Java Web Start's Version

[Prabh]

Hi all,

1)Is there a way to find the version of the Java Web Start installed
on a PC.
The javaws.exe doesnt have a binary version resource.

I'm working on an installer which needs to check the version of JWS
installed on user's PC, so "Help-->About" and "Look for Title on JWS
console" are out of question.

Is there a command-line option to find version,
"C:\Program Files\Java Web Start\javaws.exe -version " or similar?
BTW, I tried this cmd, (coming from Perl and all), it expects
"-version" to be an application .

2)The installer needs to check version 1.4.0 of JWS.
I tried to get info from the Windows registry.

I tried:
"Find javaws.exe" + "Search for 1.4.0 key/values in JWS registry hive"
approach.
This works fine and I can determine the version, but the problem is,
the JWS install doesnt just write the current version's registry info,
but also key/values of all previous JWS versions(1.1,1.2 etc.)

If this "write previous versions' registry info." is continued in
newer versions of JWS ( 1.4 +), my search for registries , while true
, will not guarantee that its "JWS 1.4 and 1.4 alone" on the PC.

Is there any way to get around it?
All this would be so much simpler if there were a version on the .exe.

3) Related question,
Why isnt JWS 1.4 available as a stand-alone .exe?
I remember installing 1.2 and 1.0 from JWS-specific .exes., the latest
version is bundled with the Runtime .exe.

Thanks,
Prab

 

[Roedy Green]

I'm working on an installer which needs to check the version of JWS
installed on user's PC, so "Help-->About" and "Look for Title on JWS
console" are out of question.

You can revert to the brute force way. Create a table of sizes,
datestamps and if you are truly paranoid, CRC signatures for various
versions.

See http://mindprod.com/jgloss/crc.html