java deployment much smoother and user-friendly, as it is able to find any installed Java VM by itself.
When no VM is available, the wrapper can automatically download and install a suitable JVM, or simply display a message or redirect the user to a web site.
JSmooth provides a variety of wrappers for your java application, each of them having their own behaviour: Choose your flavour!

Well, that is it for the moment.

If you have found and used some other tools like the ones above, please post a comment, and I will update this list.

Let us provide some help for the future JAVA developers…

’till next time,
Happy coding