Using a Common Build File for All Platforms

To generate a self-contained application bundle for each platform on which your application runs, you must run the packaging tool on each platform. You have the option of using platform-specific build files or setting up one build file that can be run on all platforms. Platform-specific files can be simpler to set up, but then you must maintain multiple files.

The File Association Demo described in Using File Associations uses a single build file that works on all platforms.

The following elements of the build file support its use for all platforms:

• The main class for the application is ScriptRunnerApplication.java for Linux and Windows and ScriptRunnerApplicationMac.java for OS X. The following code in the -pre-init task is used to determine which class to use:

  <condition property="main.class" 
             value="sample.fa.ScriptRunnerApplication"
             else="sample.fa.ScriptRunnerApplicationMac"> <not><os family="mac"/></not>
  </condition>

• The following code in the -pre-init task is used to prevent the main class for OS X from being compiled when running on Linux or Windows:

  <condition property="excludes" value="**/*Mac.java"> <not><os family="mac"/></not>
  </condition>

• <fx:bundleArgument> elements are used to pass arguments to the different bundlers available. Arguments that are not used by a bundler are ignored, so the build file can contain the arguments needed by all platforms. The following code defines arguments for Linux, OS X, and Windows:

  <fx:bundleArgument arg="classpath" value="FileAssociationsDemo.jar lib/groovy-all-2.3.8.jar"/> <fx:bundleArgument arg="win.exe.systemWide" value="true"/> <fx:bundleArgument arg="linux.bundleName" value="file-association-demo"/>
  <fx:bundleArgument arg="email" value="maintainer@example.com"/>
  <fx:bundleArgument arg="mac.CFBundleName" value="File Assoc Demo"/>
  <fx:bundleArgument arg="win.menuGroup" value="Java Demos"/>

See build.xml for the complete build code.

You can download the source files for the File Association Demo from Self-Contained Application Examples.