[crossfire] Gridarta as Webstart application

[Tchize]

Hi,

I have quite a good amount of experience with webstart. One of the main 
drawback of webstart is that it comes from a web environment, that mean 
the running application will be in a sandbox, limiting it's 
possibilities. It can't access disk space, it can't store datas in user 
directory, it can't open network connection. Unless you explicitly put 
it as a trusted application, that mean you then need to sign it with a 
certificate, and such certificate cost money. You could use a selfsigned 
certificate, but then you remove all security, which is a problem in a 
web environment where you can't trust.

Christian Hujer wrote:
> Hello dear co-devs,
>
>
> I've just started experimenting a bit with Webstart. You can see my first 
> steps on http://www.riedquat.de/gridarta/webstart
>
> To me, Webstart currently looks like the future of Gridarta.
> I have the following reasons for this opinion:
> * It's easy to use for users.
>   
yes
> ** Start the application by a click on a link on a webpage.
>   
yes, main point of 'webstart'
> ** On Windows it can create desktop and start menu shortcuts.
>   
standalone installers can too
> * It will automatically update the application.
>   
can be a problem if one version appear to be bugged and user wants to 
keep previous :)
> * We can easily split the application into several jar files.
>   
standalone can too
> * Each jar file is updated separately.
> * If the webpage is set up properly, it will even help users to update their 
> JRE if it's out of date for Gridarta.
>
> (Note that gridarta webstart is not intended to replace the original 
> standalone applications, it's intended as an alternative that should be easy 
> to use and easy to update for users)
>
> Possible file list A:
> * hosted by Gridarta:
> ** For Crossfire:
> *** gridarta4crossfire.jnlp
> *** gridarta4crossfire.jar
> ** For Daimonin:
> *** gridarta4daimonin.jnlp
> *** gridarta4daimonin.jar
> ** For both:
> *** library jars (gridarta, japi, bsh-*, jlfgr-1_0)
> *** legacy jars (rm'ed asap): crimson, jdom, png, visualtek
> *** log4j.jar (Ragnor: now open for discussion again)
> * hosted by Crossfire:
> ** gridarta4crossfire-data.jar
> * hosted by Daimonin:
> ** gridarta4daimonin-data.jar
>
> Possible file list B:
> * hosted by Crossfire:
> ** gridarta4crossfire-data.jar
> ** gridarta4crossfire.jnlp
> ** gridarta4crossfire.jar
> * hosted by Daimonin:
> ** gridarta4daimonin-data.jar
> ** gridarta4daimonin.jnlp
> ** gridarta4daimonin.jar
> * hosted by Gridarta:
> ** library jars gridarta.jar, japi.jar, bsh-classgen.jar, bsh-commands.jar, 
> bsh-core.jar, bsh-util.jar, jlfgr-1_0.jar
> ** legacy jars (to be removed soon): crimson.jar, jdom.jar, png.jar, 
> visualtek.jar
> ** log4j.jar (now open for discussion again)
>
> The jnlp needs to be changed if a jar is added or removed.
> Having the jnlp with Gridarta means Gridarta has to update the JNLPs if the 
> projects decide to change their data jar (e.g. split it into two or three 
> separate jars).
> Having the jnlp with the projects means the Projects have to update the JNLPs 
> if gridarta decides to add / remove library jars / split itself into more 
> jars.
> I haven't found a way of using a split jnlp yet. (Maybe someone knows?)
>   
add a 'ant jnlp -Djnlp.template=....' to generate jnlp a common way for 
all project while letting distributors customize parts of it (like base 
url)? :D
or of course define a few properties in  the build.properties :)
> I think having the servers in jar archives and deploying / updating them with 
> the editor package could also come in handy. JNLP allows specifying different 
> jars for different operating systems, architecture and even locale.
>   
Though it is indeed possible to encapsulate server in the jnlp, take 
care that the only file extension allowed by webstart is .jar (that's 
why native libs must be encapsulated in .jars too) and you will have in 
gridarta to do manual operations to deploy this test server (same apply 
for maps ^^)
>
> Feedback welcome, especially from crossfire and daimonin admins / developers 
> (that's why I crossposted and cc:-ed)
>