Creating bespoke applications with the org.beryx.runtime plugin

This simple Windows application shows how to create multiple executable images, each one customized for a different client.

For each customer, we store its specific resources and configuration files in a subdirectory of the config directory. The name of the subdirectory is given by the customerId. In our example, we consider three customers: Amazon, Facebook, and Google, where the customerId is the customer name in lowercase.

The bespoke executables display the customer logo and a greeting. The greeting message is provided by a DLL available in the dll directory. The color of the greeting message is configured in the customer.properties file available in each customer-specific subdirectory.

customerId: amazon	customerId: facebook	customerId: google

To create the bespoke executables run:

gradlew jpackageAll

The images will be available in build\jpackage. You can start the applications by executing:

build\jpackage\amazon\demoProject\demoProject.exe
build\jpackage\facebook\demoProject\demoProject.exe
build\jpackage\google\demoProject\demoProject.exe

You can also run the applications directly from Gradle:

gradlew -P customerId=amazon run
gradlew -P customerId=facebook run
gradlew -P customerId=google run

As you can see, we use the customerId property to tell Gradle which bespoke application to run. A default value for the customerId property is provided in gradle.properties:

customerId=google

You can also use the installDist task to create bespoke distributions:

gradlew -P customerId=amazon installDist
gradlew -P customerId=facebook installDist
gradlew -P customerId=google installDist

The Gradle script takes care of several things:

• configures java.library.path for the run task:

  run {
  jvmArgs "-Djava.library.path=$projectDir/dll"
  }

• configures java.library.path for the test task:

  test {
  jvmArgs "-Djava.library.path=$projectDir/dll"
  }

• copies customer-specific resources and configuration files:

  tasks.processResources {
  from "config/$customerId"
  into sourceSets.main.java.outputDir
  }

• copies the DLL into the bin directory of a distribution created by the installDist task and configures java.library.path in the start script:

  tasks.installDist {
  doLast {
      copy {
          from "dll"
          into "$destinationDir/bin"
      }
  }
  }
  tasks.startScripts {
  def gen = windowsStartScriptGenerator
  gen.template = resources.text.fromString(gen.template.asString().replace(
      'DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS=${defaultJvmOpts}',
      'DEFAULT_JVM_OPTS="-Djava.library.path=%APP_HOME%\\\\bin" ${defaultJvmOpts}'))
  }

• copies the DLL into the executable image created by jpackage:

  tasks.jpackageImage {
  doLast {
      copy {
          from "dll"
          into "$jpackageData.imageOutputDir/$jpackageData.imageName"
      }
  }
  }

  Note that there is no need to set java.library.path, because it already includes the directory of the executable image.

• use the GradleRunner available in the Gradle TestKit to execute the jpackage task repeatedly, each time setting a different value for the customerId property:

  task jpackageAll(group: 'distribution', description: 'Creating packages for all customers') {
  doFirst {
      file("config").eachDir {
          def customer = it.name
          GradleRunner.create()
                      .withDebug(true)
                      .withProjectDir(projectDir)
                      .forwardOutput()
                      .withArguments("-is", "-P", "customerId=$customer", "build", "jpackage")
                      .build();
      }
  }
  }