Installation

Pre-built Binaries

Some older releases within the repository contain *.jar files which may be run directly. To access these, click on the Releases tab below the header on the repository main page Code<> tab. Locate and unzip the JBlockCreator_vX.X_Binary.zip archive then double-click the *.jar file to run the software.

❗Note:
As images are not embedded, this file must be at the same directory level as the images directory for images to be accessible at run-time. This directory structure should be setup automatically when you unzip the archive.

Building and Running from Source

To build and run the application from source, we provide a run_jbc.bat script along with Ant build files. Clone the repository or simply download and unzip the source from the repository code page to begin.

❗Note:
This guide assumes you are using a Windows machine; the build script provided is a Windows batch file. If you wish to use the software on another operating system, you will need to set the environment variables yourself and then call ant run to build and run the software.

1. Download Ant
2. Unzip Ant to your chosen directory.
   ❗Remember the location of your Ant installation.
3. Download the Java Development Kit installer.
   ❗As of v1.6 we target Java 14 so recommend at least JDK 14.0.1.
4. Unzip the download and install it by running the executable file.
   ❗Remember the location of your JDK installations.
5. Locate the JBlockCreator source code and the run_jbc.bat script. Edit the script and change the ANT and the JAVA_HOME definitions so they match the locations of your Ant and JDK installations respectively.
6. Locate the build.properties file and edit this file so the jdk.home.14 definition matches the path to your JDK.
   ❗You will need to use forward slashes / to separate directories in the path not the Windows default of backslash \. If your path contains spaces or colons you will need to escape these characters with a backslash Example: C:\Program Files\Java\jdk-14.0.1 becomes C\:/Program\ Files/Java/jdk-14.0.1.
7. Save and close both files then double click the run_jbc.bat file to build and run the application.
   ❗If the application doesn't run then try to open a command prompt (type CMD in Windows search). Use the cd command to change directory to the JBlockCreator source code directory. Then run the run_jbc.bat file and note any erorr messages on the screen.