Create Desktop shortcut

Question

I am working on a java application.

I want to create desktop shortcut of my application's Exe file.

Is is possible to do it from my application itself ? Or user has to do it manually by right clicking ?

Answer 1

package farzi;

import net.jimmc.jshortcut.JShellLink;

public class Sc {
    JShellLink link;
    String filePath;

    public Sc() {
        try {
            link = new JShellLink();
            filePath = JShellLink.getDirectory("")
                + "C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\iexplore.exe";

        } catch (Exception e) {

        }

    }

    public void createDesktopShortcut() {

        try {
            link.setFolder(JShellLink.getDirectory("desktop"));
            link.setName("ie");
            link.setPath(filePath);
            link.save();
        } catch (Exception ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }

    }

    public static void main(String a[]) {
        Sc sc = new Sc();
        sc.createDesktopShortcut();
    }
}

you can get the jar from here

Answer 2

Java Web Start does this. You write a regular application with a regular main method, and point to it with a short XML file with a .jnlp extension. When the user clicks the link to the XML file, Java Web Start will, among other things, create the shortcut, if your XML file contains this:

<information>
    <!-- Other elements go here -->
    <shortcut>
        <desktop/>
    </shortcut>
</information>

More details are here .

Answer 3

This is a fairly old topic, nevertheless I came across Austin`s brilliant answer and encountered some problems using jshortcut from within NetBeans, but I fear this might also affect Ecclipse.

1. Adding jshortcut.dll to java.library.path from wihtin NetBeans using properties->Run->VM options did not work.
2. Adding this dll by source code like " System.setProperty("java.library.path", yourDllPath)" does not work either.
3. Instead put jshortcut.dll to that particular folder where you store your jar s for this project. JShellLink looks at this folder on its own, so you don s for this project. JShellLink looks at this folder on its own, so you don t need to add the DLL`s path to any path, which could cause trouble when running on some closed-down machines.
4. Most Important: When downloading your jshortcut.dll- Version, use AMD for all actual Intel machines. Rename the dll to shortcut.dll after downloading. JShellLink only looks for shortcut.dll, it ignores all other names.

Excert form jShellLink: /** Provide access to shortcuts (shell links) from Java. * * The native library (jshortcut.dll) is loaded when JShellLink is first * loaded. * By default, JShellLink first looks for the native library in the PATH, * using System.loadLibrary. * If the native library is not found in the PATH, * JShellLink then looks through each directory in the CLASSPATH * (as determined by the value of the system property java.class.path). * If an entry in the CLASSPATH is a jar file, * then JShellLink looks for the native library * in the directory containing that jar file. * The application can override this behavior and force JShellLink to look * for the native library in a specific directory by setting the system * property JSHORTCUT_HOME to point to that directory. * This property must be set before the JShellLink class is loaded. * This makes it possible to use this library from a self-extracting jar file. */