FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.6.0_13"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_13-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 11.3-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
The Java CORBA ORB can not handle data structures where a char type is written to the stream after a string type and the size of the string type was 0.

For example:

struct Broken
{
StandardString str;
char ch;
};

If this object was returned from an interface, and the "str" member was an empty string, a SystemException would be thrown on the client side.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Create an IDL structure that contains a string member followed by a char member.

Create a IDL interface that returns the structure.

Invoke the interface from a Java application.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
No errors should be encountered.
ACTUAL -
An exception and strack trace will be printed when invoking servant.foo().

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
Aug 28, 2009 2:55:14 PM com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl convertThrowableToSystemException
WARNING: "IOP00010202: (UNKNOWN) Unknown user exception thrown by the server"
org.omg.CORBA.UNKNOWN: vmcid: SUN minor code: 202 completed: Maybe
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.logging.ORBUtilSystemException.runtimeexception(ORBUtilSystemException.java:8365)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.convertThrowableToSystemException(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1918)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1868)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1821)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:258)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleRequestRequest(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1680)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.marshalingComplete(SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.java:155)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaClientDelegateImpl.invoke(CorbaClientDelegateImpl.java:129)
at org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl._invoke(ObjectImpl.java:457)
at _AStub.foo(_AStub.java:17)
at test.main(test.java:36)
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 0
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CodeSetConversion$JavaCTBConverter.convert(CodeSetConversion.java:188)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream_1_0.write_char(CDROutputStream_1_0.java:312)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream.write_char(CDROutputStream.java:120)
at BrokenHelper.write(BrokenHelper.java:81)
at APOA._invoke(APOA.java:37)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatchToServant(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:637)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:189)
... 6 more
org.omg.CORBA.UNKNOWN: ----------BEGIN server-side stack trace----------
org.omg.CORBA.UNKNOWN: vmcid: SUN minor code: 202 completed: Maybe
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.logging.ORBUtilSystemException.runtimeexception(ORBUtilSystemException.java:8365)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.convertThrowableToSystemException(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1918)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1868)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1821)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:258)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleRequestRequest(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1680)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.marshalingComplete(SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.java:155)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaClientDelegateImpl.invoke(CorbaClientDelegateImpl.java:129)
at org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl._invoke(ObjectImpl.java:457)
at _AStub.foo(_AStub.java:17)
at test.main(test.java:36)
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 0
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CodeSetConversion$JavaCTBConverter.convert(CodeSetConversion.java:188)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream_1_0.write_char(CDROutputStream_1_0.java:312)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream.write_char(CDROutputStream.java:120)
at BrokenHelper.write(BrokenHelper.java:81)
at APOA._invoke(APOA.java:37)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatchToServant(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:637)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:189)
... 6 more

----------END server-side stack trace---------- vmcid: SUN minor code: 202 completed: Maybe
org.omg.CORBA.UNKNOWN: ----------BEGIN server-side stack trace----------
org.omg.CORBA.UNKNOWN: vmcid: SUN minor code: 202 completed: Maybe
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.logging.ORBUtilSystemException.runtimeexception(ORBUtilSystemException.java:8365)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.convertThrowableToSystemException(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1918)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1868)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleThrowableDuringServerDispatch(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1821)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:258)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.handleRequestRequest(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:1680)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.marshalingComplete(SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.java:155)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaClientDelegateImpl.invoke(CorbaClientDelegateImpl.java:129)
at org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl._invoke(ObjectImpl.java:457)
at _AStub.foo(_AStub.java:17)
at test.main(test.java:36)
Caused by: java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 0
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CodeSetConversion$JavaCTBConverter.convert(CodeSetConversion.java:188)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream_1_0.write_char(CDROutputStream_1_0.java:312)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.encoding.CDROutputStream.write_char(CDROutputStream.java:120)
at BrokenHelper.write(BrokenHelper.java:81)
at APOA._invoke(APOA.java:37)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatchToServant(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:637)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.dispatch(CorbaServerRequestDispatcherImpl.java:189)
... 6 more

----------END server-side stack trace---------- vmcid: SUN minor code: 202 completed: Maybe
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:494)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.giopmsgheaders.MessageBase.getSystemException(MessageBase.java:902)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.giopmsgheaders.ReplyMessage_1_2.getSystemException(ReplyMessage_1_2.java:99)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.getSystemExceptionReply(CorbaMessageMediatorImpl.java:572)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaClientRequestDispatcherImpl.processResponse(CorbaClientRequestDispatcherImpl.java:430)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.marshalingComplete(SharedCDRClientRequestDispatcherImpl.java:189)
at com.sun.corba.se.impl.protocol.CorbaClientDelegateImpl.invoke(CorbaClientDelegateImpl.java:129)
at org.omg.CORBA.portable.ObjectImpl._invoke(ObjectImpl.java:457)
at _AStub.foo(_AStub.java:17)
at test.main(test.java:36)

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
1) Create an IDL file called "test.idl" and copy the following into it

typedef string<100> StandardString;

struct Broken
{
StandardString str;
char ch;
};

interface A
{
Broken foo();
};

2) Compile the idl file using

%JAVA_HOME%\bin\idlj -emitAll -fallTie test.idl

3) Create a test program that uses the interface and structures from the IDL file. For example:



import org.omg.PortableServer.POA;
import org.omg.PortableServer.POAManager;
import org.omg.PortableServer.POAHelper;


public class test
{
    private static final String ROOT_POA = "RootPOA";


public static void main( String[] argv )
{
try
{
org.omg.CORBA.ORB orb = org.omg.CORBA.ORB.init(argv, null);

org.omg.CORBA.Object poaObj =
orb.resolve_initial_references(ROOT_POA);

POA poa = POAHelper.narrow(poaObj);

POAManager poaManager = poa.the_POAManager();
poaManager.activate();

AImpl impl = new AImpl();
byte[] id = poa.activate_object(impl);


A myRef = AHelper.narrow(poa.id_to_reference(id));

String ior = orb.object_to_string( myRef);
A servant = (A)orb.string_to_object( ior );

Broken b = servant.foo();
}
catch( Exception e )
{
System.out.println( e );
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}


class AImpl extends APOA
{

public Broken foo()
{
Broken rtn = new Broken();
rtn.str = "";
rtn.ch = 'a';

return rtn;
}

}

4) Compile your test application along with the IDL stubs and skeletons.

5) Execute the test application.
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
Change all char types to octet types in IDL files.