MEG Registry project - Workshop

1. Install the Java Run-time environment

The MEG client is a Java application. It requires a Java Run-time Environment (JRE) which supports Java Swing (a feature of the Java API that enables the development of advanced GUI applications). It is recommended that you use the Sun Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE), version 1.4 or later.

Note: For this workshop, a suitable JRE should already be installed on your PC. Check the version of the JRE by opening a MS-DOS window (or Windows 2000 Command window) and entering the command:

java -version

You should see a response similar to

java version "1.4.1" Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.1-b21) Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.1-b21, mixed mode)

If you can see this (or a similar) message, then type exit to close the MS-DOS/Win 2000 window, and go on to section 2.

If you are working on a machine with an older JRE, you will need to update it before running the MEG client application. The J2SE version 1.4.1 JRE for a number of platforms can be downloaded from

http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html

(To run the MEG client, you need only install the JRE; you do not require the full Java Development Kit (JDK).)

2. Download the MEG client application

Note: For this workshop, it is suggested that you create a working directory called meg as a sub-directory in the C:\My Documents directory, and store the MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar file in this meg directory.

The current version of the MEG client application can be downloaded from the download page at:

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/regproj/download/

Download the latest MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar file.

For Windows, download the runmeg.bat file and store it in the same directory as the MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar file.

3. Launch the MEG client application with appropriate run-time parameters

Note: For this workshop, section 3.1 is for information only, as the run-time parameters for the MEG client application have been set correctly in the runmeg.bat file. If you are running the client on another system you may need to alter these parameters to values suitable for your local environment.

3.1 From the command-line

For command-line environments, launch the MEG client using the command:

java -Dmeg.target=http://meg.ukoln.ac.uk/api -jar MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar

where the value of the meg.target property is set to the URL of the registry server.

If you are working with a proxy HTTP server, you may need to specify this to the Java virtual machine.

For example, to use the UKOLN proxy server, use (all on one comand line):

java -Dmeg.target=http://meg.ukoln.ac.uk/api -Dhttp.proxyHost=scoop.ukoln.ac.uk -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dnetworkaddress.cache.ttl=0 -jar MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar

To use the University of Bath proxy server, use (all on one comand line):

java -Dmeg.target=http://meg.ukoln.ac.uk/api -Dhttp.proxyHost=wwwcache.bath.ac.uk -Dhttp.proxyPort=3128 -Dnetworkaddress.cache.ttl=0 -jar MegClient-yyyymmdd.jar

3.2 From Windows Explorer

From Windows, you can launch the MEG client application by double-clicking on the runmeg.bath file in Windows Explorer.

If you need to configure the parameters to specify the target registry server or an HTTP proxy server, then edit the runmeg.bat file first.

If you have successfully launched the MEG client application, you will see some opening comments in the MS-DOS or Windows 2000 console window, similar to the following

MEG Registry Schema Client Copyright 2002 Damian Steer <pldms@mac.com> This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. Funded by JISC and BECTa as part of the MEG Registry Project See http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/education/regproj/ ENDPOINT is http://meg.ukoln.ac.uk/api

And then two windows like those shown below should be displayed:

Exercises

Registry