Overview

Beginning with Java 1.7.0_45, Oracle placed more stringent requirements upon Web Start JNLP files that contain custom property elements. BBj® Web Start applications that rely upon such properties may not run properly in BBj revisions 13.14 or earlier with client JREs 1.7.0_45 or higher.

Problem Description

Values specified in property elements in the JNLP file may not be visible to the client JVM unless the JNLP file is properly signed. For example, the following JNLP property element attempts to set the client JVM timezone to Asia/Singapore prior to invoking the BBj Web Start Thin Client:

<property name=”com.basis.bbj.client.timezone” value=”Asia/Singapore”/>

And as a second example, the following JNLP property element attempts to set the client JVM character set to the CP1252 character set:

<property name=”file.encoding” value=”Cp1252″/>

If the JNLP file is not signed, these values may not be available in the client JVM.

Resolution

The built-in Jetty web werver in BBj revision 13.14 P1 and higher addresses this problem by meeting Oracle’s requirement of signing the JNLP file. Web Start JNLP files that the BASIS Enterprise Manager JNLP module generates include a new application-launch.jar containing a signed copy of the JNLP file. For example, a JNLP application named ‘MyApplication’ will include an automatically-created jar file named MyApplication-launch.jar.

Upgrading to a version of BBj that supports the new Oracle signed-JNLP requirements does not require any special steps. JNLP configuration files (/cfg/jnlp.ini) created in revisions prior to BBj 13.14 P1 will continue to function in BBj 13.14 P1 through BBj 20.xx as they did before.