Demo Java application runnable from a DVD

Question

I wish to give some demo copies of a Java application on a DVD to a client. Does it make sense to have a preinstalled JRE and Java application on a DVD so that they can just click and run it?

Also, if anyone has done this what are your views on this?

Answer 1

I would suggest you skip the DVD and go for a flash drive instead. This way you can use portable Java and run your app from the flash drive without having to install anything on your client's computer. With the low costs of flash drives these days you should easily earn back what you spend in money in convenience and time.

Here is a tutorial that shows you how to set this up.

Answer 2

Indeed you can simply put a JRE into a directory of the DVD.

Then you start the application with a .bat file that runs a command such as :

jre\bin\java.exe -jar Main.jar 

(If your jar and the jre folder are in the same directory)

Be careful about one thing : you can't know in advance what the DVD's drive letter will be, so in your .bat file you must give relative paths to the JRE and to your jar (or starting class).