Exec an .exe file

Question

I have written a program that executes an .exe file using the
Runtime.exec() command and all works fine standalone with the .exe
file located in the root of my classpath.
My problem comes when I want to deploy it using WebStart, I dont know where to place the .exe where it can be found.
Ideally I dont want to install it on the client and was wondering
if it is possible to find its location programatically say in the
cache.
TIA

Answer 1

This is quite simple actually once you know the trick. Should probably be put into a faq....
Create a native method e.g. getNativePath and implement it to return the path of where it is located on disk. Bundle your executable and the native dll into a jar that is added in the nativelib section of the jnlp file
On windows the code may look something like the following.
* Class:     Native
* Method:    getNativePath
* Signature: ()Ljava/lang/String;
JNIEXPORT jstring JNICALL Java_Native_getNativePath(JNIEnv* env, jobject obj)
   char buf[_MAX_PATH];
#ifdef _DEBUG
   HMODULE  hmodule=GetModuleHandle("theNameOfTheDebugDll");
#else
   HMODULE  hmodule=GetModuleHandle("theNameOfTheReleaseDll");
#endif
   GetModuleFileName(hmodule, buf, _MAX_PATH);
   return (*env)->NewStringUTF(env, buf);
}Now call the executable with Runtime.exec() by prepending the path returned by the native call to getNativePath.
\Magnus