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();
        }
    }
}

PaulWinstone/demoModule

Creating bespoke applications with the org.beryx.runtime plugin