Name: mc57594 Date: 03/11/97


Any Java application that references or imports a java class which
may have references to the AWT will stop working if the X DISPLAY
variable is not set. The java application should not stop working
simply because a class that has AWT components is imported. I
have developed a package that renders IDEF0 process models on a
canvas. It turns out that this package is also useful for converting
IDEF0 models to other data formats. When attempting to print ASCII
data formats to the System.out stream and never intending to start an
windowing application, the java application simply stops because the X DISPLAY is
not set. In order to make classes useful, they should be re-usable.
Classes should not be limited to reuse as windowing classes or text
only classes. I should be able to use them for any purpose that I see
as necessary. Because of this AWT bug, I can only use my classes that
have windowing components as foreground windowing applications or applets.
These classes would be useful for background processing and/or CGI
programming in some instances, so there is a legitimate need for classes
to be able to operate both in a windowing mode and silently on the
command line. Because I have a class that knows how to draw itself
doesn't mean that the class has a limited scope of operation or usefulness.


company - Lockheed Martin C2 Integration Systems , email - ###@###.###
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