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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-23T08:39:45+00:00

I have a Java class which can be called from shell. (via java [command][options])

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I have a Java class which can be called from shell. (via “java [command][options]”) The class takes in a set of parameters and outputs a MIDI file.

What I want to do is set up a simple webapp which reads from a pre-determined directory which will always contain 3 MIDI files (only!). A visitor to the webapp is presented with these three files, and has to choose one which s/he thinks is the best (submit a form). The webapp will use that information to generate a set of 3 new MIDI files using the Java class, while recording info to a log file and moving the old files to an archive directory.

The 3 things which I’m not sure about are:

1) What web language would be best for this? I plan to make this into a full-fledged app at some point, but the dependency on Java makes me think using Servlets is the way to go. However, would PHP or Rails (for ex.) be easier? Is it okay/possible to call Java via a shell command from PHP or other languages?

2) Generating the MIDI takes some time, so I want some sort of loading bar or “Waiting…” notice to appear on screen after the user submits the form. Basically I want the app to block and show that notice while the shell command executes, and render the new page when the command finishes and the new MIDIs are generated. Is there any example that I can follow to achieve this (AJAX with PHP or Servlets would be nice)?

3) When more than one person is on the website, and one person submits the form (and starts the MIDI generation), then I want everyone to get a loading notice or at least trigger some action. Is there a clean way to do this?

Thanks to any responses!

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Your questions are a bit open ended, you should try to focus your questions a little more in the future. I’ll try to give you some guidance though.

    1) I wouldn’t necessarily say there is a “best” way to do this, as you could easily use any number of solutions. Do you have any experience with building a web application? If so, use what you’re familiar with. If not, maybe choose a framework in a language you’re comfortable in, or explore creating a server from scratch in that language.

    2) and 3) concern implementing features, again, you could do it in a number of ways. Ajax is definitely one way of approaching both these problems. I think you should do a little more research about the technologies you plan on using so you’re more aware of their capabilities. Try creating a solution using Ajax and see how that works.

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