How to open IE window for .html user manual?

Question

how to open an IE window for a .html user manual?
I'm creating a user manual in .html format, and I want to open that file in an IE window when a user click on the "Help" menu (JMenuItem - using ActionPerformed event).
Is it possible to do that in java?
What class shall I use?

Answer 1

Call the following class from ur ActionPerformed();
     import java.io.IOException;
public class BrowserControl {
   private static final String WIN_ID = "Windows";
   private static final String WIN_PATH = "rundll32";
   private static final String WIN_FLAG = "url.dll,FileProtocolHandler";
   private static final String UNIX_PATH = "netscape";
   private static final String UNIX_FLAG = "-remote openURL";
  public static void displayURL(String url) {
    boolean windows = isWindowsPlatform();
    String cmd = null;
    try {
      if (windows) {
        cmd = WIN_PATH + " " + WIN_FLAG + " " + url;
        Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
      else {
        cmd = UNIX_PATH + " " + UNIX_FLAG + "(" + url + ")";
        Process p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
        try {
          int exitCode = p.waitFor();
          if (exitCode != 0)  {
            cmd = UNIX_PATH + " " + url;
            p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd);
        catch(InterruptedException x)  {
          System.err.println("Error bringing up browser, cmd='"+cmd+"'");
          System.err.println("Caught: " + x);
    catch(IOException x) {
      // couldn't exec browser
      System.err.println("Could not invoke browser, command=" + cmd);
      System.err.println("Caught: " + x);
  public static boolean isWindowsPlatform()  {
    String os = System.getProperty("os.name");
    if ( os != null && os.startsWith(WIN_ID))
      return true;
    else
      return false;
}