• generated launchers
  install4j can generate native launchers that start your application. For example, on Windows, a .exe file will be created that among other things takes care of finding a suitable JRE, displaying appropriate error messages in case of need and then starts your application. Using launchers generated by install4j has numerous advantages as compared to using home-grown batch files and shell scripts.

  Each launcher definition is compiled separately for each defined media set. Therefore, for the majority of all cases, a single launcher definition will be sufficient to start your application. If, for example, your distribution contains two GUI applications and a command line application, you have to define 3 launchers, regardless of how many media files you define.

• external launchers
  If you already have an external launcher for your application, you can let install4j use that launcher instead of generating one. Since external launchers are most likely platform dependent, you will have to add external launchers for each platform that is targeted by your media files. Make sure to include only relevant launchers in your media file definitions in this case.

To define a new launcher, you double-click on the  new launcher entry in the list of defined launchers or choose Launcher->New launcher from install4j's main menu. The launcher wizard will then be displayed. The first step in the launcher wizard will ask you, whether you wish to add a generated launcher or an external launcher. Once you have completed all steps of the launcher wizard and clicked [Ok] in the final step, a new launcher entry will be displayed in the list of launchers. The icon of a launcher indicates if it is a

•  GUI application launcher
•  console application launcher
•  service application launcher

Also, have a look at how the list of launchers can be edited.