Swing Hacks

Open Files, Directories, and URLs on Mac OS X #80

Chapter 11, Native Integration and Packaging

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411

HACK

As another example, cmd.exe /c start version.txt opens a text file in Win-

dows Notepad (assuming that’s the default text file viewer).

cmd.exe /c start

winword.exe version.txt

would open the file in MS Word. This requires

having Word installed, of course, so I would only recommend hardcoding

the program name if you are sure it’s really there.

Open a Directory

The start command can also open a directory as well as a file, meaning it

will open a file manager window showing the contents of that directory.

Program installers often do this after the install is complete to show where

the program was placed. The code in Example 11-4 will open a new

Explorer window showing the contents of the C: drive.

H A C K

#80

Open Files, Directories, and URLs

on Mac OS X Hack #80

Open files, directories, and URLs in external programs right from your Swing

app.

We can’t let Windows have all of the fun. Mac OS X has a similar and even

easier to use program called

open, which lets you open any file, directory, or

web page directly from the command line. This hack shows you how to

embed

open in your own program.

Using Open

Back in the late 80s, NeXT, Inc. created the first true integration between a

graphical user interface and a Unix-like operating system when they released

NeXTSTEP. Part of this OS was a command-line program called

open, which

could open a file, directory, and (once the Web was invented) a URL. Apple

purchased NeXT in the late 90s and NeXTSTEP became the core of Mac OS

X. Along with this purchase came the

open command, still as useful as ever.

Example 11-4. Opening a directory on Windows

import java.io.IOException;

public class ExecTest {

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

String cmd = "cmd.exe /c start ";

String file = "c:\\";

Runtime.getRuntime( ).exec(cmd + file);

}

}