WOCE Inventory Search Tool (WIST)

Steps in a nutshell:

• Download and install Java Run-time Environment (JRE) for your particular operating system.
• Download entire WIST tool (last modified: Nov 13, 2002) and extract the WIST programs into a folder on your local hard disk.
• Download just the database (last modified: Nov 13, 2002) and extract the inventory database which into a folder on your local hard disk.
• Run the "dbConnectnew.jar" program using Java.

Background:

The authors of the WIST application endeavored to create an application that is capable of running "cross-platform" (on several operating systems) such as Microsoft Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc). In order to achieve this goal, Sun's Java language was used to code the application.

Java programs have the ability to run on multiple operating systems provided that the JRE or Java Run-time Environment is installed for that particular operating system. Unless either the Java Runtime Edition (JRE) or the Java Software Development Kit (SDK) has been properly installed on your system, you will not be able to run this application.

The latest version of the JRE should be downloaded from Sun's Java web site and installed on the system that the WOCE Inventory Search Tool will be run on. Our tests of the application have included Java 1.3.1 and Java 1.4 of the JRE. Please follow Sun's instructions on installing Java for your particular operating system.

After you've installed Java support on your system, click on this link for the search tool and save it to your local hard disk. Make note of where you saved the compressed search tool application file on your system and, when saving is complete, uncompress the files into a folder. We chose "woceapp" but it should work with any folder name and/or location.

The two major components of the package are the java program dbConnectnew.jar and the JDataStore database woce_trans.jds which can in principle be updated separately.

Methods of Running the Application:

Windows Users: Window users should be able to browse to the folder where the search tool application files were uncompressed and then double-click the "dbConnect.bat" file to launch Java and start WIST.

Unix Users: UNIX users should be able to go to a console and change directory to where the search tool application files were uncompressed. The java executable needs to be launched with the -jar switch and the name of the jar file, "dbConnectnew.jar". The path to the java executable may need to be used if the operating system you are using isn't configured with it already in it's path structure. Remember that Linux/Unix is case sensitive, so be careful when typing in upper and lower case filenames.

Example:
      /usr/java/j2sdk1.4.0_01/bin/java -jar dbConnectnew.jar

Unix machines with large amounts of memory can run larger searches, for example on the UOT database, by specifying extra memory to the java command.

Example:
      /usr/java/j2sdk1.4.0_01/bin/java -Xmx500m -jar dbConnectnew.jar to specify 500 Mb.

Mac Users: After uncompressing the search tool application, Mac OS X users should be able to just double-click the "dbConnectnew.jar" file under Mac OS X. Note: We are still working on a method to include classic Mac users.

Problems with current version (2.0)

• Mac OS X appears to work with the application. Mac OS Classic (8.x and 9.x) is still not supported.

Please check here for Updates and Amendments