Overview of SWT

The introduction of SWT into the development community couldn't have come at a better time. While Sun's Java Foundation Classes (JFC) has been appeasing developers of client-side applications for several years now, many have avoided using the toolkit for a variety of reasons. For many developers and architects, the dream of being able to develop client-side Java applications that visually appear, operate, and perform like traditional native desktop applications seemed remote.

Then in the middle of 2001, the Eclipse project burst onto the development landscape. Initially, the Eclipse project was perceived as only an open source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Java. However, the project's scope is much broader. During the development of Eclipse, the SWT toolkit was born. Similar to JFC and its cousin, the Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), the SWT toolkit provides a set of widgets to developers. However, the primary distinction between SWT and other toolkits revolves around SWT's use of an operating system's underlining GUI widgets. This approach provides Java developers a cross-platform API to implement solutions that "feel" like native desktop applications.

Back to top

Overview of Java Web Start

Without the right tools, regardless of the language, deployment and maintenance of traditional desktop applications can be a major headache for developers. Thoughts of having to touch and update every workstation when a new version of the software is released haunt even the most effective support department. To ease the distribution and maintenance requirements of Java developers, Sun introduced Java Web Start a few years ago. This technology greatly simplifies the deployment, maintenance, and upgrading of Java applications on end-user's workstations.

Using a Web browser as the initial tool to launch an application, Java Web Start is a locally installed helper application that is included with Sun's Java Runtime Environment. Whenever a user accesses a Java Network Launching Protocol (JNLP) file, the application is automatically downloaded to the user's workstation and starts running. The whole process requires little to no interaction from the end user and greatly simplifies the effort to distribute an application. Refer to Resources for more information about Java Web Start.

Back to top

File viewer application

Before we review the implementation details of how to deploy an SWT application using Java Web Start, let's take a look at the application we're going to deploy. The application that's included with this article is an example application provided by the Eclipse project. As shown in Figure 1, the application is a simple cross-platform file viewer that allows users to browse the files and folders on their hard drive.

To demonstrate the cross-platform capabilities of SWT and Java Web Start, the included example stand-alone application has been packaged to run on both Microsoft® Windows® and Red Hat Linux®.

Back to top

Environment requirements

The code used here is available for download. In order to fully test the file viewer application with Java Web Start, your environment must meet the following minimum requirements (see Resources):

• Microsoft Windows XP or Red Hat Linux V8
• Java 2 SDK, Standard Edition V1.4 or later
• Apache Ant V1.5.3 or later
• Apache Jakarta Tomcat V4.1.24 or later

Although attention has been given to make the Ant build script cross-platform, the file viewer application has only been tested and verified on Microsoft Windows XP and Red Hat Linux 8. Additionally, it's assumed that Apache Tomcat is running on your local workstation and running on port 8080. Let's get started by installing, building, and running the example application.

Back to top

Installing the file viewer application

To install the file viewer application:

1. Download the source code package (see Resources).
2. Unzip the fileviewer.zip file into a temporary directory.

Security and code signing

Unlike AWT or JFC, SWT is tightly integrated with the operating system's native windowing environment. SWT uses a system library to manage the integration between its platform-independent API and the underlying operating system. By default, an application running under Java Web Start runs within a restricted sandbox. This environment controls access to resources such as the workstation's file system, system libraries, and other resources. Since SWT needs to operate outside the default sandbox to load a system library, all JAR files deployed with Java Web Start must be digitally signed. Since this application is not going to be deployed to a wide user base, we'll create a self-signed test certificate.

If you're going to put an SWT application into production, it's highly recommended that you obtain a certificate from a certificate authority like Thawte or VeriSign.

Back to top

Creating a self-signed certificate

To create a self-signed test certificate:

1. Execute the following command within the directory where you unpacked the source code: keytool -genkey -keystore keystore -alias myself.

   You'll be prompted to provide details about the new key including a password, your name, locality, etc. In order to use the provided Ant build process, make sure you set the password to "password." If you don't want to use the hardcoded password of "password," edit the "sign-jars" target within the build.xml file. The actual process of signing each JAR file is completed during the Ant build.

