Name: gm110360 Date: 03/08/2002


FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.4.0"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.0-b92)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.0-b92, mixed mode)

FULL OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION :Windows 2000 Pro Sp1


ADDITIONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS : All Windows platforms



A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
When installing on Windows systems, the JRE creates a file
association for JAR files, so that the user can click on a
JAR file to run the application. Here is the file
association that Sun's JRE creates:

[path]javaw.exe -jar "%1"

This is mostly correct, but it does not allow the user to
supply parameters to the application, either on the command
line or in a "shortcut", without reentering the "javaw"
command.

This is the correct file association:

[path]javaw.exe -jar "%1" %*

This will pick up any user-specified parameters and add
them to the execution command line.

I've always trivially fixed this myself after installing a
JRE, but now that I'm distributing Java JAR apps to end-
users, I have to add a lot of text to tell the user how to
manually fix this (see
http://www.ultimeth.com/SeaFlow/ReadMe.html). I could
write an installer to fix this, but that's a lot of work
just to get around what is otherwise a trivial install/run
procedure for my app (i.e., "unzip and click").


STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
1. Install JRE
2. View file associations for .JAR


EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
See above comments.

This bug can be reproduced always.

CUSTOMER WORKAROUND :
Provide a ReadMe file to the user to explain how to
manually edit file associations.
(Review ID: 143876)
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