java application on Windows 8 start screen

Question

I have been googling on this but I can't find the answer. Can anyone tell me if you can put a Java application on the windows 8 start screen? According to java.com

When will Java be supported in Windows 8? Windows 8 is officially supported with the release of Java 7 Update 10. Java will only be supported in Desktop screen. Java will not run in the Start screen.

I am not sure how to interpret this since I do not know the startscreen of Windows 8 and they talk about internet explorer 10 on the same page which makes me think they may only be talking about the browser. Basically I want to have a tile to act like a classic windows icon. Is this the way it works and is this the way you can run a java application? Or do you need to go to the desktop interface first?

Answer 1

No. You can't.

All the apps on the Windows 8 start screen are the apps downloaded from the Windows Store.

All the other Java applications that you develop will run in the desktop environment, but not in the start screen.

As per this source, you can look forward towards creating apps for Windows Store using Java and then you can maybe think of putting a Java application on the Windows start screen.

Answer 2

You cannot put directly a Java application in the start screen in windows 8 (just as you couldn't create shortcut icons on the Desktop in Windows 7), however notice this is rarely what you want with a Windows desktop application.

Most of the times you will want to wrap your Java desktop application with a windows installer which will put the start screen icon on windows 8. Your Java code will then be launched by the installer executable which might do some house cleaning jobs like checking what compatible version of Java is installed in the computer and if required install a newer one.