2. To verify that the keystore was properly created, execute the following command within the directory where you unpacked the source code: keytool -list-keystore keystore

   The output will appear something like the following:

   Keystore type: jks Keystore provider: SUN Your keystore contains 1 entry myself, Jun 3, 2003, keyEntry, Certificate fingerprint (MD5):B8:C4:48:ED:68:E8:FE:47:83:78:F5:14:4E:28:5C:80

   
   

Back to top

Building the file viewer application

To build the file viewer application:

1. To clean the environment, execute the following command within the directory where you unpacked the source code: ant clean
2. Execute the following command to start the build process: ant

If your environment met the requirements and was properly configured, you should have seen something similar to the following:

Buildfile: build.xml

init:

compile-common:

compile-module:
     [echo] Compiling ...

package-common:

package-swtlib:

sign-jars:
     [echo] Signing JARS...
  [signjar] Signing Jar : D:\FileViewer\dist\swt-lib.jar
  [signjar] Signing Jar : D:\FileViewer\dist\fileviewer.jar
     [copy] Copying 1 file to D:\FileViewer\dist
  [signjar] Signing Jar : D:\FileViewer\dist\swt-win32.jar

package-web:
      [war] Building war: D:\FileViewer\dist\fileviewer.war

default:

BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 6 seconds

Back to top

Running the file viewer application

Before using Java Web Start to deploy the file viewer application, let's try executing the application locally. To start the application, execute the following command within the directory where you unpacked the source code: ant run.

Upon execution of the Ant script, the file viewer application should appear. Figure 2 demonstrates the application running under Red Hat Linux V8.

Back to top

Deploying and testing the file viewer application

To deploy the application to Apache Tomcat V4:

1. Copy the fileviewer.war file from the dist directory to the webapps directory under Tomcat 4.
2. Execute the script to start Apache Tomcat V4.
3. Open your Web browser to the following URL and click Launch Application: http://localhost:8080/fileviewer/index.html

   You should see the following image (Figure 3) while the application's JAR files will be downloaded to the workstation.

   
   Figure 3. File viewer
   
   
4. The first time the application is downloaded, you'll see the following dialog box.
   Figure 4. Security warning
   
   

   Click Start to start the file viewer application.

Back to top

Implementing a JNLP file

Now that we've covered how to build, distribute, and deploy an SWT application using Sun's Java Web Start, let's review how to implement a Java Network Launching Protocol (JNLP) file. The JNLP specification is managed via the Java Community Process (JCP). Since this article's purpose is to cover the specifics of deploying an SWT application using this technology, not much background information is provided. For more information and background about Java Web Start, refer to "Java Web Start" (see Resources).

Listing 1 illustrates the various tags used within a JNLP file for an SWT application.

                
1    <?xmlversion="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
2       <jnlp spec="1.0+"codebase="http://localhost:8080/fileviewer"href="index.jnlp">
3           <information>
4                   <title>File Viewer</title>
5                   <vendor>IBM developerWorks</vendor>
6                   <homepage href="index.html"/>
7                   <description>File Viewer</description>
8                   <description kind="short">FileViewer</description>
9           </information>
10          <security>
11                   <all-permissions/>
12           </security>
13           <resources>
14                   <j2se version="1.4"/>
15                   <jar href="fileviewer.jar"/>
16                   <nativelib href="swt-lib.jar"/>
17           </resources>
18           <resources os="Windows"> 
19                   <jar href="swt-win32.jar"/>
20           </resources>
21           <resources os="Linux"> 
22                   <jar href="swt-linux.jar"/>
23           </resources>
24           <application-descmain-class="org.eclipse.swt.examples.fileviewer.FileViewer"/>
25   </jnlp>

Let's step through the important parts of this XML file:

1. Because an SWT application is required to load a system library upon execution, it needs to have full access to the user's workstation. Lines 10-12 show how an application can request full access to a client's environment. In order for Java Web Start to grant this level of access, all the application's JAR files must be digitally signed.
2. As shown on line 16, we need to declare a nativelib tag to tell Java Web Start that this JAR file contains native libraries. In our example file viewer application, this JAR file contains a Windows DLL and a series of SO files for Linux.
3. Lines 18-23 load the appropriate SWT JAR for each operating system. The resources tag allows you to protect resources for use only by a particular operating system and architecture. The os attribute specifies the operating system for which the resources element should be considered. This value is based on the end user's os.name Java system property. While not used in this example, you can also use an arch attribute to further restrict access to a Java library. The arch attribute is based on the end user's os.arch Java system property.

