Technical Q&A JAVA24

Defining user properties with MRJAppBuilder

Q: In JBindery there was a Properties panel that allowed me to enter in my own environment properties, but I see nothing like this when using MRJAppBuilder. How do I specify my own properties when using the MRJAppBuilder tool?

A: MRJAppBuilder does not present an interface like JBindery to handle user properties, but it is a trivial matter to add your own properties. Simply add your properties as "name = value" pairs to the MRJAppBuilder properties (configuration) file. For example, look at this sample properties file:

# MRJApp.properties
#
# This file is intended for use with the MRJAppBuilder tool
# to create a double-clickable launcher for this application.
# MRJAppBuilder is part of the MRJ SDK.
#
# Version 1.0 03/22/2000

# Class containing 'main'
com.apple.mrj.application.main = MainFrame
# Add our jar to the classpath
com.apple.mrj.application.classpath = $APPLICATION/MRJApp.jar
# We have no parameters to main
#com.apple.mrj.application.parameters =
# Where to send stdout
com.apple.mrj.application.stdout = $CONSOLE
# Perhaps to a file?
#com.apple.mrj.application.stdout = out.txt
#com.apple.mrj.application.stdout.append = false
# Where to send stderr
com.apple.mrj.application.stderr = $CONSOLE
# Perhaps to a file?
#com.apple.mrj.application.stderr = err.txt
#com.apple.mrj.application.stderr.append = false

# Any user properties
mywebsite = http://developer.apple.com/java/
myfavoritecolor = green
# etc.
    

Once the application is built using this properties file, the custom properties can be accessed in the standard Java way using System.getProperty("propertyname").

For more information on what MRJAppBuilder properties are available, or on how to use the MRJAppBuilder in general, please refer to the documentation included in the MRJ SDK.

[Apr 17 2000]