The Last Mile to Desktop Java™ Technology Anton Kast Chief Architect Light Crafts Inc. www.lightcrafts.com TS-3938 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | Desktop Java Technology Works Great It is Mostly Possible for a Small Group to Develop Cross-platform Desktop Software Products in Java Technology ThingsT That Work Great: h ● i AWT, Swing, SWT ● RT Framework s ● Component abstraction ● Collections ● Preferences t ● Event abstraction ● I/O (File, network) a ● Widgets l ● k The VM i ● Exceptions s ● Synchronization a ● Garbage collection (if you get the policy right) b 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 2 What Is LightZone? LightZone is advanced photo editing made simple Requirements Big image files (100MB+) Maximum Power Many image processing layers Fast rendering Desktop integration User Focus Conformant look-and-feel Standard behaviors This talk is about the stuff we had to add to Java technology to make this product 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 3 DEMO Briefly see what LightZone is about 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 4 Huge Universe of Java Technology UI Kits L&F's AWT Metal “Foundation classes” Swing Windows SWT (Eclipse) Aqua Quaqua javadesktop.org GTK Swing Depot (component libraries) Winlaf Project Looking Glass Substance blogs/discussion Alloy Nimbus SwingLabs ... SwingX (widgets) Java technology-based Desktop Integration Components Toolkits is a vigorous specialty, and it is expanding Leaders and experts may be seated near you 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 5 Deployment How to get the app running in the user’s environment? Windows Macintosh ● Can’t assume Java technology is ● Java technology is always present, so present, so we can’t control the Applet WebStart Java technology version (Argh!) ● “DMG” A file system image holds an Deploy Java technology itself “application bundle,” including all icons and desktop logic ● Desktop icon, document associations, controlled launching INSTALLER NSIS/InstallShield is popular, but we like Install4J 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 6 Launching Absolutely Critical: ● Heap Limit (“-Xmx*M”) ● In general, this must depend on physical memory ● Desktop Events ● Handle drag-and-drop onto desktop icons, taskbar or dock ● Single Instance ● Prevent two running copies of the app Need a native app, just to launch the Java Virtual Machine (JVM™) The terms “Java Virtual Machine” and “JVM” mean a Virtual Machine for the Java™ platform. 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 7 Java Technology’s 2GB Heap Limit Actually, it’s less (~1.5GB on Windows) We made a native allocator of ByteBuffers, and we swap image data to it: // Allocate a chunk outisde the Java heap. for instance, native long alloc(int size); “return new char[size];” // Free a chunk outside the Java heap. native void free(long addr, int size); for instance, “delete[] addr;” // Construct a ByteBuffer inside a chunk. native ByteBuffer getNativeByteBuffer(long addr, int size); // JNI to instantiate the ByteBuffer: JNIEXPORT jobject JNICALL getNativeByteBuffer( JNIEnv *env, jclass, jlong jAddr, jint jSize ) { void *addr = reinterpret_cast<char*>(jAddr); return env->NewDirectByteBuffer(addr, jSize); } 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 8 File Choosers Users spend a lot of time with these: Shortcuts Search Preview Forward/back Native Shortcuts (Key Bindings) Solutions: ●Another L&F (Quaqua, Winlaf) Better, but still not authentic ●java.awt.FileDialog Native, but restrictive API ●Native code JFileChooser The cadillac of file choosers 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 9 File System Presentation LightZone has a folder tree Windows Macintosh ● These common displays require lots of trickery in Java: ● Icons: (Windows: native code; Mac: Quaqua L&F) ● Hidden folders: (C:\WINDOWS; /bin /etc /usr etc.) ● Shortcuts/Aliases: (Native code in all cases) ● Java technology-based Swing provides some help: javax.swing.filechooser.FileSystemView 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 10 Licensing License enforcement in Java technology is hard because bytecode is readable Story of Cracking LightZone ● We wanted hard licensing ● 30-day trials, credit cards, copy-paste your key, etc. ● We implemented this in native code, for obscurity ● Within two months of release, a hacked version was on bittorrent ● Our mistake: the license check was called from Java technology ● Someone just decompiled the bytecode and bypassed the license check Two Solutions Cool, but a hassle if you like stack traces ● Obfuscation—See ProGuard More native code ● Digital signing—Sign your jars, obfuscate the verification 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 11 A Word on Desktop GC The word is: -XX:+UseParallelGC We’ve had problems: 1.GC fails to keep up with the user 2.GC blocks the app intermittently ● (Maybe server GC gets more love) ● Parallel GC smoothed the ride in LightZone ● Treatise on GC configuration at http://java.sun.com 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 12 Standard APIs We Replaced We had some specific requirements, mostly related to image processing Printing ● Needed sticky printer options, reliable imageable areas ImageIO ● Needed faster image I/O and full image metadata ● Didn’t need diverse image formats (Just TIFF, JPEG, and RAW) Color Management ● Needed thread-safe color space conversions, to run on Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) API tile threads JavaHelp™ Tool ● JavaHelp tool’s searching, indexing, and UI coupling are all great ● But its HTML renderer is nonstandard 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 13 Another Standard API We Replaced JOptionPane ● Mac alert dialogs are a joy to use: App icon gives context Simple question in bold Destructive option Boring explanation separated on left in fine print (Accelerator keys work) Default option throbs ● The Quaqua Swing L&F does a good job with this on Mac ● On Windows, JOptionPane can be warped to a close imitation default JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog() 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 14 More Native Tips and Tricks ● Discover “My Documents” on Windows ● It’s localized ● Find the color profile of a display device ● Resolve file “shortcuts” and “aliases” ● We cash file data, so we need a truly unique path for every file (File.getCanonicalPath() won’t do) ● Bring a Window to the front ● Evil? 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 15 Mac-Specific Tips and Tricks ● Screen menu bar (“-Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar=true”) ● Application menu ● Use a native launcher to control the menu name ● About, Preferences, Quit items: try MRJAdapter at java.net ● Sheets ● Someone please try this with the new Java Platform v.6 frame “modalities” ● Apple’s specialized system properties ● (showGrowBox, fileDialogForDirectories, brushMetalLook, etc.) ● Use Quaqua, not Aqua 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 16 Why Was LightZone Written in Java Technology? Because we find Java technology to be a fun and productive framework ● Almost all the code is cross-platform, including all the GUI ● JAI API works great ● We can easily integrate third-party libraries when needed ● We can easily integrate native code when needed 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 17 For More Information GC configuration in Sun Vms: ● http://java.sun.com/docs/hotspot/gc5.0/gc_tuning_5.html Mac system properties: ● http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Java/Conceptual/ JavaPropVMInfoRef Swing Toolkits: ● http://community.java.net/javadesktop ● http://swinglabs.org Apple’s MRJAdapter ● https://mrjadapter.dev.java.net EJ-Technologies “install4j” Java installer ● http://www.ej-technologies.com 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 18 Q&A Anton Kast Chief Architect Light Crafts Inc. www.lightcrafts.com 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | 19 The Last Mile to Desktop Java™ Technology Anton Kast Chief Architect Light Crafts Inc. www.lightcrafts.com TS-3938 2007 JavaOneSM Conference | Session 3938 | .