Select File Options

• Selecting a Network Drive
• File list
• Editing Directories
• Advanced options

Add all the files and directories that are part of your application which includes, but is not limited to, class, JAR, ZIP, images, and text files. If you configured JExpress to Automatically find classes, then you do not want to include any of the class files in the list, except those that are loaded with the Class or ClassLoader classes (i.e., Class.forName, ClassLoader.loadClass).

Important Note: If you can't select a network drive, then you will need to modify the start up command for JExpress.

There's no need to prepare your distributable files into a single directory tree because you can select individual files or entire directories from multiple directories. If you select a directory in your list, then JExpress can automatically include all of its files and its subdirectories. You can also include or exclude files within the selected directory and its subdirectories by extensions. Simply enter the file types, without the period, in the Extensions field and click the radio button that specifies whether to include or exclude files matching the masks. If you want multiple extensions, then use a space as a separator.

Whenever you select a directory and click the Edit button, then you can specify how you'd like the files from that directory, and its subdirectories to be included. To illustrate how these options vary, lets assume that the installation directory is called /NewApplication and that you've selected a directory on your system called /Example/Manual which contains the subdirectories Chapter1 and Chapter2.

As a directory: Creates a directory by the same name in the target machine's installation directory. It also maintains the subdirectory tree on the target machine. In our example, this means that the user's installation directory, called /NewApplication, would contain a subdirectory called Manual, with its associated files, and that the Manual subdirectory would contain the subdirectories Chapter1 and Chapter2 with their associated files.

Files and subdirectories: Stores the files from the selected directory in the user's installation directory and maintains the subdirectory tree on the target machine. In our example, this means that all the files in your /Example/Manual directory would be stored in the user's /NewApplication installation directory. Plus, the subdirectories Chapter1 and Chapter2, with their associated files, would be created in the user's /NewApplication installation directory.

Files only: Stores all the files from the selected directory, and its subdirectories, in the user's installation directory. In other words, the original directory tree is not maintained. In our example, this means that all the files in /Example/Manual, /Example/manual/Chapter1, and /Example/manual/Chapter2 are stored in the customer's /NewApplication directory. No subdirectories are created with this option.

If you are creating a cross platform installer, then you need to specify the extensions for all of your text files. Separate the extensions with a single space and do not include a period before the extension. It's important that none of your non-text files use the same extension as the text files you specify here.

During the installation, any files with a matching extension are automatically converted to the target system's end of line character. For example, if you created your files under Windows and you specify txt as a text file extension, then your JExpress installer automatically changes carriage return/line feeds into line feeds for all txt files if the target system's OS is Unix.

You can reduce the space your installer takes by packing the JAR files if you use JRE 1.5 or later and require your customers to do the same. JExpress automatically uses the Pack 200 compression to minimize the distribution files. When your customers use the Updater, the JAR files are also compressed so it reduces the time to distribute a new version.

Simply add a check mark to the Pack JAR files field on the Advanced options to use Pack 200.

If you'd like to configure the properties Pack200 uses, then create a properties file in JExpress' config subdirectory named pack200.properties. There is an example in that directory which gives more details about configuring the properties.

If you want to be able to use your project on different machines and you have organized all of the files in your project so that all files are within the same directory tree, then you can use the base directory option to make the transition easy. When you move to a new machine you simply change the Base directory to fit your new directory structure before you build your project. Whenever the base directory exists, then all files in the Files panel, the license, readme, and image files are saved relative to the base directory, if those filenames are located within the base directory tree.

The base directory is similar to "ant's" basedir.

Let's assume you have 3 machines that are licensed to operate JExpress. By setting the Base directory to C:\Projects\MyProject you can make it easy to move your project between environments.

Notice that all 3 environments use the same file layout below a certain point in the directory tree. You want your Base directory set to the unique part of the directory tree.

Important: The base directory must be an exact match, so we strongly recommend that you use the Browse button to select the directory name. Also, remember that when you select the directory in the browse dialog box, the directory name must appear in the "File name" field because of a quirk in Swing.

If you are having trouble selecting a network drive when you click the Add button on the Files panel, then you probably need to adjust the way JExpress starts. Follow the instructions for your environment below.

Windows with JRE 1.4.x or later

Unix Systems with JRE 1.4.x or later

Any OS with JRE 1.4.x