Release Notes - Known Issues

This topic documents the following known issues for this release:

Unexpected Stepping Behavior
Using Package-Managed Classes with Existing Tools
Calling the ActiveXControl Class
XML Issues

Note   The build numbers of the Microsoft virtual machine (Microsoft VM) and jvc for this SDK release can be found in the file Build.txt, located in the Relnotes folder of the SDK.

For information on Microsoft VM issues that have been fixed, see Microsoft VM Updates. Information on fixes to the Microsoft VM after the SDK for Java 4.0 release will be posted to http://www.microsoft.com/java/download.htm .

Unexpected Stepping Behavior

Using the latest Microsoft VM with an older version of Microsoft® Visual J++® may result in unexpected stepping behavior because of optimizations done by the Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler.

Using Package-Managed Classes with Existing Tools

If you are using package-managed classes with existing tools, note the following updates:

A tool called clspack creates all the .zip files that are usually included in %Windir%\Java\Classes, and are now stored in the package manager. The clspack tool is provided in the SDK\Bin directory. You can use clspack by setting the path to the SDK\Bin (set path=C:\%SDKDIR%\Bin;%path%) or copying it into %Windir% directory.

In addition, the value of the CLASSPATH environment variable registry setting is prepended with a reference to this generated Classes.zip file (if one is not currently there). The compiler provided with the SDK (Jvc.exe) checks this location by default for classes; there is no need to set the CLASSPATH environment variable.

For other compilers that do not check this location by default, set the CLASSPATH environment variable before running the compiler as follows: set CLASSPATH=%Windir%\Java\Classes\Classes.zip. For easy use, consider placing this command in a batch file.

Calling the ActiveXControl Class

Any class calling the ActiveXControl class needs to be trusted. If an applet intends to host a Microsoft® ActiveX® Control using the ActiveXControl class, it needs to be signed with the Fully Trusted permission. Any class calling the ActiveXControl class needs to be on the class path or have the right permissions ascribed to it through package management. If the jactivex tool is used to host an ActiveX Control, the classes output by the tool will use the ActiveXControl class. Any code using the classes output by jactivex, therefore, needs to be trusted.

XML Issues

The Microsoft XML functionality provided by the classes in the com.ms.xml package and subpackages, including the Microsoft® XML Data Source Object (DSO), is not fully compliant with the W3C specification. These classes, first shipped with Microsoft® Internet Explorer 4, are deprecated and have not been updated to reflect W3C activities or other more current Microsoft XML technologies.  It is recommended that developers use the newer Microsoft® XML parser, msxml.dll.

For more information about using this newer XML parser, see the XML Faq http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/general/xmlfaq.asp  on the Microsoft® MSDN™ Web Site.