Dynamic Menu - Tutorial - Please Help!

[josel]

Howdy y'all!

I have no experience in Java and I am faced with needing a cross-platform menuing system.

The platforms: UNIX, LINUX, WINDOWS

The menu should allow administrators to edit content/options. Each menu option will likely execute a binary/program outside Java, I guess this would be referred to as an "external" call.

Is this at all possible? Is there a tutorial that could point me in the right direction?

Thank you all in advance!


Jose Lerebours KNOWLEDGE: Something you can give away endlessly and gain more of it in the process! - Jose Lerebours

 

[palbano]

>> Each menu option will likely execute a binary/program
>> outside Java, I guess this would be referred to as
>> an "external" call.

I have no idea what you are describing about the "menu".

There is a major difference between "executing" a program and "calling" external code.

To Execute a program from Java

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("Notepad");

There are OS differences in using Runtime.exec() so be aware of them.

To "call" external code requires the use of JNI (Java Native Interface). It was designed to provide the interoperation with legacy C/C++ code. You can find lots of information regarding JNI at

http://javasoft.com

hope that helps
-pete

 

[josel]

Pete,

Thanks for replying so promptly. Sorry for the missuse of terminalogy and I gladly stand corrected.

I have been using a data base where "system call" means executing an external program/binary which may or not be related to the data base itself.

It looks like Runtime.getRuntime().exec(); is what I need.

I am going to play around a bid and see what happens.

Thanks!!!!


Jose KNOWLEDGE: Something you can give away endlessly and gain more of it in the process! - Jose Lerebours