[kepler-dev] Windows launcher for Kepler

[Dan Higgins]

Hi All,
    If you update Kepler CVS to get a recent version, there should be a 
file called "Kepler-launch.exe" inside the base $KEPLER directory. This 
is a Windows launcher for Kepler built using launch4j (see 
http://launch4j.sourceforge.net/). [There is now also an ant target for 
building this exe.]

    This executable launcher should start up Kepler on machines using 
the Windows OS. Note that it does assume/require that the 
$KEPLER/build/kepler.jar file exists. The file is NOT in a fresh CVS 
checkout but is built with the 'ant jar' target. The kepler.jar file, 
once built, contains all the Ptolemy classes used by Kepler and the 
Kepler base classes.

    A lot of developers may not use Windows, but lmany Kepler users do. 
I am thus interested in testing this open-source launcher on a number of 
Windows machines. It does seem to work OK for me, but I would like 
feedback from others on their experiences. One feature is that if Java 
is not installed, the user should be notified and a web page for 
downloading Java displayed. So tests on machines without Java would be 
nice. I would also like to know if this works on machines running Vista.

Thanks for any feedback (and details on the versions of Windows & Java 
used would be helpful).

Dan Higgins

-- 
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Dan Higgins                                  higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Ph: 805-893-5127
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Marine Science Building - Room 3405
Santa Barbara, CA 93195
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