Java Program to Invoke application and commands

What is Runtime Object?

Runtime class encapsulates the run-time environment and cannot instantiate a Runtime object. we can get the reference to the current Runtime object by invoking getRuntime method.

Runtime runtime = Runtime.getRuntime();

How to invoke other application in Java?

• Java provides the provision to execute or invoke other heavyweight process. It's very much useful in multitasking environment.
• Multiple overloading formats are available for exec method in Runtime object and returns Process object./li>

Java program for invoking other application or program

public class CallExternalApp {                                                  
    public static void main(String[] args) {                                    
        try {                                                                   
                System.out.println("Opening external app (gedit) in java program");
                Runtime runTime = Runtime.getRuntime();                         
                Process process = runTime.exec("gedit");                        
        } catch (Exception ex) {                                                
            System.out.println("Exception: " + ex);                             
        }                                                                     
    }                                                                           
}      

Output:

$ java CallExternalApp
Opening external app (gedit) in java program
//Opens gedit app

exec method with different parameters in Runtime object

Process exec(String programName) throws IOException

Process exec(String programName, String[] environment) throws IOException

Process exec(String[] commandLineArray) throws IOException

Process exec(String[] commandLineArray, String[] environment) throws IOException

What is the use of waitFor method?

This waitFor method is part of Process object and it causes to wait invoking program till the sub process completes.

What is the use of destroy method?

destroy method is also part of Process object and it is used to kill the sub process invoked in the main program.

What is the use of exitValue method?

exitValue method returns the value which is returned by sub process once finished. mostly returns 0 if no problem is occurred.

Invoking app with waitFor and exitValue method

public class CallExternalApp {                                                  
    public static void main(String[] args) {                                    
        Process process = null;                                                 
        try {                                                                   
                System.out.println("Opening external app (gedit) in java program");
                Runtime runTime = Runtime.getRuntime();                         
                process = runTime.exec("gedit");                                
                process.waitFor();                                              
        } catch (Exception ex) {                                                
            System.out.println("Exception: " + ex);                             
        }                                                                       
        System.out.println("gedit returned " + process.exitValue());            
    }                                                                           
}   

Output:

$ java CallExternalApp
Opening external app (gedit) in java program
//Opens gedit app
gedit returned 0 //once opened gdit, returns code 0 if no problem is occurred.

Java program to run ping commands using Runtime object.

import java.io.*;                                                               
public class CallExternalApp1 {                                                 
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
        String command = "ping -c 5 www.codingpointer.com";                     
        Process pr = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);                        
        BufferedReader reader =                                                 
              new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(pr.getInputStream()));   
        for(String line="";(line = reader.readLine()) != null;) {               
            System.out.print(line + "\n");                                      
        }                                                                       
    }                                                                           
}  

Output:

$ java CallExternalApp1
PING codingpointer.com (198.46.136.4) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 198.46.136.4 (198.46.136.4): icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=248 ms
64 bytes from 198.46.136.4 (198.46.136.4): icmp_seq=2 ttl=48 time=237 ms
64 bytes from 198.46.136.4 (198.46.136.4): icmp_seq=3 ttl=48 time=349 ms
64 bytes from 198.46.136.4 (198.46.136.4): icmp_seq=4 ttl=48 time=261 ms
64 bytes from 198.46.136.4 (198.46.136.4): icmp_seq=5 ttl=48 time=488 ms

--- codingpointer.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 237.146/317.018/488.713/94.641 ms

Java program to run ping commands using ProcessBuilder object.

• java.lang.ProcessBuilder makes it much easier to specify a process, set up its environment, spawn it, and handle its file descriptors.
• ProcessBuilder class is used to create operating system processes.
• Each ProcessBuilder instance manages a collection of process attributes. The start() method creates a new Process instance with those attributes. The start() method can be invoked repeatedly from the same instance to create new subprocesses with identical or related attributes.

import java.io.*;                                                               
class CallExternalApp2 {                                                        
   public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException, IOException {
        Process pr = new ProcessBuilder(                                        
        "ping","-c","5", "www.google.com").start();                             
        BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(pr.getInputStream()));
        for(String line="";(line = br.readLine()) != null;) {                   
            System.out.println(line);                                           
        }                                                                       
    }                                                                           
}      

Output:

$ java CallExternalApp2
PING www.google.com (216.58.220.36) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from maa03s18-in-f36.1e100.net (216.58.220.36): icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=9.64 ms
64 bytes from maa03s18-in-f36.1e100.net (216.58.220.36): icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=9.96 ms
64 bytes from maa03s18-in-f36.1e100.net (216.58.220.36): icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=9.57 ms
64 bytes from maa03s18-in-f36.1e100.net (216.58.220.36): icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=9.94 ms
64 bytes from maa03s18-in-f36.1e100.net (216.58.220.36): icmp_seq=5 ttl=56 time=13.8 ms

--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 received, 0% packet loss, time 4004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 9.576/10.592/13.833/1.629 ms

Creating new directory in current folder using ProcessBuilder

import java.io.*;                                                               
class CallExternalApp2 {                                                        
   public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{                   
        Process pr = new ProcessBuilder(                                        
        "mkdir","childdir3").start();                                           
    }                                                                           
}  

Output:

$ java CallExternalApp2
//new directory will be created if not exists, otherwise no error is displayed for above program.

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