# Installing BladeRunner

This page tells you how to install BladeRunner and create a new app, and explains some of the other points that you should bear in mind when doing so.

## Supported Operating Systems

* Windows XP, 7
* Linux
* Mac

### Pre-Requisites

* Java 6 SE or above
* Latest Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9 or above. You can develop apps for older browsers, but you will need a modern browser to run the BladeRunner Dashboard.

## Installation Process

The process of installing _BladeRunner_ is a very simple one. In a nutshell, you unpack the zip file it comes in, start _BladeRunner_ from a command-line window, and that’s it! You can then access the _BladeRunner_ dashboard from a browser. There are a few more details that we’ll go through below, but fundamentally, it is that easy.

### 1. Extract BladeRunner

_BladeRunner_ comes in a zip file. The first thing you need to do is to extract the contents of the zip to the directory where you want to install the application. Ideally, this should be the location where you’ll be checking _BladeRunner_ into your source version control system. Once you’ve unzipped it, you should find the following directory structure, with the _BladeRunner_ program file in the **_sdk_** folder:

![br-gs-install_dir](../../../images/br-gs-install_dir.png)

### 2. Start BladeRunner Dashboard

Once you’ve unpacked the files, navigate to the _sdk_ directory inside your _bladerunner_ folder, and open a command-line window in that directory.

From your command prompt, run the `bladerunner` program file, with the `start` parameter. I.e:

```
bladerunner start
```

When it first runs, _BladeRunner_ will generate all the necessary files and folders, so that your directory structure will look like this:

![br-gs-install2_dir](../../../images/br-gs-install2_dir.png)

You should now be able to access the _BladeRunner_ dashboard via a suitable browser, at _localhost:7070_.

## BladeRunner Dashboard Overview

The _BladeRunner Dashboard_ is a web application that aims to help users to manage their applications via a GUI. You can use it to perform actions including:

* Creating a new **application**, **bladeset** or **blade**
* Importing an existing **motif** as a new application
* Importing blades (or entire bladesets) from one application into another
* Viewing **workbench** pages for individual blades
* Launching your applications
* Running tests and viewing the results

## Create a New Application via the Command-line

Although you can create a new application via the Dashboard, you can also do so very easily from a command-line interface, by executing the `create-app` command from inside the _sdk_ directory like so:

```
bladerunner create-app <app-name> <app-namespace>
```

For instance, the following command creates a new application folder called myexample within the apps folder. The myexample application will have a namespace value of example.

```
bladerunner create-app myexample example
```

## Points to Bear in Mind

### Restrictions on Application Namespaces

At the moment, _BladeRunner_ doesn’t support 'deep' namespace values for the application namespace. You couldn’t, for instance, give an application a namespace of **_com.myapp_**.

All application namespace values must be in lower-case alphabetical characters, and you are not allowed to use reserved JavaScript keywords (e.g. _default_) as application namespaces.

### Source Control - Avoid Checking in Generated Files!

The folders listed in the table below, and their contents, are generated by _BladeRunner_ as you use it, and should not be checked into your source control system. You should use your source control system’s _ignore_ facility, to ensure that they don’t get checked-in accidentally.

| Generated folder | Location | Comment |
| --- | --- | --- |
| bundles | test-unit/js-test-driver/bundles test-acceptance/js-test-driver/bundles | When a Verifier test is run that involves the Caplin bundlers, a .bundle file is generated for each resource type, (e.g. js-test-driver/bundles/js/js.bundle) and stored here. These files are created/overwritten on each test run. |
| test-results | bladerunner/test-results | The XML output from each of Verifier’s test runs is stored here, and then converted into an HTML index report. |
| webcentric-db | bladerunner/webcentric-db | This is location where your application h2 database info is persisted (if it uses a Webcentric database) NOTE: This is only applicable if you have purchased [Caplin Trader 3](../index.md), as the [Webcentric libraries](../webcentric/index.md) are part of the CT3 application. |