[Openjnlp-announce] OpenJNLP 0.5 Released

[Kevin H. <ke...@na...>]

After too much time since the last release, OpenJNLP v0.5 has been 
released. It includes meaningful user feedback during app launching.

 From the release notes:

v0.5:
     Major improvements have been made to caching. The cache has been 
overhauled and now
     provides automatic resource updating when resources are determined 
to be out of date.
     Launching has also been completely revamped resulting in a 
streamlined launch process.

     - Notes on Usage
       * In order to provide a better experience for all Java users, the 
development of the
         Java2 is now separate from the JDK 1.1 version. This branching 
means that releases
         for each Java platform are not tied to other platforms and 
functionality can be
         tailored for the best-possible implementation.
       * Mac OS X users can now assign OpenJNLP to be the handler for 
JNLP documents which
         allows double-clicking of documents and web-link launching 
possible. Due to known
         problems with Mac OS X and Java, document-opening may only work 
properly if
         OpenJNLP is already running.
       * The Windows implementation requires that Java is properly 
installed and
         part of the PATH when running programs. Basically if you can 
invoke Java
         directly from the Run command, OpenJNLP should work fine.
       * OpenJNLP on Unix uses a shell script to find the java 
executable, and it
         may need to be tweaked depending on the system it is running on. 
Most unix
         distributions seem to use /usr/bin/java, which is what the 
OpenJNLP shell
         script assumes.
       * All platforms: cache converts itself to new structure if it 
detects an old-style
         cache. When converted all resources are considered out of date 
and will be
         downloaded when necessary. If an app fails to launch it may be 
necessary to
         delete it from the cache.

     - New Features
       * Feedback! Users are now presented with activity feedback during 
an app launch.
       * A launch can be canceled while in progress.
       * Resources (such as jars) are updated when out of date. This is 
implemented via
         JNLP "basic" updating using Last-Modified timestamps.

     - Changes
       * Cache layout simplified. Cache will automatically convert 
old-style caches.
       * Resources now manage themselves within the cache using the new 
CachedResource class.
       * Packaging is simplified. There are now two jars: openjnlp-
app.jar and
         openjnlp-lib.jar. SAX2 and NanoXML are still required.
       * ClassLoader is now based on the Java2 java.net.ClassLoader.
       * OpenJNLP "cache:" URL has been removed, no longer used.
       * Descriptors (JNLP files) are now cached according to the JNLP 
specification. This
         means if the jnlp tag has an href it is added to the cache, 
otherwise it is not.
       * JNLP Descriptors that aren't cached can not be launched via 
OpenJNLP without
         entering the URL although the resources are cached.
       * OpenJNLP now has a registered creator code for Mac OS platforms, 
allowing JNLP
         documents to be associated with the application.

     - Bug Fixes
       * Big changes have altered the bug landscape, all aspects of 
launching and caching
         have been significantly modified.
       * Process streams (stdout and stderr of externally-launched apps) 
are now being
         captured and sent to the console (System.out and System.err).

Known Issues:
     - Caching/Launching
       * No security!
       * Properties not set when launching an application.
       * <extension> and <nativelib> resources are not supported.
       * No support for proxies yet.
       * No checking for JVM version numbers.
       * The JNLP Service Manager and JNLP services are not implemented.

     - Application
       * No way to delete apps from cache.
       * Generic app icon is sometimes displayed instead of the 
app-specified icon.