Acrobat Viewer for Java

[Marco Schmidt]

Adobe has a Java version of its Acrobat Reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrviewer/main.html
As there is no support for it, maybe someone here can help. The
question is - did anyone manage to get it to run?

If I install the Windows-specific Java version, the following error
occurs after the program is run for the first time (well, anytime I
try to start the program; the exception message is displayed in a nice
AWT window):

>java.lang.NullPointerException
>
> at com.adobe.acrobat.gui.ViewerFrame.setLocation(ViewerFrame.java:208)
> at java.awt.Window.<init>(Window.java:202)
> at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:315)
> at java.awt.Frame.<init>(Frame.java:262)
> at com.adobe.pe.awt.PEFrame.<init>(PEFrame.java:52)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.gui.ViewerFrame.<init>(ViewerFrame.java:83)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.gui.ViewerFrame.<init>(ViewerFrame.java:66)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer.startViewerApplication(Viewer.java:551)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer.access$2(Viewer.java:484)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer$ViewerTransactor.buildChanges(Viewer.java:794)
> at com.adobe.pe.notify.Transactor.commit(Transactor.java:70)
> at com.adobe.pe.notify.Transactor.commit(Transactor.java:32)
> at com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer.main(Viewer.java:473)
> at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
> at com.zerog.lax.LAX.launch(LAX.java:337)
> at com.zerog.lax.LAX.<init>(LAX.java:98)
> at com.zerog.lax.LAX.main(LAX.java:497)

If I install the version for any platform (with a Java-based
installer), all I get is the splash screen of the installer plus the
following message:

>H:\>java -classpath viewer.zip install
>Exception in thread "main"

Not very helpful. OK, so I extract the file acrobat.jar from the
installer ZIP file because it seems to be the viewer. Yes, it has a
manifest file. No, double-clicking on it won't run it. I start it
manually:

>H:\>java -classpath acrobat.jar com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer
>Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/apple/mrj/MRJAboutHandler

So the platform-independent version obviously needs some
Apple-specific class (which is really not part of the JAR, I searched
for it).

Given that Adobe has put some resources into writing a Java version of
their PDF viewer, why can't they package it in a way that it can be
used? I have Java 1.3.1beta installed (not 1.1.8 as recommended), but
the problem seems to be elsewhere.

Thanks for any comments,
Marco
--
Java programming tips: http://jiu.sourceforge.net/javatips.html

[Jim Sculley]

Marco Schmidt wrote:
>
> Adobe has a Java version of its Acrobat Reader:
> http://www.adobe.com/products/acrviewer/main.html
> As there is no support for it, maybe someone here can help. The
> question is - did anyone manage to get it to run?

The thing is ancient, and, quite honestly, a piece of crap. Probably
set back opinions of Java a year at the time it was unleashed on the
world.

<snip>

> manually:
>
> >H:\>java -classpath acrobat.jar com.adobe.acrobat.Viewer
> >Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: com/apple/mrj/MRJAboutHandler
>
> So the platform-independent version obviously needs some
> Apple-specific class (which is really not part of the JAR, I searched
> for it).

Yes, this looks familiar. I had it running inside VAJ at one time.
I'll poke around in my Repository at work and see if the working code is
still around.

>
> Given that Adobe has put some resources into writing a Java version of
> their PDF viewer, why can't they package it in a way that it can be
> used?

You must remember that this viewer was released when Java was 1.1.x. I
don't think it has been touched since that time.

Jim S.