CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javajava-web-start
thiru_k
thiru_k

Reputation: 847

What are the advantages of Java Web Start over a Java web application?

I am trying to understand what are the use cases for using Java Web start. What are the advantages of it over a web application. Is Java web start still relevant today?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 2619

Answers (2)

chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-

Reputation: 77206

Java Web Start and Web applications solve two very different problems. A Web Start program is a regular graphical application program that is downloaded to and run on the user's computer. It acts like any other downloaded program written in Java, and typically uses a toolkit like Swing for its interface. It'll need to be digitally signed and approved by the user, and the user will have to have a JRE installed on the client computer. Web Start is just a convenient way to get the jars for the application downloaded and kept up to date. Web Start is useful for applications that need quick response times, lots of computation, or to access files on the user's computer (e.g., a photo uploader).

Web applications, on the other hand, are Web sites with interactive features. Examples include everything from Google's search suggestions to Facebook to Stack Exchange. Java is a useful language to write Web applications in, with tools like Spring and Hibernate, but a Web application is just a Web site that's delivered to the user as HTML and Javascript and runs in a Web browser.

Upvotes: 3

Andreas Fester
Andreas Fester

Reputation: 36650

What are the advantages of Java WebStart over a web application

These two are very different approaches to implement an application:

  • A Web Application typically refers to an application which runs completely on the server side (keeping aside JavaScript, which executes inside the browser) and uses a web browser to visualize its user interface and handle user inputs. The main advantage of such an application is that no software needs to be installed on the client side, besides the browser (which is usually available on any system today). Sometimes this is referred to as "zero-deployment".

  • Java WebStart on the other hand is a deployment technology which allows to download applications and run them locally on the client. The starting point is again the everywhere-available browser (or more specifically a URL), but once clicked, the URL downloads binary components (.jar files, but also system dependent native binaries) to the local system and then they are run locally. This also requires a very low effort from deployment perspective, but at least a Java Runtime environment needs to be available locally. But still, it is much less effort to run an application than having to download a installer, launch the installer, choose an installation directory etc. Java WebStart does that for you. Additionally, it also automatically handles updates - when the url is clicked subsequently, WebStart checks if the files have changed since the last run and downloads them as necessary. Otherwise, it uses the files from a local cache.

Is Java web start still relevant today?

Yes, definitely. If you have a rich (Java) application which needs to run locally on the client, you can use WebStart to deploy it with very low effort - all you need to send to the users is a URL.

See also

Upvotes: 7

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