Pass value to an application ...

Question

hi Gurus,
Is it possible to pass values to an external application using java code.[ no JSPs and servlets involved ]
Guide me!!!
Regards,
-Nags

Answer 1

Yes. Use the Runtime and Process classes:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/Runtime.html
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/Process.html
An example for listing a directory on a UNIX platform:
import java.io.*;
public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();
        Process process = runtime.exec(new String[] { "ls", "-alF", args[0] });
        process.waitFor();
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));
        for (String s = br.readLine(); s != null; s = br.readLine()) {
            System.out.println(s);
}This simple code does not check for exit codes, or error messages.
Cheers, Neil