How to build an executable file for a JAVA application?

Question

Can anyone advice me on how to build a java executable file to be run on windows. I made a desktop application using netbeans. But dont know how to make it run on windows so i can distribute it..

Plz advice..

Thank u..

Answer 1

java isn't compilable to .exe files.

this is the point of java - it's compiled to a sort of imaginary-architecture machine code called java byte code.

this means that a java app can run on ANY operating system/architecture as long as they have the java virtual machine(java runtime environment).

the JVM is the imaginary computer which runs the byte code.

you can-however create a .jar file:

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/...

look at "JAR files as applications":

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/...

this will allow you to package everything in a JAR file, which can be distributed as one file.

by setting the main-class attribute in the manifest file, you can allow the program to be started by running the JAR file itself.