How to intercept Windows startup event in Swing

Question

I created a JFrame with a few labels. I need to display a JOptionPane with the message "welcome user" once. If the frame is re-opened before rebooting Windows, the JOptionPane should not appear, but if Windows is rebooted, the JOptionPane should appear again.

How am I able to detect whether the system has been rebooted, since the last time my application ran?

consider making a SSCCE (short self contained correct example) — nachokk, Jul 19 '13 at 13:00
So you're looking for something like Windows.isRestarted()? Sorry, there's no such thing :) — Kayaman, Jul 19 '13 at 13:06
You may be able to store something in a temporary file? What OS is this? — Duncan Jones, Jul 19 '13 at 13:28
Is this really necessary? If I were the user, I'd be annoyed at having to click OK on a welcome screen every day. Unless this is some kind of forced agreement, show the welcome screen once. If the user needs the welcome screen, have a menu option for it. — Gilbert Le Blanc, Jul 19 '13 at 14:50
yes @GilbertLeBlanc this is the what the client is asking for. — Mohit Pal, Jul 19 '13 at 15:51

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:12

So, as @Kayaman mentioned, there isn't an isRebooted() method in Java... but you can make one.

Assuming you are working on Windows platforms (you would need to implement a separate version for other OSes), you could query the system event log. With all the stuff that gets put in there I reckon it would include an event for "logged in", so all you need to do is find a way to look up the last "logged in" time and see if it has changed since the last time you checked.

Accessing the event log is a windows specific trick, and so won't be in the native java api, however there is a question on how to access the event log from Java which you could use as a base.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 19 '13 at 13:46

1

Drop a BAT script in the Autostart folder of the user which creates a file in a specific location:

echo JUST_STARTED > C:\NAME_OF_YOUR_APP.TXT

In your app, check whether the file exists. If it does, delete it and display the message.

answered Jul 19 '13 at 13:46

Aaron Digulla

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How to intercept Windows startup event in Swing

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