Navigating the Preferences Pane: Customizing Mac OS X System Controls

Table of Contents

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Mac OS X settings Tab

In this page you can specify the settings for the Mac OS X package.

For a Mac OS X bundle to be created you must create a Mac OS X Build in the Builds page.

Not all the features of an MSI package are available for a Mac OS X package. There are supported only Multiple Java Products, File Associations and most of Java settings. Other settings like custom actions, registry etc. are not supported as they are specific to Windows platforms.

All the latest Java Distributions (e.g. OpenJDK, AdoptOpenJDK, etc.) are supported.

Include the Java Product in the Mac OS build

This option allows you to choose whether the product will be added or not to the Mac OS build.

Files and Folders

This section allows you to add resources to the Mac OS X package.

The tree control is divided into two sections:

Product Section - Contains the files that will be deployed in the current product’s Java directory.
Common Section - Contains the files that will be deployed in the Mac OS X product’s root folder. This section is the same for all java products.

If you are deploying several products you can share files between the products, to reduce the archive’s size. Only the files whose location is included in the classpath list can be shared.

When a product needs a JAR or a folder that is not found in the classpath it will search for it in its Resource folder. If it doesn’t find it, it will try to search for it in the root folder. If this fails, it will search for it in the other products Resource folders.

Adding a folder

Use the [Add Folder… ] button or “Add Folder…” context menu option.

Adding files

Use the [Add Files… ] button or “Add Files…” context menu option.

Removing files or folders

Use the [Remove ] button, the “Remove” list context menu item or press the Delete key while an element from the tree is selected.

Copying files and folders between sections

Drag and drop resources between sections while the Shift key is pressed or use the “Copy to Product Section/Copy to Common Section” context menu options.

Moving files and folders between sections

Drag and drop resources between sections or use the “Move to Product Section/Move to Common Section” context menu options.

The resources must be dropped over the other section’s root item.

When copying or moving resources between components they will be added with their full path.

Settings

VM Provider

This option allows you to choose between Apple and Oracle virtual machine.

Additional features available for Oracle VM:

Supports Java 7 and all above versions.
Bundle the JRE inside your application - optional
Splash screen support
Support for user defined Java Application Launcher

Product Version

This the version that presented to the user into the application about panel, but is not interpreted by the system. If no value is specified in this field then the java product name and the package version will be used instead. This field is of PseudoFormatted Type and can be edited with Smart Edit Control .

Required OS X Version

This is the minimum required OS version for your application.

If you specify a version higher than the one the bundle is deployed on, the application will not work.

Icon File

This field identifies the file containing the icon for the bundle. The icon file will be looked up in the Resources directory of the bundle.

Click here

Signature

The value for this field is a string containing a four-letter code which is specific to the bundle. For example, the signature for the TextEdit application is txt.

Bundle Identifier

This is a unique identifier string for the bundle. This identifier should be in the form of a Java-style package name, for example com.mycompany.myapp. The bundle identifier can be used to locate the bundle at run-time. The preferences system also uses this string to uniquely identify applications. This field is of PseudoFormatted Type and can be edited with Smart Edit Control .

Description

Change the application’s description which is displayed in the Info window. This field is of PseudoFormatted Type and can be edited with Smart Edit Control .

Click here

This option specifies that the application will run as an agent. Agent applications are not displayed in the Dock, in the Force Quit window or in the Menu Bar. Usually they are background applications but they can come to the foreground to present a user interface if desired.

Start On Main Thread

This option is useful if you are using SWT in your application in order to fix various problems.

Click here

More Options

To specify any other Mac OS X application properties you must use the MacOS Java Launcher Properties dialog.

For details on how to localize a Mac OS X package please go to Java Product Localization page.

Topics

MacOS Java Launcher Properties
Specify custom Mac OS application properties

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Navigating the Preferences Pane: Customizing Mac OS X System Controls