Question

Two problems on running a program from another using Process class

Asked by: Iaskyou

Dear:

I met two problem when running a process using Process class.

My Java program called Program-A,  needs to run another Java program called Program-B as a sub-process. P-A needs to run P-B. My solution is to make P-A compily P-B and then runs the entry class file of P-B.  When running, P-A add "bin" directory of P-B into CLASSPATH variable to guarantee that "java" command can find the entry class of P-B under its "bin" directory. Then P-A use Process class to run the command "java -classpah ..."Main" to run P-B from Main.class.

The first problem occurs when updating CLASSPATH variable. We know that the value of CLASSPATH is a combination of several directory names that are separated by ";" under Windows, or separated by ":" under MacOS, or by another character under other OS'. My program need to run under different OS'. Is there an appropriate way to obtain the separating character of CLASSPATH variable from some system variable, so I don't need to detected the OS when updating CLASSPATH every time.

The second problem is about the execution of a .class file. The entry class of P-B is Main.class. P-A runs it using java command. But the command I used under MacOS can not work under Windows. The same case happens under Windows. The command I use under MacOS is:

                /* for macos.  This command does not work under Windows*/
            String[] cmd = {"java",  "Main", "0"};
            String[] env = {"CLASSPATH=" + strClsPath};
            Process ps = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd, env, new File("ProgramB/bin/"));
         


The comnand under Windows is

  /*   for win os. This command does not work under MacOs. */
            String strCmd = "java \"-classpath\" \"" + strClsPath + "\" \"Main\" 0";
            Process ps = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(strCmd);

Does someone know the appropriate format of command that can be used under all OS'.

A further question is about the solution. Is there a better solution for P-A to run P-B?

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Asked On
2007-04-26 at 16:59:47ID22537424
Tags

java

,

class

,

program

,

another

,

process

Topics

Java Programming Language

,

Apple Programming

,

Microsoft Windows Operating Systems

Participating Experts
3
Points
250
Comments
10

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Answers

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2007-04-26 at 17:01:55ID: 18986064

>>Is there an appropriate way to obtain the separating character of CLASSPATH

It's the value of http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/io/File.html#pathSeparatorChar

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2007-04-26 at 17:04:06ID: 18986084

java -classpath ....................

won't work on the Mac??

 

by: objectsPosted on 2007-04-26 at 17:04:59ID: 18986088

 

by: objectsPosted on 2007-04-26 at 17:06:31ID: 18986094

make sure you pass the full path to your java executable, exec() is not a shell :)

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html

 

by: iboPosted on 2007-04-27 at 01:20:42ID: 18987308

why do you need to call them using Runtime utility?

I think its better to instantiate the class to run the main method (or any entry point).
You just need to set the CLASSPATH environment variable.

If the Program-B is some sort of a daemon that has blocking I/O, create a thread wrapper class so that you can instantiate and invoke it and still allowing Program-A to continue with other tasks.

 

by: IaskyouPosted on 2007-04-27 at 06:32:39ID: 18988784

hi,

all source code of Program-B is automatically generated by Program-A. P-A generates the code of P-B and then run it. It seems that P-A is not able to call main() of P-B because it only knows the location of P-B at the runtime.

 

by: iboPosted on 2007-04-27 at 06:51:42ID: 18988932

May I know what exactly is being generated (Program-B)?
IMHO, this can be solved in a more elegant way.

 

by: IaskyouPosted on 2007-04-28 at 01:53:04ID: 18993896

OK, forget P-A and P-B firstly. What I want is an universal format of "Runtime.getRuntime().exec" that works both
under MacOS and Windows. As mentioned above, the command below works under MacOS but does not under Windows.

                /* for macos.  This command does not work under Windows*/
            String[] cmd = {"java",  "Main", "0"};
            String[] env = {"CLASSPATH=" + strClsPath};
            Process ps = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(cmd, env, new File("ProgramB/bin/"));


The code below works under Windows but does not under MacOS unless I remove the quote string for -classpath and for Main. If quote strings are remained, NoClassDefFoundException will occurs. But I can't remove quote string because path name under Windows may contain space character.

 /*   for win os. This command does not work under MacOs. */
            String strCmd = "java \"-classpath\" \"" + strClsPath + "\" \"Main\" 0";
            Process ps = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(strCmd);

 

by: objectsPosted on 2007-04-28 at 01:58:33ID: 18993904

you'll probably need different command lines for the different OS's, select the required command line based on the OS (you can find out what os from System.getProperty("os.name"))

(btw, you shouldn't need quotes around -classpath)

 

by: CEHJPosted on 2007-05-11 at 09:49:15ID: 19073519

:-)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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