Branding Web Start applications

This optional procedure may be most useful for an OEM distributing a Niagara-based application. You can brand defaults for your Workbench application launched by Java Web Start by editing the brand.properties file. There are five properties in the brand file relating to Web Start ( shown below in step 2).
Prerequisites:
  • The image files used for branding must be located on the local station, either in the module space or in the file system space. If using the file system space, the ords must refer to files in the system home /workbench/webstart/ directory.
  • The image files must be either .png, .gif, .jpg, or .ico format.

Perform the following steps:
  1. Open the Java Control Panel, view the temporary internet files from the general page, and delete any existing cached instances of the Web Start app
  2. In the system home directory, open the /lib/brand.properties file and, if the following settings are present in the file, modify as desired. Otherwise, use a text editor to enter the following settings in the file:
    • webstart.vendor - you can use this in the format property for the shortcut text. Niagara uses the license brand id when this property is not set.
    • webstart.title - provides the text for the window title bar. You can also use this as a format value in the shortcut property.
    • webstart.icon - a file ord referencing an icon image file to be used on the title bar of the application window
    • webstart.shortcut.icon - a file ord referencing an image file to be used on the start menu and desktop shortcuts)
  3. Start the station.
  4. In the WebServices Property Sheet view, expand the Web Start Config slot and ensure that the Web Start property is enabled and that the three shortcut properties are enabled.
  5. Open the login page from a web browser and and click on the Web Start link to download the JNLP file.
    The Web Start application opens.
  6. Verify that the title and icons specified in the brand.properties file are used for the window frame.
  7. Open the Windows Start menu and verify that the shortcut icon specified in the properties file is shown.

Example

Following is an example of brand properties referencing custom images via module ords:
webstart.vendor=Initech
webstart.title=Initech BAS Appliance
webstart.icon=module://demoAppliance/appliance/ui/initech.png
webstart.shortcut.icon=module://demoAppliance/appliance/
ui/initech.png
 
 
NOTE: Since the brand properties are cached, subsequent changes require a station restart for the changes to take effect. Brand properties are also written to the JNLP file, so changes require that the file be downloaded again.