How do I run multiple java apps in one JVM to reduce memory use?

Question

Hi all,
I saw an article either on the web or in a magazine not too long ago about how to "detect" if the app is already running, and if so, it hands off the new instance to the already running JVM, which then creates a thread to run the Java app in. As it turns out, my app will be used in an ASP environment, through Citrix. We may have as many as 50 to 100 users running the same app, each with their own unique user ID, but all using the same one server to run it on. Each instance eats up 25MB of memory right now. So the question is if anybody knows of a URL or an app like this that can handle the process of running the same (or even different Java) apps in one JVM as separate threads, instead of requring several instances of the JVM to run? I know this article presented a fully working example, and I believe I know enough to do it but I wanted ot use the article as a reference to make sure it is done right. I know that each app basically would use the same one "launcher" program that would on first launch "listen" to a port, as well as send a message through the port to see if an existing launcher was running. If it does, it hands off the Java app to be run to the existing luancher application and shuts down the 2nd launching app. By using this method, the JVM eats up its normal memory, but each Java app only consumes its necessary memory as well and doesn't use up more JVM instance memory.
Thanks.

Answer 1

<pre>
import java.util.Properties;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.NoSuchElementException;
public class RunProg implements Runnable, Cloneable
private String iProg;
private String iArgs[];
public static void main(String args[])
new RunProg().main();
// first step is to start main program itself
private void main()
Properties properties = System.getProperties();
try
properties.load(new FileInputStream("RunProg.properties"));
catch(IOException e)
System.setProperties(properties);
int i = 0;
System.out.println("enter main, activeCount=" + Thread.activeCount());
while(true)
String program = properties.getProperty("Prog" + i);
if(program == null)
break;
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(program);
String[] args = new String[st.countTokens() - 1];
try
RunProg rp = (RunProg)this.clone();
rp.iProg = st.nextToken();
for(int j = 0; st.hasMoreTokens(); j++)
     args[j] = st.nextToken();
rp.iArgs = args;
Thread th = new Thread(rp);
th.setName("prog" + i + "=" + program);
th.start();
System.out.println("prog" + i + "=" + program + ", started");
catch(CloneNotSupportedException e)
System.out.println("prog" + i + "=" + program + ", can't start");
i++;
     System.out.println("end of main, activeCount=" + Thread.activeCount());
// next step is to start all others one by one
public void run()
try
Class c = Class.forName(iProg);
Class p[] = new Class[1];
p[0] = String[].class;
Method m = c.getMethod("main", p);
Object o[] = new Object[1];
o[0] = iArgs;
m.invoke(null, o);
catch(ClassNotFoundException e)
System.out.println(iProg + "ClassNotFoundException");
catch(NoSuchMethodException e)
System.out.println(iProg + "NoSuchMethodException");
catch(InvocationTargetException e)
System.out.println(iProg + "NoSuchMethodException");
catch(IllegalAccessException e)
System.out.println(iProg + "NoSuchMethodException");
System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + ", ended");
System.out.println("exit run, activeCount=" + Thread.activeCount());
// setup SecurityManager to disable method System.exit()
public RunProg()
     SecurityManager sm = new mySecurityManager();
     System.setSecurityManager(sm);
// inner-class to disable method System.exit()
protected class mySecurityManager extends SecurityManager
     public void checkExit(int status)
          super.checkExit(status);
          Thread.currentThread().stop();
          throw new SecurityException();
* inner-class to analyze StringTokenizer. This class is enhanced to check double Quotation marks
protected class StringTokenizer implements Enumeration
private int currentPosition;
private int maxPosition;
private String str;
private String delimiters;
private boolean retTokens;
* Constructs a string tokenizer for the specified string. All
* characters in the <code>delim</code> argument are the delimiters
* for separating tokens.
* <p>
* If the <code>returnTokens</code> flag is <code>true</code>, then
* the delimiter characters are also returned as tokens. Each
* delimiter is returned as a string of length one. If the flag is
* <code>false</code>, the delimiter characters are skipped and only
* serve as separators between tokens.
* @param str a string to be parsed.
* @param delim the delimiters.
* @param returnTokens flag indicating whether to return the delimiters
* as tokens.
public StringTokenizer(String str, String delim, boolean returnTokens)
currentPosition = 0;
this.str = str;
maxPosition = str.length();
delimiters = delim;
retTokens = returnTokens;
