Java Web Start Driven Installation

Question

I'm trying to figure out the best way to install my Java app on client computers. The main guideline here is that these clients are computer illiterates - so the less fuss the better.

I was thinking of using a model that would launch a Java Web Start app which would both take care of the registration and installation processes at once.

I want these clients (real estate agents, mostly) to be able to go to a link on the main page, there presented by a nice Web Start screen (or even embedded Java applet) where they have a single form to fill out and hit Install and the latest version of the program gets installed on their computer.

The guidelines here are:

1. The installed program should be fully executable (various JavaW weirdness should be avoided).
2. The installed program should run on startup.

Additionally/Optionally:

3. The Web Start/applet program that installs should be able to scan the computer for the existence of a previous version of the installed program and respond accordingly - meaning that if it's already installed, it only updates the JARs of the installed program if needed (shuts it down, updates and restarts). This way I can call the JNLP from within the installed program as an autoupdate method.

I'd love some pointers on this - are there such systems already available?

Answer 1

IzPack + launch4j

Answer 2

Check out the latest Web Start. It does the jar-update magic automatically (as always) but ALSO allows you to do lazy loads of jar files. plus run offline.

If you want to populate the local cache then jar files should have versioned names and then your "update"-application can require these. They will then be ready when the program runs the next time.

Answer 3

Try IzPack.