Can Java Web Start be used to run server-side programs?
Java WebStart will install a desktop application into the cache of the client. That will run on the client not on the server, however you can easily create a webapplication as a service, i.e. on Tomcat. The webapp will be able to receive client requests, i.e. via RMI, RESTfull service or webservice, call the proprietary programm and return the results.
I have a Java application that needs to run the proprietary software PowerWorld on the server and then return output to the client side Web Start window. Is this possible? How do I go about doing this?
I am using Apache Tomcat to run the server. My Java code uses Runtime.exec() to run a Python script that runs PowerWorld. I made sure that the python script, powerworld file and java app are all in the same directory and reference each other using relative file paths