Update on Windows shortcut features for ITW

[Jiri Vanek]

On 12/11/18 1:33 AM, jtesdall wrote:
> I have been through, many trials and tribulations mostly because I am not a
> Java programmer but rather normally use .Net. Getting the Eclipse debugger
> to work with ITW on Windows was quite a task and I hope to write a post
> about how to accomplish it in the near future. Although I am not really sure
> if I know how I got it working finally. ;0)
> 
> I will require a bit of help on some core ITW areas for my code to work
> correctly in the framework. This I think will mainly be in the LRU area.
> Here is what I have working and then what I need some help on.
> 
> 1. I have Windows shortcuts being created on the Windows desktop and a Menu
> created with the same shortcut and an uninstall shortcut as well. The
> shortcuts are created with a external opensource library (.jar) called
> mslinks since windows shortcuts are a binary file. I hope the ITW community
> will be ok with utilizing this external jar otherwise my work will not be
> able to be included. I keep track of shortcuts and menus created in a text
> file in the root of cache. This work is all done in
> runtime/ApplicationInstance.java calling the aformentioned jar classes to
> create the actual shortcut files. 
> 
> 2. I have modified the clear/purge cache function to also remove the windows
> shortcuts and menu. This is done in cache\CacheUtil.java. Like is the
> default in ITW this removes all cache and all ITW created windows shortcuts
> and menus.  
> 
> 3. The clear cache function and the need to have an uninstall feature in
> windows per app made me realize I was going to have to add the capability to
> remove one app at a time and call this from a new Uninstall shortcut and
> maybe someday from add/remove programs. So I did this by addding the
> capability of adding a codebase parameter to the -Xclearcache function in
> Boot.java. I have this working except when it comes to the LRU I have not
> been able to figure out how to mark a file for deletion so I can call
> cleanCache. The markfordelete function requires a version parameter I
> couldn't get figured out what to pass.  So I just loop through the
> directories and delete the ones that match the codebase parameter I pass to
> -Xclearcache and then call clearLRUSortedEntries (which removes all entries
> for all apps). I know these two things are bad but it is working right now
> for me so ..... I could use some help here to get it right.
> 
> 4. The other thing I need help with is building a netx.jar I can use to do
> some more testing on other windows machines. All functions, up until
> removing one app at a time, I could build a netx.jar by just copying in the
> new class files over top of the jar classes. But copying in Boot.class
> doesn't work. Jiri mentioned I would have to use cygwin but I have no idea
> how to do this. So I need help building a jar with my updated classes, can I
> do this on windows? Exporting the jar normally from eclipse also does not
> work. No linux available so I need to do this on windows if possible.
> 
> I think my work is useful if I can get by these two walls and do more
> testing. Then I can cleanup my code and submit it to the project. Can
> someone versed in ITW please lend a tired prograammer a hand! Jiri?!?
> 
> 

That is really a lot of work... I had to read it twice and still not 100% in it. Congratualtions for
jumping onto java so quckly :)

Can you Share your work somehow? I can at least start to work on proper inegration of it alongside
with linux world. As you mentioned earlier, you had modified the XDEsktopeEntry and similar.
Also it wilneed some tuning in maklefiles, as the library you are using is not mandatory on linux.

My experience with cygwin is scare. I got setup environment few years ago  and it is the builder for
ITW since then.  I remember it installed cygwin, and then was clicking those checkboxes (in cygwin
setup) to install some SW. Then added rust and jdk via "normal process" (some msi/zips), and placed
tagsoup and friends on locate-abnle place.... Crap.. This is help I would not be happy to hear.
Added my colleague Michal to CC. He knows this much better then me.
When in cygwin, https://icedtea.classpath.org/wiki/IcedTea-Web#Building_IcedTea-Web should be up to
date.

Maybe you can for ITW to github for a while? I doubt this will be finished in few iterations...
I'm still on board with this feature, and would liek to see it pushed. Unluckily I'm really on wrong
relationship with windows, so sory for not being able to help you more with itw-on -win. I really
look forward to clean up your code and ensure it works fine in linux.

Thanx a lot for bravery to step into it.
  J.
> 
> --
> Sent from: http://openjdk.5641.n7.nabble.com/OpenJDK-Distribution-specific-Packaging-f25548.html
> 


-- 
Jiri Vanek
Senior QE engineer, OpenJDK QE lead, Mgr.
Red Hat Czech
jvanek at redhat.com    M: +420775390109