* Constructs a string tokenizer for the specified string. The
* characters in the <code>delim</code> argument are the delimiters
* for separating tokens. Delimiter characters themselves will not
* be treated as tokens.
* @param str a string to be parsed.
* @param delim the delimiters.
public StringTokenizer(String str, String delim)
this(str, delim, false);
* Constructs a string tokenizer for the specified string. The
* tokenizer uses the default delimiter set, which is
* <code>"&#92;t&#92;n&#92;r&#92;f"</code>: the space character, the tab
* character, the newline character, the carriage-return character,
* and the form-feed character. Delimiter characters themselves will
* not be treated as tokens.
* @param str a string to be parsed.
public StringTokenizer(String str)
this(str, " \t\n\r\f", false);
* Skips delimiters.
protected void skipDelimiters()
while(!retTokens &&
(currentPosition < maxPosition) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currentPosition)) >= 0))
currentPosition++;
* Tests if there are more tokens available from this tokenizer's string.
* If this method returns <tt>true</tt>, then a subsequent call to
* <tt>nextToken</tt> with no argument will successfully return a token.
* @return <code>true</code> if and only if there is at least one token
* in the string after the current position; <code>false</code>
* otherwise.
public boolean hasMoreTokens()
skipDelimiters();
return(currentPosition < maxPosition);
* Returns the next token from this string tokenizer.
* @return the next token from this string tokenizer.
* @exception NoSuchElementException if there are no more tokens in this
* tokenizer's string.
public String nextToken()
skipDelimiters();
if(currentPosition >= maxPosition)
throw new NoSuchElementException();
int start = currentPosition;
boolean inQuotation = false;
while((currentPosition < maxPosition) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currentPosition)) < 0 || inQuotation))
if(str.charAt(currentPosition) == '"')
inQuotation = !inQuotation;
currentPosition++;
if(retTokens && (start == currentPosition) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currentPosition)) >= 0))
currentPosition++;
String s = str.substring(start, currentPosition);
if(s.charAt(0) == '"')
s = s.substring(1);
if(s.charAt(s.length() - 1) == '"')
s = s.substring(0, s.length() - 1);
return s;
* Returns the next token in this string tokenizer's string. First,
* the set of characters considered to be delimiters by this
* <tt>StringTokenizer</tt> object is changed to be the characters in
* the string <tt>delim</tt>. Then the next token in the string
* after the current position is returned. The current position is
* advanced beyond the recognized token. The new delimiter set
* remains the default after this call.
* @param delim the new delimiters.
* @return the next token, after switching to the new delimiter set.
* @exception NoSuchElementException if there are no more tokens in this
* tokenizer's string.
public String nextToken(String delim)
delimiters = delim;
return nextToken();
* Returns the same value as the <code>hasMoreTokens</code>
* method. It exists so that this class can implement the
* <code>Enumeration</code> interface.
* @return <code>true</code> if there are more tokens;
* <code>false</code> otherwise.
* @see java.util.Enumeration
* @see java.util.StringTokenizer#hasMoreTokens()
public boolean hasMoreElements()
return hasMoreTokens();
* Returns the same value as the <code>nextToken</code> method,
* except that its declared return value is <code>Object</code> rather than
* <code>String</code>. It exists so that this class can implement the
* <code>Enumeration</code> interface.
* @return the next token in the string.
* @exception NoSuchElementException if there are no more tokens in this
* tokenizer's string.
* @see java.util.Enumeration
* @see java.util.StringTokenizer#nextToken()
public Object nextElement()
return nextToken();
* Calculates the number of times that this tokenizer's
* <code>nextToken</code> method can be called before it generates an
* exception. The current position is not advanced.
* @return the number of tokens remaining in the string using the current
* delimiter set.
* @see java.util.StringTokenizer#nextToken()
public int countTokens()
int count = 0;
int currpos = currentPosition;
while(currpos < maxPosition)
* This is just skipDelimiters(); but it does not affect
* currentPosition.
while(!retTokens &&
(currpos < maxPosition) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currpos)) >= 0))
currpos++;
if(currpos >= maxPosition)
break;
int start = currpos;
boolean inQuotation = false;
while((currpos < maxPosition) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currpos)) < 0 || inQuotation))
if(str.charAt(currpos) == '"')
inQuotation = !inQuotation;
currpos++;
if(retTokens && (start == currpos) &&
(delimiters.indexOf(str.charAt(currpos)) >= 0))
currpos++;
count++;
return count;
</pre>
RunProg.properties like this:
Prog1=GetEnv 47838 837489 892374 839274
Prog0=GetEnv "djkfds dfkljsd" dsklfj