Does anybody know how to embed a Java runtime into a Mac Cocoa (sandboxed) app so that the app can run a .jar file without the user having to install Java separately?
We have a Cocoa application that we sell through the Mac App Store as well as on our own site which can use Java for a specific task. It's a writing app, and because the standard NSText exporters for .doc, .docx and .odt are very limited (not supporting headers, footers, images etc), we write out to RTF and then use Java-based converters (from Aspose.com) to convert the RTF to .doc, .docx or .odt, depending on the chosen export format.
I do this by by using NSTask to call on /usr/bin/java and run a bundled .jar file that runs the conversion routines. This all works beautifully--as long as Java is installed on the user's Mac. If it's not installed, our app asks the user if he or she would like to install Java to benefit from the enhanced converters, or instead fall back on the NSText lossy converters. If the user chooses to install Java, we call java_home --request to invoke OS X's Java installer.
However, now that Apple has ended (or is ending) direct support for Java, this approach is problematic. During our last Mac App Store review, we were told that we would soon need to stop asking the user if he or she wanted to install Java. I have read that Apple's recommended route going forward is to embed a Java Runtime Environment into Cocoa applications that need to run Java. (E.g: http://lists.apple.com/archives/java-dev/2011/Jul/msg00038.html )
Over the past few days, I've therefore been researching how I can go about embedding a JRE in my app, but I haven't found any instructions on how to do so anywhere - nothing that I understand, at least. Someone asked a similar question here a couple of years ago: