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Tools of the trade, Part 3

Install your Java programs with InstallAnywhere

By Jeff Friesen, JavaWorld.com, 01/03/03

What task do you perform after creating your Java program with a development tool, such as JCreator, and thoroughly testing that program with a testing tool, such as Jtest? Answer: Prepare the program for installation on your customers' computers. How do you accomplish that task? Either create your own installation program, which might take as long to create as the program to be installed, or obtain a tool that creates that installation program for you. However, the J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition) SDK doesn't provide such a tool. Although the SDK provides a jar tool that simplifies distribution by packaging a program's classfiles and other files into a jar file, that tool proves appropriate only for simple installations. For more complex installations, which might involve displaying a license agreement a customer must accept before installation proceeds, you must use an appropriate non-SDK installation tool, such as InstallAnywhere, which this article explores.

Read the whole series on non-SDK tools, "Tools of the Trade:"

• Part 1: Discover the world of Java tools by exploring JCreator
• Part 2: Jtest statically and dynamically analyzes your Java code
• Part 3: Install your Java programs with InstallAnywhere

Installation tools and installers

Developers interact with installation tools to create installers, or installation programs, for multiple platforms. For example, a developer uses an installation tool to build an installer that installs a Java program on a Linux platform and an installer that installs that program on a Windows platform. The installer must complete various tasks to install a program on a certain platform:

• Display messages in an appropriate language, such as English, French, German, or traditional Chinese
• Display a startup splash screen, an introductory window that identifies the program being installed
• Display a license agreement that the installer's user must accept before installation continues
• Display advertising billboard windows
• Select a default installation location, but let the installer's user override that default
• Check for an appropriate amount of available disk space
• Validate user input
• Either install everything or install only what the installer's user selects
• Execute external programs or batch files/scripts
• Generate a log of installation activities
• Notify the user of either successful or failed installation
• Provide the ability to uninstall a program

A Web search reveals many installation tools that create installers for Java and other kinds of programs. Of all those tools, the most popular installation tool appears to be InstallAnywhere.

What is InstallAnywhere?

Zero G's InstallAnywhere installation tool creates sophisticated installers that install Java and other kinds of applications on various platforms, ranging from Mac OS X, to Linux, to Windows. InstallAnywhere is available in four editions:

• InstallAnywhere 5 Now!: offers basic capabilities. Those capabilities include creation of installers that install an application written in Java, C++, Perl, C#, and so on; creation of installers that run on various platforms; and support for application distribution and installation over the Web. This edition (and all other editions except Mac OS X) is available for each of the Windows, Mac OS X, AIX, Solaris, Linux, and HP-UX platforms.
• InstallAnywhere 5 Standard Edition: incorporates all of the Now! edition's features and adds many new capabilities, including complete customization of installer graphics (such as advertising billboards, backgrounds, and splash screens); support for license agreements; choice of a JVM to install on those platforms that lack a JVM; and message display in any of nine languages: simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, and Swedish. This edition is ideal for installation on client, that is, desktop, platforms.

• Tip
  InstallAnywhere provides various sample advertising billboard, background, and splash screen image files in its Graphics folder (i.e., directory).

  
  
  
• InstallAnywhere 5 Enterprise Edition: incorporates all the Standard Edition's capabilities and adds its own capabilities, including message display in 29 languages; the ability to create installers that run in graphical, console, and silent (that is, fully-automated) modes; installation log generation; and the use of regular expressions for user input validation. This edition is ideal for installation on either client or server platforms.
• InstallAnywhere 5 Mac OS X Edition: is a Mac OS X-specific edition that incorporates all the Enterprise Edition's capabilities. Although previous editions support Mac OS X, that support is not fully Mac OS X-specific. For example, other editions do not create installers that match Apple's recommended installer look and feel with complete Aqua support.

I explore InstallAnywhere 5 Standard Edition in this article and in a Windows context. After introducing you to several InstallAnywhere core concepts, I present a Java application to install, create an installer for it via InstallAnywhere's Project Wizard, and create another installer via InstallAnywhere's Advanced Designer. Because it is impossible to examine all of InstallAnywhere's capabilities in a single article, I encourage you to study the extensive and well-written InstallAnywhere 5 Standard Edition user guide after reading this article.