For more information about the various elements and format of a JNLP file, refer to Resources.

Back to top

Summary

The coupling of the SWT user interface toolkit and Java Web Start provides a great set of tools to deploy create highly interactive client-side Java applications. The example file viewer application provides a build and packaging framework you can use to create your own stand-alone SWT applications to distribute via Java Web Start.

Back to top

Download

Information about download methods

Resources

Learn

• For an overview of Java Web Start and information on developing and distributing Java applications for the client side, read Steve Kim's "Java Web Start."
  
  
• More information about Java Network Launching Protocol and API specification and the reference implementation is available at Sun Microsystems.
  
  
• The Eclipse project provides the SWT toolkit that was used in this article's source code.
  
  
• The Eclipse Technical Overview (PDF) provides an introduction to the core components of the Eclipse platform.
  
  
• Check out the "Recommended Eclipse reading list."
  
  
• Browse all the Eclipse content on developerWorks.
  
  
• New to Eclipse? Read the developerWorks article "Get started with Eclipse Platform" to learn its origin and architecture, and how to extend Eclipse with plug-ins.
  
  
• Expand your Eclipse skills by checking out IBM developerWorks' Eclipse project resources.
  
  
• To listen to interesting interviews and discussions for software developers, check out check out developerWorks podcasts.
  
  
• For an introduction to the Eclipse platform, see "Getting started with the Eclipse Platform."
  
  
• Stay current with developerWorks' Technical events and webcasts.
  
  
• Watch and learn about IBM and open source technologies and product functions with the no-cost developerWorks On demand demos.
  
  
• Check out upcoming conferences, trade shows, webcasts, and other Events around the world that are of interest to IBM open source developers.
  
  
• Visit the developerWorks Open source zone for extensive how-to information, tools, and project updates to help you develop with open source technologies and use them with IBM's products.
  
  

Get products and technologies

• Download the latest Java SE Development Kit (JDK) from Sun Microsystems. Version 1.4.1 was used when writing this article, which Sun no longer supports.
  
  
• Download the latest version of Ant from the Apache Software Foundation. Version 1.5.3 was used when writing this article.
  
  
• Download the latest version of Tomcat from the Jakarta project. Version 4.1.24 was used when writing this article.
  
  
• Check out the latest Eclipse technology downloads at IBM alphaWorks.
  
  
• Download Eclipse Platform and other projects from the Eclipse Foundation.
  
  
• Download IBM product evaluation versions, and get your hands on application development tools and middleware products from DB2®, Lotus®, Rational®, Tivoli®, and WebSphere®.
  
  
• Innovate your next open source development project with IBM trial software, available for download or on DVD.
  
  

Discuss

• The Eclipse Platform newsgroups should be your first stop to discuss questions regarding Eclipse. (Selecting this will launch your default Usenet news reader application and open eclipse.platform.)
  
  
• The Eclipse newsgroups has many resources for people interested in using and extending Eclipse.
  
  
• Participate in developerWorks blogs and get involved in the developerWorks community.
  
  

About the author

Comments (Undergoing maintenance)

Back to top

Trademarks  |  My developerWorks terms and conditions

Table of contents

• Overview of SWT
• Overview of Java Web Start
• File viewer application
• Environment requirements
• Installing the file viewer application
• Security and code signing
• Creating a self-signed certificate
• Building the file viewer application
• Running the file viewer application
• Deploying and testing the file viewer application
• Implementing a JNLP file
• Summary
• Download
• Resources
• About the author
• Comments

Next steps from IBM

Spring, JRuby, and Ajax development is easier with WebSphere Application Server - a smart Java 5 and J2EE Web services-based application server.

---

• Try: The no-charge WebSphere Application Server Community Edition is a pre-integrated, lightweight Java 5 application server built on Apache Tomcat and other best-of-breed open source software such as OpenEJB, Apache Axis, and Apache Derby.
• Article: The article leverage the Spring Framework and the WebSphere Application Server to improve your J2EE project productivity.
• Tutorial: See how the free WebSphere Application Server and XML can improve the efficiency of your JRuby on Rails and Ajax development.
• Buy: WebSphere Application Server - Express

My developerWorks community

Dig deeper into Open source on developerWorks

Calling all developers

Download no charge Lotus Domino Designer

Special offers