It’s tempting to use an HTML file to provide help for a Java application, but how do you know which browser is installed on the run time platform and where it is located? On a Windows system you don’t need to know, because the .htm or .html file extension should be associated with the browser, and the “start” command can make the connection for you:
boolean win = System.getProperty("os.name") .toLowerCase().startsWith("win");if (win) { Runtime runt = Runtime.getRuntime(); try { runt.exec("start YourHelp.html"); } catch (Exception ex) {}}If a copy of the browser is already active, it will be re-used. Unfortunately this technique does not work on a Unix platform.
