Desktop class problem

843807

The code below does nothing. No file opened, no exception thrown, no output.
What can I do to discover the problem?
It does indeed execute the desktop.open(file) line.
Using JDK 1.16.0_81

File file = new File(pathAndFileString); // an existing text file
if (Desktop.isDesktopSupported()) {
	Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
	if (desktop.isSupported(Desktop.Action.OPEN )) {
		try {
			desktop.open(file);
		} catch (IOException e1) {
			e1.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
	else {
		System.out.println("Desktop.Action.OPEN not supported");
	}
}
else {
	System.out.println("Desktop not supported");
}

843807

I put your code into my system and it worked like a charm.
specified a PDF file - and Acrobat opened it with out a murmur.


What kind of file are you trying to open and are you sure its application is associated (and what OS?) - I am on Vista.

Rudi

843807

Running Win XP

Following your example, I tried a pdf file, which is obviously associated with acrobat, with the same result (ie nothing)
If I purposely misspell the file name, then I get an IllegalArgumentException saying the file doesn't exist.
So that tells me that it is finding the file (when spelled correctly), but somehow not doing anything with it.

Running the demo here:
http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2SE/Desktop/javase6/desktop_api/
the browse and mail functionality works, but not the file functionality, again same result, just nothing.

I'm running these from Eclipse. Would an IDE interfere with the Desktop?

camickr

The code below does nothing.

Your right it does nothing because it doesn't compile.

For more help create a [SSCCE (Short, Self Contained, Compilable and Executable, Example Program)|http://sscce.org], that demonstrates the incorrect behaviour. Then you can hardcode the filename to be the java source file name so everybody is testing the same code.

843807

package desktopdemo;

import java.awt.Desktop;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

public class MyDesktopDemo {

	public MyDesktopDemo() {

		// have tried .txt, .rtf, .pptx all with no effect
		String pathAndFileString = "C:\\my.pptx";
		File file = new File(pathAndFileString);
		if (Desktop.isDesktopSupported()) {
			Desktop desktop = Desktop.getDesktop();
			if (desktop.isSupported(Desktop.Action.OPEN )) {
				try {
					System.out.println("desktop.open(" + pathAndFileString + ")"); // gets here
					desktop.open(file); // but nothing happens
				} catch (IOException e1) {
					e1.printStackTrace();
				}
			}
			else {
				System.out.println("Desktop.Action.OPEN not supported");
			}
		}
		else {
			System.out.println("Desktop not supported");
		}

	}

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        java.awt.EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                new MyDesktopDemo();
            }
        });
    }
    
}

darrylburke

Your code runs fine and opens a text file in Windows7 and also in virtualized WinXP Mode over Win7.

db

darrylburke

Note: This thread was originally posted in the Swing forum, but moved to this forum for closer topic alignment.

darrylburke

Also, whyever are you wrapping the constructor call in invokeLater(...)? there are no Swing components involved here.

db

843807

sorry, that was just a leftover from copy/paste of another test program.
Thanks for running the code. I guess that means there is something "wrong" with this computer.