Chapter 18. Packaging, Testing, and Submitting the Assignment Application

Terms you'll need to understand:

• JAR

• Ant

• Cygwin

• Javac

• Application file structure

Techniques you'll need to master:

• Packaging the entire project in a single JAR file

• Running your application from Windows, Solaris, and both at the same time

• Uploading your project at Sun's CertManager site

• Structuring your solution in a way that is convenient for the evaluator

This chapter discusses how you should package and carefully test your certification project. When ready, you must submit full source and object code, including new classes, modified versions of supplied classes, and copies of supplied classes that were not modified. They should be in an appropriate directory structure along with the class files. Several other items must be included in the package, such as HTML/javadoc documentation for all classes, user documentation for the database server and GUI client, a README.TXT file, and a design choices document explaining your major design choices. In the README.TXT file, you must supply the names of the files submitted for your project, include a note about their location in the directory structure, and add a brief description of each file's purpose. Finally, you must package all elements of your project into a single JAR file for submission.

Packaging is the least technical aspect of the certification assignment, but one of the easiest areas in which to make mistakes. Some candidates have failed the certification because they put the database binary file in the wrong directory or forgot to include the README.TXT file. To avoid these silly mistakes, follow the directions in this chapter.