Presents your 
JAVA E-NEWSLETTER for June 13, 2002

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CREATE NATIVE APPS WITH MRJAPPBUILDER

When compiling Java code to an .exe works on Windows
but loses Apple
customers, try Apple's MRJAppBuilder to bundle the
Java resources into a Mac
.app.

Apple's new OS X is a lean consumer system, and
developers can download
additional developer tools from the Apple Developer
Connection site, such
as MRJAppBuilder--an application that can build
apparently native Mac
.app files from Java JAR files.

After installing the developer tools, MRJAppBuilder
will reside in the
/Developer/Applications directory. When you open
MRJAppBuilder, a 4-tabbed
pane is displayed, but the latter three are
optional. The tab options
include:


* Application: This allows you to specify the
internal classpath of your
application, the class containing the main method to
call, and the name
of the .app file you will generate. Classpath
elements will resemble
Contents/Resources/Java/somejar.jar.

* MacOS X: Here you can specify some Mac properties,
including the
CFBundleName property, which allows you to display
the name of the
application.

* Java Properties: This tab allows you to specify
parameters to pass to
the main class or the java process, such as the
maximum heap size so your
application can get more memory.

* Merge Files: Within this tab, you can add in Java
resources, including
jars, zips, images, and properties files.


Once the options are set, click the Build
Application button in the
bottom right hand corner. Then add in the speed of
the Java Virtual Machine
(JVM) on OS X and the Aquafied Swing components. You
can also use the
Terminal application to examine the underlying
structure of the generated
.app file. Its structure should be similar to the
/Developer/Applications/MRJAppBuilder.app, which
shows a Java application masquerading successfully
as a native .app.

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