README

JShortcut
v0.4 November 15, 2003

Introduction
Home Page
Features
Documentation
Installing JShortcut
Using JShortcut
Building JShortcut
Bug Reports and Feedback
Author

Introduction

JShortcut is a Java package and JNI library to allow Java programs to create and read shortcuts and menu items (ShellLinks) under Windows.

Home Page

Go to the JShortcut home page to download the latest version of JShortcut.

Features

Licensed under LGPL, freely redistributable with source.
Provides the location of special folders such as the desktop and the Program Files directory.
Allows the creation and reading of shortcuts on the desktop and menu items in the Start Menu.
Can be used from a self-extracting JAR file as part of the installation of another application.

Documentation

The javadoc-generated API Reference provides detailed documentation on the packages and classes used in JShortcut.

Installing JShortcut

JShortcut is delivered in a self-extracting JAR file. You must have Java running on your system in order to extract it.

To install JShortcut from the installation JAR file (.jar extension), double-click on the JAR file, or run the command

java -jar jshortcut-N_N.jar

This will open a dialog allowing you to specify a destination directory, and it will create a directory called jshortcut-N_N in the specified directory, where N_N is replaced by the JShortcut version number.

Using JShortcut

To use JShortcut, you only need two files from the JShortcut distribution: jshortcut.jar and jshortcut.dll (but remember that the GPL requires you to make the source available when you redistribute JShortcut with your program). You don't need to build anything in the JShortcut kit in order to use it.

Copy the files jshortcut.jar and jshortcut.dll into one of the directories in your CLASSPATH. If your program runs from a jar file, you can put both of those files into the same directory as your main jar file, and add the following line to the manifest in your jar file:

Class-Path: jshortcut.jar

Use code such as the following to create a shortcut on the desktop:


import net.jimmc.shortcut.JShellLink;
...
    String jarFileName = JShellLink.getDirectory("program_files")+
        "\\myprogram\\myprogram.jar";
            //This might be a good place to put your program
    JShellLink link = new JShellLink();
    link.setFolder(JShellLink.getDirectory("desktop"));
    link.setName("My Program");
    link.setPath(jarFileName);
    link.save();

You may want to use the JShortcut capabilities from a self-extracting jar file when installing your program. This allows you to get such useful values as the location of the Program Files directory, which you might want as a default when asking the user where he wants to install your program.

To use JShortcut during the self-extraction, you will need to take the following steps:

When building your self-extracting jar file, be sure to include the net/jimmc/jshortcut class files in your jar file where they will be available during extraction.
At the beginning of the installation process, extract the jshortcut.dll file to a temporary location. Use System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir") for the location of the temporary directory.
Using System.setProperty, set the system property JSHORTCUT_HOME to the temporary directory to which you extracted jshortcut.dll. You must take these two steps before referencing any of the JShortcut classes for the first time; otherwise it will fail to find the jshortcut.dll native library.
At this point you can use any of the JShortcut classes and methods.
After the extraction is done, delete the temporary copy of jshortcut.dll.

README

JShortcut v0.4 November 15, 2003

Contents

JShortcut
v0.4 November 15, 2003