Microsoft® SDK for Java™ 1.0

Welcome!

Release Notes

Introduction

Welcome to the first release of Microsoft SDK for Java. This SDK will enable you to write Java applications and applets based on both the Java™ language spec and the Microsoft virtual machine for Java. The SDK documentation includes information describing Microsoft extensions to the class library, COM support and the included tools and utilities. This SDK also includes many samples for your reference. You can download the entire SDK documentation from the Web. For most up-to-date information on known issues, please refer to the on-line Release Notes on the SDK web site. Please send your comments and requests to sdkjava@microsoft.com.

Installation Requirements

Required disk space:

For downloading SDK software, you need 5.7MB on your hard drive. When you install SDK by clicking on the self extracting file SDK-Java.exe, you need to have 45MB free space on your hard drive. The actual size of SDK, after installation, is 15 MB. For download SDK documentation, you need to have 2.1 MB on your hard drive, you can extract the files by clicking on the self extracting file SDK-Docs.exe which will require 20MB free disk space. The actual size of the documentation will be 7.8MB.

Platform support:

This SDK has the same platform requirements as Internet Explorer version 3.0 (Microsoft Windows 95 or NT 4.0). Please download the latest version of Internet Explorer for development and testing (click to Download Latest Internet Explorer). You should make sure that you have the latest Java VM installed on your machine. The latest Java VM can be installed as an optional step when installing SDK, or by running the self-extracting executable IE30Java.exe, provided in the SDK \BIN directory, after the SDK is installed.

If you're installing on Windows NT, please do not use long file names (LFN) when you set the directory for the SDK installation.

Other SDK installation requirements:

If you are interested in working with Native Code Interface API and running the Native sample code, you need to have a version of a C compiler installed and also have the Microsoft Win32 SDK on your system.

To take advantage of our beta version of the DirectX class extensions, you must install the DirectX2 SDK or the DirectX2 runtime, and run "Reg.bat" in the \DirectX2\Direct directory prior to running the DirectX samples. Click to Download DirectX2 SDK.

Redistribution Components

Please refer to Redistribution List (REDIST.HTM) in the SDK for the full list of the redistribution files. You must read and agree with the SDK license agreement License Agreement (LICENSE.HTM) terms and conditions before you redistribute any component with your applications. All redistribution components are protected under the copyright law. If you have any questions, please send mail to sdkjava@microsoft.com with title "Redistribution Requests".

Contents of SDK

The SDK download provides two options: SDK software(SDK-Java.exe) and SDK documentation (SDK-Docs.exe). Once you have installed the Java SDK on your system, you will see the following:

Microsoft VM for Java:

The latest version of IE30Java.exe shipped with the SDK is required to work properly with the class extensions and COM support. You may redistribute the Microsoft VM for Java with your application, by registering and agreeing to the SDK license agreement. You can find the extracting executable for the Microsoft VM for Java in the SDK \BIN directory and binary files in the \MSJavaVm directory in the SDK. To get more information on working with the Microsoft VM for Java, please check out the SDK documentation on this subject.

Class library:

The SDK provides a rich class library of both Java standard classes and Microsoft class extensions. For the full list of new classes and their functions, please refer to SDK documentation under the title Packages and Classes. For the source files for these classes, download the CLASSD.EXE file now.

To ensure that users have these latest class libraries, you may redistribute the file CLASSR.EXE which checks the version of the class libraries and updates as needed. You can find this file in the \MsJavaVm directory.

Pre-release code: Please be aware that this version of the class library includes a beta version of the DirectX class extensions (see "Known Issues" below). Please refer to the SDK license text on how to use pre-release code with your application. (Note: the beta version of DirectX class sources are not included.)

Tools and Utilities

Here is the list of the tools and utilities that are provided in this SDK. For details, please check out the SDK documentation under the title Tools.

