How to get return value from java and read by other application?

Question

i want to read return value from java and the other application read it.
for example:
public class test_return {
    test_return(){
    public int check(){
        return 1;
    public static void main(String args[]){
       new test_return().check();
}from that class i make as jar file. How to read the return value (1) by other application?
thx..

Answer 1

If your installer is requiring some process it invokes to return a particular value on failure, then the installer is seriously broken. There are a bazillion commands your installer could invoke, and any of them could fail, which in turn could invalidate the entire install process, and any of them could return any value on failure. The only value that's consistent (in my experience) is that zero means success and non-zero means failure, with specific non-zero values being different in different programs.
About the only control you have over the JVM's exit code is that if your main method completes without throwing an exception, the JVM will have an exit code of 0, and if main throws an exception (either explicitly or by not catching one thrown from below), it will be non-zero. I'm not even sure if that's guaranteed, but I would guess that's the case.
EDIT: I'm kind of full of crap here. If you're writing the Java code, you can call System.exit(whatever). But nonetheless, if your installer requires certain exit codes from any app--java or otherwise--you have a problem.
Edited by: jverd on Oct 29, 2009 1:27 AM