Local converter 398 fx4/fx5 crash with a NPE

#27083

Hello,
I have noticed with 398fx4/fx5 that the local testing tool (“PDF Converter”, just starting the PD4ML JAR) crashes with a NPE on my machine. While 398 with no “fx” run, the new ones crash.
The exception looks like this:
# java -Xmx1024m -jar $$$398fx5libpd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)
My Java version is java version “1.8.0_91” / Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_91-b14)

Can you please confirm and/or tell me whether maybe newer java is needed or there another reason on my end?

Thank you, best regards,
Viktor

#29883

Obviously it crashes by an attempt to create a java.io.File object, whose name is prefixed by “$$$”. It is an issue of JDK1.8 as PD4ML passes a file name to the constructor “as is”.

Is it really that necessary to name a folder using ‘$’ chars?

#29884

Thank you for investigating the problem and your response. Obviously it’s not absolutely necessary to have folders starting with the dollar sign, though it’s my habit and I simply haven’t expected that to be the cause of this (or any) NPE.
From my point of view, any legal paths may as well be handled correctly.

Unfortunately renaming that folder doesn’t seem to work, even after renaming the folder and, in subsequent attempts, trying to start it from within the folder or moving the folder to a very short path with no objectionable characters in it, it still crashes:
<br /> c:tempvakkk>java -Xmx1024m -jar pd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)
which keeps puzzling me.
Now I was testing with the version 399fx1.

Could the issue be another one?

UPDATE: I have tested some more, tried to run other (older) JVMs and the exception seems to be the same with all of them:
<br /> c:tempvakkk>jrockit-R27.6.3-jre1.5.0_17binjav<br /> a.exe -Xmx1024m -jar pd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:194)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)<br /> <br /> c:tempvakkk>jdk1.6.0_25jrebinjava.exe -Xmx1024m -jar pd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:222)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)<br /> <br /> c:tempvakkk>jdk1.7.0_40jrebinjava.exe -Xmx1<br /> 024m -jar pd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(File.java:277)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)<br />

#29885

I looked through PD4ML sources once more… It seems it crashes by an attempt to determine PDF viewer location. Did it generate already pd4browser.properties file? If so, open it in in a text editor and check what is assigned to

viewer.executeble
viewer.rtf.executeble

Try to replace the values with Acroread and Wordpad/MS Word executable locations.

#29886

There is no pd4browser.properties yet.
I also successfully tried running older versions (such as 380fx2, 380fx3) from the same location with the same JVM – these run.

#29887

After a successful run of 380fx3 it should create pd4browser.properties. Copy it to a location of the problematic version.

#29888

I did, adapted tie viewer paths to the following
<br /> viewer.executeble=c:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\ReaderAcroRd32.exe<br /> dir.viewer=c:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader<br />

and I’m still getting an exception, the only difference now being the “unknown source” instead of a line number at the deepest level:
<br /> c:tempvakkk>java -Xmx1024m -jar libpd4ml.jar<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.o00000(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(Unknown Source)<br />

There is only “viewer.executeble” though, no “rtf”.

#29889

Try http://pd4ml.com/i/pd4ml_debug.jar – it should give an exact line number of the exception.

#29890

Thank you and sorry for my late reply. It didn’t occur to me to check back here earlier.
The debug version now yields the following error:
<br /> java.lang.NullPointerException<br /> at java.io.File.<init>(Unknown Source)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.guessExecutable(PD4Browser.java:222)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.<init>(PD4Browser.java:215)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.showGUI(PD4Browser.java:1132)<br /> at org.zefer.pd4ml.tools.PD4Browser.main(PD4Browser.java:1116)<br />

Cheers, Viktor

#29891

Is there any chance of progress with this one? I just tried with fx2, the issue seems unchanged.
Previously, I tested fx1 on several computers in several paths (complete innocent containing paths too, no dollar signs etc.) and the NPE seems to be omnipresent.

Could you please have a look at it? Having the standalone mode running again would be great help for tracking down some “paragraphs and lists in inline-block spans” rendering issues fx1 seems to be having. I’ll gladly report those to you then.

Thanks+cheers,
Viktor

#29892

It seems fx2 does not fix the issue completely.

Try to set in an auto-generated pd4borowser.properties

viewer.executeble=whatever
viewer.rtf.executeble=whatever

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