CODEWITHSUNDEEP
java
Vithushan
Vithushan

Reputation: 513

opening application from java code without specifying the path

Im writing an application. There the app has to open firefox when certain req are met. I did a small research. All i can find is the following code.

Runtime rt = null;
rt = Runtime.getRuntime();

try {
    rt.exec("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Google\\Chrome\\Application\\chrome.exe google.com");
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

What i want to know is that is that any method to open a specific application without giving the path because all users wont install the application in same path. So like searching with the name only. Please help. Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 186

Answers (4)

Lucas
Lucas

Reputation: 3281

It's actually quite complex, you can use feature provided by nio package in Java 7:

The new java.nio.file.Files class provides a factory method, walkFileTree, you can use to traverse a tree of directories and files.

to find out more go directly to the blog I just quoted: https://blogs.oracle.com/thejavatutorials/entry/traversing_a_file_tree_in

Upvotes: 1

AlexR
AlexR

Reputation: 115328

Searching of executable in path is the responsibility of shell. This mechanism is invoked when you execute command from command prompt or from OS launcher. To enable this mechanism from java you should run the application through cmd on Windows or /bin/sh on Linux.

In your case change your code to 

rt.exec("cmd /c chrome.exe google.com")

EDIT 1. this will work whether chrome is the default browser or not. 2. This will NOT work if chrome is not available in system path (e.g. if it is not installed).

So, then it depends on what do you really want. If you have to show URL in default browser use desktop.browse(uri); (as it was already mentioned by @Arvind). If however you really want to open specific application (whether it is browser or not) use methods I suggested you.

Upvotes: 1

subham soni
subham soni

Reputation: 274

Giving the name of the application and providing an automatic search is really a Herculean task. It has got so many complexities involved:

  • What kind of Operating System, the user has (Windows has different path style and Unix based systems have different)
  • Should the search be in a particular folder or the entire computer? Where to search???

I would give you a simple suggestion, if you are developing a GUI apllication, allow the user to give the path and set a button ("Set Default Path") and allow user to click on. So, the default path will be stored in a string variable and you can call it from the `exec()`

Upvotes: 1

user2575725
user2575725

Reputation:

You may use the Desktop class, find more in detail doc here

        URI uri = null;
        try {
            uri = new URI("http://www.google.com");
            desktop.browse(uri);
        } catch(IOException ioe) {
            System.out.println("The system cannot find the " + uri + 
                " file specified");
            //ioe.printStackTrace();
        } catch(URISyntaxException use) {
            System.out.println("Illegal character in path");
            //use.printStackTrace();
        }

Upvotes: 4

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