Downloading and running a Java EE client application using Java Web Start
Java™ Web Start technology is provided by the Java Standard Edition runtime environment to deploy Java Enterprise Edition application clients, including Thin application clients, on the remote client machine with a single click from a web browser on the client machine.
Before you begin
The supported client platforms for deploying application clients using the Java Web Start are the same as the IBM® Application Client for WebSphere® Application Server supported platforms, except Linux® on Power® and OS/400® operating systems.
About this task
To deploy application clients using Java Web Start, the client machine must have at least a Java SE runtime environment installed. The Java SE runtime environment includes the Java Web Start, which implements the JSR 56: Java Network Launching Protocol and API. The application clients Enterprise Archive (EAR) file is a Java archive (JAR) resource in a JNLP descriptor file that resides on a central server. The JNLP descriptor file also specifies the runtime environment requirement for running the application.
WebSphere Application Server provides a launcher class to launch the Java EE application client in the application client container inside of Java Web Start. The client machine might not have the IBM Application Client for WebSphere Application Server installed. If this is the case, create and install an application client container and runtime package as a runtime environment through Java Web Start. The JNLP descriptor file specifies this runtime environment as the required runtime environment for running the Java EE application client.
WebSphere Application Server also provides command-line utility programs to create this application client container and runtime package from an existing IBM Application Client for WebSphere Application Server installation, as well as an installer class to install this package as a runtime environment for the application client container and also the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in the IBM Application Client for WebSphere Application Server installation. To run the Java EE application client, the EAR file is deployed as a JAR resource that is described in the JNLP descriptor file.
Procedure
Example
A Java Web Start deployment Sample is included in the
client samples. This Sample demonstrates the steps to deploy a Java EE application client with an automated ANT script. The Sample has a servlet to generate
the runtime installer JNLP response with JNLP version ID, for example,
x-java-jnlp-version-id
.
com.sun.deploy.services.WPlatformService.getSecureRandom()
method. This is a
known bug in Sun Java SE 6 (https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6505528). If you
experience this exception, relaunch the application. The NPE only occurs on the first launch of the
application client.