Launcher Options
The following page has a very complete set of link on this subject as well as discussing the pluses and minuses of all the different options for launching a java program.
http://www.excelsior-usa.com/articles/java-to-exe.html
NSIS http://nsis.sf.net can be used to create an exe file that runs a java program. It makes relatively easy to search for java in several places and provide messages to the user. There is an example of this described at the bottom of the page with the necessary files.
JSmooth is a java application that builds java exe launchers. I think it only runs
on windows. It is pretty nice but it doesn't seem flexible enough to make a launcher that will run optimally off of a CD. This is because it always try to run the "bundled" jre first. In the case of the CD we want to only use this jre as a last resort because it is slower.
http://jsmooth.sf.net
Launch4J this is very similar to JSmooth. However this one will work on linux.
It has the same limitation which will prevent from being used effectively on a CD.
http://launch4j.sourceforge.net/
MAC Project CD Launcher Example
The JeludeCD.nsi file attached is an example of a NSIS launcher. It is based on the Jelude projects nsi script. This script can be built with the nsis compiler and the ico file. The result is the attached Pedagogica.exe. This file will try to run with java from the harddrive first and then from the CD as a last resort. If it can't find any of these it displays a dialog box. It also sets up a timer so it can't be started within 5 seconds of itself. The script has an option for showing a splash screen but this hasn't been enabled in this case.
sunflower-grad.ico (image/x-icon)
Pedagogica.exe (application/octet-stream)
JeludeCD.nsi (application/octet-stream)
Pedagogica.exe (application/octet-stream)
Pedagogica.exe (application/octet-stream)
cd-load-screen.bmp (image/bmp)
