The Application Client URL

The default URL for an application is as follows:

http://host:port/context-root

The default URL for a stand-alone application client module is as follows:

http://host:port/module-id

If the context-root or module-id is not specified during deployment, the name of the EAR or JAR file without the extension is used. For an application, the relative path to the application client JAR file is also included. If the application or module is not in EAR or JAR file format, a context-root or module-id is generated.

Regardless of how the context-root or module-id is determined, it is written to the server log. For details about naming, see Naming Standards in Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 9 Application Deployment Guide.

To set a different URL for an application client, use the context-root subelement of the java-web-start-access element in the sun-application-client.xml file. See Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 9 Application Deployment Guide.

You can also pass arguments to the ACC or to the application client's main method as query parameters in the URL. If multiple application client arguments are specified, they are passed in the order specified.

A question mark separates the context root from the arguments. Each argument and each value must begin with arg= and end with an ampersand (&). Here is an example URL with a -color argument for a stand-alone application client. The -color argument is passed to the application client's main method.

http://localhost:8080/testClient?arg=-color&arg=red

If you are using the javaws URL command to launch Java Web Start with a URL that contains arguments, enclose the URL in double quotes (") to avoid breaking the URL at the ampersand (&) symbol.

Ideally, you should build your production application clients with user-friendly interfaces that collect information which might otherwise be gathered as command-line arguments. This minimizes the degree to which users must customize the URLs that launch application clients using Java Web Start. Command-line argument support is useful in a development environment and for existing application clients that depend on it.