JVC.exe	Latest Java compiler
JView.exe	Java Application Viewer
AppletViewer.exe	Java applet viewer with internationalization enabled.
ClassVue.exe	A Java application for developer to view and debug classes.
Javatlb.exe	A utility to convert type library files into Java classes.
Jexegen.exe	A tool to convert stand-alone Java application into native, executable binaries.
Msjavah.exe	Microsoft version of C header file generator, check documentation for usage.
Native.h	Header file for writing raw native code interface.
Nativecom.h	Header file for COM interfaces used by the VM.
CABDev kit	To help developers make compressed, self-extracting Java programs for download

APIs

We have included descriptions of APIs for JIT, Debugger, Native Code Interface support (RAW and COM), and Invocation. Your feedback on these APIs is welcome. Please refer to the SDK documentation under the titles Java and COM, Raw Native Interface, and Working with Microsoft VM.

Sample Code

We have included many samples demonstrating Visual Basic applet scripting, COM integration, Microsoft class extensions, DirectX classes, and class library version tracking, as well as other areas. In some of the sample directories you will find a readme.txt file that will help you understand the structure and design of the sample code. These samples are meant to demonstrate the relationship of APIs, and are provided "as is." Please refer to the License Agreement on how to use sample code.

Known Issues

Installation on Windows NT:

If you're installing the SDK on Windows NT, please do not use long file names (LFN) when you set the directory for the SDK installation.

DirectX:

1. Direct.dll: If your Java application uses the pre-release DirectX class extensions, you should also redistribute (install) Direct.dll with your application. Your application should also register Direct.dll with the system it runs on (via regsvr32.exe).
2. Direct3D is not supported on NT4.0. The beta version of the Direct3D runtime libraries is available via the NT 4.0 SDK.
3. DirectPlay is not complete in this release. It will be provided in a future version of the SDK.

JVC:

In a few specific cases, if you use the same name for methods, variables, superclasses, interfaces, and classes, you may have conflicts at run time. For example, there will be no error issued for an ambiguous variable reference between superinterface and superclass when both have the same name. Classes with the same name but different cases will compile but will not create the second class and will not run under JVIEW. In the hardest to decipher cases, an error may occur when a duplicate class name is used because it is attempting to invoke the constructor for the original class. This will offset the error message reporting by several lines. The work-around is to not use the same names for classes, variables, interfaces, methods, etc.

If you don't have VisualC++ version 4.2 or Visual J++ version 1.0, we have provided the files MSVCRT.DLL and CPDBASE.DLL that are required to run JVC. You can find these in the BIN directory of this version of the SDK.

Bug Report and Developer Support

Please use the on-line bug report provided in this SDK. Microsoft will screen the bugs on a regular basis, and will be working on bug fixes. The bug fixes or work-arounds will be posted on the Web as soon as possible; news group may also be notified.

We also providing the feedback alias sdkjava@microsoft.com, which is only for comments and reporting urgent issues. To help us resolve the issues quickly, please follow the guidelines below:

Description:

Brief ~2 sentences describing what the problem is.

Repro Steps:

Numbered steps that anyone can use to reproduce the problem.

Additional Information:

• debugger information (stack traces, output from program fault dlg, etc..)
• if you were able to reproduce the problem on another machine
• if the problem is specific to a particular machine, include information about what makes that machine special (versions of JavaVM, IE3, OS, special display/audio hardware, memory, free disk space, etc..)
• log files
• sample code to reproduce the problem

Bug report example:

Description:
    Running FontTest sample generates stack overflow fault

Repro Steps:
    1. load IE3
    2. drag/drop the <sdkdir>\samples\fonttest\fonttest.html from Explorer onto IE3
    3. select the DancingBears font from the ChooseFont dlg
    4. type "happy" into the white edit control
    5. press return

Additional Information:
    * doesn't happen with other fonts (tried Arial, Courier New)
    * happens on both machines where the DancingBears font is installed
    * IE3 help.about shows ver 1189
    * SDK pre-release
    * machine is using a whizbang 2000 video card @ 1280x1024 16bpp
    * reproduced problem 4/4 times (rebooting in between attempts)