Difference b/w PAR & JAR Files

[Former Member]

hi,

i m new to enterprise portal(EP),what is a use of PAR file in portal appl , what is the difference b/w PAR & JAR files,why cant we can use JAR file.

thank in advance naresh

[Former Member]

Hi,

In computing, a JAR file (or Java ARchive) is used for aggregating many files into one. It is generally used to distribute Java classes and associated metadata.

1) WAR (file format) (Web Application aRchive) files are also Java archives which store XML files, java classes, Java Server Pages and other objects for Web Applications.

2) RAR (Resource Adapter aRchive) files, not to be confused with the RAR (file format), are also Java archives which store XML files, java classes and other objects for J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) applications.

3)EAR (file format) (Enterprise ARchive) files are composite Java archives which combine XML files, java classes and other objects including JAR, WAR and RAR Java archive files for Enterprise Applications.

JAR files can be created and extracted using the "jar" command that comes with the JDK. It can be done using zip tools, but as WinZip has a habit of renaming all-uppercase directories and files in lower case, this can raise support calls with whoever created the JAR or the tool authors themselves. WinRAR, on the other hand, retains the original case of filenames.

A JAR file has an optional manifest file located in the path META-INF/MANIFEST.MF. The entries in the manifest file determine how the JAR file will be used. JAR files which are intended to be executed as standalone programs will have one of their classes specified as the "main" class. The manifest file would have an entry such as

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Portal applications are packaged in PAR (Portal Archive) files. A PAR file is a standard ZIP file with a .par extension that contains a deployment descriptor, all Java classes, Web resources and other files required to run the application.

Within the portal, the name of the PAR file is the name of the application. The fully qualified name of any component or service defined in the PAR is the name of the PAR file, followed by a period (.) and then the name of the component or service.

A PAR file contains the following files:

The following files are contained files contained in a PAR file are divided into the following types:

● Web resources

All files in a PAR file that are accessible directly via an HTTP request, such as:

○ HTML

○ Images

○ Stylesheets (.css)

Web resource files can be located anywhere outside the top-level PORTAL-INF and META-INF folders.

You can create links to these files directly. For more information, see Creating URLs to Web Resources.

· Java Classes and Deployment Descriptor

Java classes that implement the component and services defined in the PAR file, plus the deployment descriptor (portalapp.xml). The deployment descriptor specifies the components and services contained in the PAR file, and defines the configuration for the application, components and services. For more information the deployment descriptor, see Deployment Descriptor (portalapp.xml).

The PAR file’s Java classes and deployment descriptor are located in the top-level PORTAL‑INF folder

· Manifest

A PAR can also include a manifest file (MANIFEST.MF in the top-level META-INF folder), which provides version information. The folder and file are not required, but are recommended for tracking versions of your application.

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in enterprise portal we use mainly EAR as jar files.

to import EAR files you need to follow this steps

goto

system administration -> Transport -> Transport Packages -> import -> choose client or server on your convinence and browse to this file and press upload and then after uploading press import

for PAR files you need to follow this steps

goto

system administration -> support -> Support Desk -> in Top Level Areas selcet portal runtime -> in "Portal Anywhere" Admin Tools select Administration Console -> in Upload Archive Specify a Portal Archive (PAR) file and choose 'Upload' to store the PAR in the PCD-> browse the file and press upload.

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[Former Member]

Thanks Venkat