Menu Options / JExpress Wizard

Menu Options

JExpress uses a non-platform specific way to define ways for your customers to launch your system. For example, if your customer runs your installer on a Windows machine, then JExpress can add a Windows menu item on the Start | Programs menu. It also creates a double-clickable exe in your application directory to start your Java apps. If another customer uses the same installer on a Unix system, then your JExpress installer creates a launch script for them and a menu item if the customer is running KDE.

You can have your menu items added to the highest level of the menu system or desktop, or you can define a submenu. If you'd like the menu items to be added to a deeper submenu, then simply put a forward slash (/) in between each submenu. You must always use the forward slash regardless of the OS your are using or targeting.

Click on the jump point or just page down to learn more about each setting on this panel.

Add
Change
Erase
Tell user how to start your application

Add

Click on the Add button to create a new menu item. Another dialog box pops up which allows you to define the menu names and associated commands.

Menu Item Settings

Click on the jump point or just page down to learn more about each setting on this panel.

Menu item
Script name
Java command
Show Java console
Executable file
Icon

Change

Highlight the menu name that you'd like to change and then click on the Change button to modify the menu's settings. Another dialog box pops up which allows you to define the menu names and associated commands.

Menu Item Settings

Click on the jump point or just page down to learn more about each setting on this panel.

Menu item
Script name
Java command
Show Java console
Executable file
Icon

Erase

Highlight the menu name that you'd like to remove and then click on the Erase button. All the associated settings will be erased.

Tell user how to start your application

Add a check mark to this check box if you want your installer to remind your customers running on Windows which submenu to use to start your application.

Menu item

Fill in the name you'd like to appear on systems that support long names, e.g., Windows, Macintosh, and KDE systems.

On Windows machines, JExpress creates a menu item and desktop icon with this name and on Mac it creates a desktop icon.

To create a menu on KDE systems or a unix launch script, then you must also fill in the short name.

Script name

Enter the name you'd like JExpress to use on systems that only support short names, e.g., Unix. This name will be used to create a script on the target system.

Icon filename

The filename that contains an icon to display when configuring this menu item on Windows, Mac OS X (Java apps only), KDE, or gnome. All the icon files must contain the same base name with the extension and they must all be located in the same directory.

For example, if the icon for Windows is called MyIcon.ico, then the Mac OS X icon must be named MyIcon.icns and the KDE icon must be called MyIcon.png or MyIcon.xpm.

Here's a list of the icon extensions for the various platforms:

Platform	File extension
Windows	.ico
KDE **	.png or .xpm

Notes ** If there is a base name with both a .png and .xpm extension, then the .png file will be used in a KDE menu.

Java command

If the menu item is a Java command, then you should check this box so JExpress will automatically add the jre and other parameters to your command to your class. If you want to run a non-Java program when the user selects this menu item, then you should not check this box.

Show Java console

If the menu item requires the Java console, then add a check mark to this box so JExpress will automatically use the console based JVM. Be sure to also add a check mark to the Java command box or this field is ignored during in the installer.

Executable file

Type in the name of the Java class or stand-alone program that you want started when someone selects this menu item. This field should only contain a filename, and any necessary subdirectory names relative to the installation directory, that is included in with your installer. Your JExpress installer automatically adjusts the file separators (e.g., \ or /) to the target system.

If the menu launches your Java app, then the class filename, including any required package name, that contains the Main method must be entered into this field. For example, if your Java application's Main resides in myApp.class and myApp.class is part of the com.myCompany package, then you should enter com.myComany.myApp into the Executable file field.

If you don't know the name of the class that contains the Main method and your class files are contained in a JAR file, then you can unjar your JAR file and look at the META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file with a text editor. You'll find a line, near the top of the file, which gives the property for the Main-Class:. Copy the entire line after the : and paste it into the Executable file field.

Important: If you usually start your Java app with the -jar parameter, then please follow the instructions in the tutorial to insure that all the fields are entered correctly.

If you want to create a menu item on Windows that displays an HTML file, then you should fill in the HTML filename is this field. Almost all Windows systems today are configured so they will automatically launch the user's web browser when the command line contains an .html or .htm filename. You should not include a script name for a menu item which is just the HTML filename, because no other OS currently supports automatic launching of filenames.

Required field.