Java Web Start (JWS) has always had great potential. With this deployment platform I can reach users such as mom-and-pops who would otherwise have to call their son (me) when they need to download and install something from the internet. Mom-and-pops are not that interested in computers but they know how to write an email and click a link on a webpage. To start a JWS application all they have to do is click a link on a webpage. While the application is being launched it is also cached locally. It can be started offline and updates are detected and installed automatically.
That's all good. As is the fact that Java Web Start peruses the user's system, installing Java SE if needed, and detecting whether extra permissions are needed (in which case, the user is presented with a security dialog).
What's wrong with JWS, in scalemania's view, is poor documentation and the bugginess of central features, along with "strange" implementations of some features.
What prompted scalemania's revisit to Java Web Start was the recent release of JDK 6 Update 18, which James Sugrue covered in a recent JavaLobby post. Among the highlights of this release is support for Windows 7.
Uninstalling a JWS application on windows is supposedly simple. The user navigates to the same place in the windows Control Panel where native applications are uninstalled, finds the JWS application and hits "uninstall". Unfortunately JWS has been broken and would only uninstall some parts of the application – in some cases leaving the user with a system that would complain again and again that the remaining pieces of the application was crashing.
So, when will Java Web Start be "production quality"? Actually, the bugs addressed in JavaSE 6 update 18 appear to represent a significant portion of the most critical bugs on scalemania's list:
I'm happy that many critical bugs have been addressed but some of them are regression bugs. So with these fixed, what has been broken now? Alright thats a bit pessimistic, I really want to use JWS and I hope update 18 will turn out to have production quality! :)
The nominations for the available Executive Committee (EC) seat on the JCP Micro Edition (ME) EC are open through the end of this week. There is one open seat on the ME EC. Nominations are open until 24 January. Read more about the EC here. JCP program members can nominate themselves here--this is your chance to get involved!
Amy Fowler is the Sun engineer tasked with creating JavaFX layout functionality. As noted in the slide below from her presentation at the Silicon Valley JUG, Amy cites a few applications and notes that they each have profoundly different user interfaces. Upcoming versions of JavaFX must have the ability to express UIs that, for example, have a traditional Swing appearance and behavior, as well as highly graphical and fluid 2D and 3D UIs that users are coming to expect...
Java Web Start (JWS) has always had great potential. With this deployment platform I can reach users such as mom-and-pops who would otherwise have to call their son (me) when they need to download and install something from the internet. Mom-and-pops are not that interested in computers but they know how to write an email and click a link on a webpage. To start a JWS application all they have to do is click a link on a webpage. While the application is being launched it is also cached locally. It can be started offline and updates are detected and installed automatically...
Pivot has graduated to a top-level Apache Project! The official press release went out this morning: The Apache Software Foundation Announces Apache Pivot as Top-Level Project To coincide with the graduation, Pivot 1.4 was released a couple of weeks ago, and this morning we launched the new project site at http://pivot.apache.org! We are very proud to be joining one of the most well-respected open source communities in the world...
"No matter whether you are just adopting Maven and Nexus in your development infrastructure or have been using it for a while, you can benefit from having your team trained by Maven experts." Over the past six months, the new new virtual-classroom Maven training courses have proved to be tremendously popular. Delivered in real-time by Sonatype instructors in two four-hour sessions, they offer a great way to get your team up to speed with Maven. And starting on the 27th of January, I will be running these courses in collaboration with Sonatype at a time better suited to Australia, New Zealand, and Asia...
In the Forums, hsirges encounters an Invalid Chunk Header: Hi. I'm running a webservice on GlassFish v3 (build 74.2) with a JavaME client program. For one specific mobile device i receive an IOException (stacktrace below) with message "Invalid chunk header".
I have already found the thread...
venkatravala is getting an Error in XML file while deploying in server: Hi friends. I am Venkataramana . I am doing one small structs application with Validation . as usual in XML file i wrote validations but when i am deploying in server it is showing error as SEVERE: Parse Error at line 2 column 17: Document is invalid: no grammar found...
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