WebStart over a LAN

Miscellaneous Topics
#1

Hi there,

I’m trying to use WebStart over intranet at work. While it works locally, when a collegue tries it, jws reports the following error:

JNLPException[category: Download Error : Exception:
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect : LaunchDesc: null ]
at com.sun.javaws.cache.DownloadProtocol.doDownload(Unknown Source) at
com.sun.javaws.cache.DownloadProtocol.isLaunchFileUpdateAvailable(Unknown
Source) at com.sun.javaws.LaunchDownload.getUpdatedLaunchDesc(Unknown
Source) at com.sun.javaws.Launcher.downloadResources(Unknown Source) at
com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleApplicationDesc(Unknown Source) at
com.sun.javaws.Launcher.handleLaunchFile(Unknown Source) at
com.sun.javaws.Launcher.run(Unknown Source) at
java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

The error occurs when it tries to download the jnlp file. The funny thing is, the path is correct (when you copy/paste the path from the error message popped up by jws in explorer, it can find it because it starts up jws).

jnlp file:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<jnlp
spec="1.0+"
codebase="file://nlhrn501/workspace/SRC-EDI_Manager"
href="src-edi_c.jnlp">
<information>
<title>SRC-EDI Manager</title>
<vendor>SRC System Integrators B.V.</vendor>
<homepage href="http://www.src.nl"/>
<description>SRC-EDI Manager Client</description>
<description kind="short">SRC-EDI Manager Client</description>
<offline-allowed/>
</information>
<security>
<all-permissions/>
</security>
<resources>
<j2se href="http://java.sun.com/products/autodl/j2se" version="1.4+"/>
<jar href="src-edi_c.jar"/>
</resources>
<application-desc>
<argument>nlhrn501</argument>
</application-desc>
</jnlp>

Anybody got a hint?
Or do I really have to put it in a webserver?

Erik

#2

file:// <- heh it’s triple slash! :wink:

[quote]The funny thing is, the path is correct (when you copy/paste the path from the error message popped up by jws in explorer, it can find it because it starts up jws).
[/quote]
In that case it works with netbios. Well, I guess webstart tries the “usual” port 80 http stuff. So yea… a webserver would solve that problem I guess :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks for the reply.

[quote]file:// <- heh it’s triple slash!
[/quote]
You have to trip-slash if you want to omit the hostname and do a C:/… path. In this case I think you have to use a double slash.
…except that it doesn’t work ;D
(I tried triple slash as well)

#4

Netbios names use \ notation don’t they?
Besides, what’s wrong with setting up a tiny HTTP daemon to farm out the files anyway?

Cas :slight_smile:

#5

I confirm that a http server is not necessary. Did run my stuff locally without. But I only accessed local drives, no network drives.

#6

Yep. FYI, the standard has:

protocol:path1

…and the most-frequently-used path1 is:

// hostname / path

where this second path is defined as being a minimum of “/”, and where ommitted defaults to “/”. e.g. for http protocol, “/” and a null path are defined to be precisely the same.

(FYI if “/” is included anywhere in this path, the standard says it MUST represent hierarchical topology.)

NB: many systems use this definition of path, including netbios as observed above. (EDIT: …if you don’t mind swapping “” for “/” and vice versa :). Apart from char differences, the path definition is the same for many protocols…)

so you get

[] http://www.blah.com/some/file/on/blah
[] file:///home/user (for linux: “/home/user”, on the current machine (empty hostname part, hence apparence of a triple-slash))
[] //linuxserver/home/user (netbios encoding of “/home/user” on machine “linuxserver”)
[] file://linuxserver/home/user (encoding of “/home/user” on machine “linuxserver”)
[*] file:///home/user (encoding of “/home/user” on this machine)

#7

[quote]Besides, what’s wrong with setting up a tiny HTTP daemon to farm out the files anyway?
[/quote]
Because I’m lazy and I hate wading through docs to find out how to set up mime types ;D

[quote]I confirm that a http server is not necessary. Did run my stuff locally without. But I only accessed local drives, no network drives.
[/quote]
Yes, locally it worked already. Anywhere else it doesn’t.
Anyway, I added the jnlp mime type to apache which I had already installed anyway, so it works.
Can anyone recommend a tiny http server I can use for serving webstart apps for just a LAN? No security, performance or scaling requirements whatsoever, just serving a webstart app.

Erik

#8

The last time I needed a web server quick, I used Abyss:

http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/index.html

I’ve not done anything important with it, but it was practically a one-click install, and has a simple web-based config. If you’re after something hassle-free, might be worth a look.

#9

Hey that looks great, thanks :slight_smile:

#10

Yea I use Abyss too. It’s not secure or whatsoever… but it’s nice for intranet stuff or doing some php :slight_smile: