Issue opening cfg files on a Mac

[Jürgen Strohhecker]

Dear all,

I received notes from three of my students indicating that they cannot open the cfg files that I saved on a windows computer (using JaamSim 2020-13). They just could open these files as a text file. I did not find any information in the users guide and on the forum. Are you aware of any problems?

Thank you very much

Jürgen

[Harry King]

Jürgen,

It is good to hear that you are using JaamSim for your course.  I have heard from another professor that some of his students were unable to open the .cfg file on a Mac unless it was in the same folder as the JaamSim .jar file.  That might be the problem you are experiencing.  I will look into it myself later today.

Harry

[Harry King]

Jürgen,

I tested the ability to open cfg files on the Mac this afternoon. JaamSim seems to be able to a cfg file regardless of its folder's location relative to the jar file. However, both the cfg file and jar file must be located on the computer's hard drive. Network locations should be avoided even if they seem to work. Also, JaamSim must be allowed to write a log file to the folder containing the cfg file. It is possible that these students had placed the cfg file in a folder with restricted access.

Can you provide more information about the locations of the cfg and jar files for the students that are having difficulty?

Harry

[Valéria Miller]

Good evening,

I am one of the students having the problems with opening the files. I was looking for the location of the cfg file and this is what I found: 
However, I didn't found the jar files...Where should I look for them or where are they saved?

Yours sincerely

Miller Valéria

[Harry King]

Hi Valéria,

Thank you for the additional information. The location of the .jar file is likely to be the problem. Where did you place JaamSim after downloading it from the website? Did you leave it in the downloads folder and double click on it there to launch JaamSim?

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Harry, my students using Mac are reporting the same issue, the cfg files are not showing in the open file dialog, no matter where the file is located.  Any help will be appreciated.

[Harry King]

Where are the students placing the jar file after downloading it? I think that might be the cause of the problem.

Harry

[Jonathan Eckstein]

Harry,

I would appreciate hearing the solution to this when you find it. My
own students probably encounter it April.

Jonathan


On 2/19/2021 7:55 PM, 'jame...@uvg.edu.gt' via Jaamsim Users Discussion

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[Valéria Miller]

Good evening Harry,

I now moved JaamSim from the download section to the programs section. However, I still can’t open any files. Maybe it’s easier and quicker if we would arrange a short Zoom meeting where I can share my screen with you. 

Kind regards

Valéria

[Harry King]

Valéria,

I have sent a response to your email address.

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Can you share the solution?  My students are facing the same problem.  They can´t open cfg files in Mac and we have tried to move the files to different folders in the local drive of the computer and it does not seem to solve the problem.

[Jonathan Eckstein]

Could it be that the location of the .jar that is causing the issue?

I would appreciate some public answer to this too. I only use JaamSim
at the end of my course, but if it has more problems on the Mac it would
negate my original reason for switching from Arena to JaamSim (although
JaamSim is far less restrictive for student users and much, much faster).

Jonathan


On 2/22/2021 11:24 AM, 'jame...@uvg.edu.gt' via Jaamsim Users Discussion

[Harry King]

Jose and Jonathan,

The Zoom call hasn't happened yet. Do either of you have someone who can demonstrate the problem for me over Zoom? I can't fix it until I am able to reproduce it on my Mac.

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Could a recorded video help?

[Harry King]

Yes, a recorded video would help. In the video, the user should try to open a model file and navigate from the default location to the folder containing the files.

Harry

[Harry King]

Jose,

The video you emailed me is a huge help. The problem appears to occur when the input file is stored on the desktop. Try placing it in a folder under 'Documents'.

In the meantime, I will see if I can reproduce the problem on my Mac.

Harry

[Harry King]

Jose,

Storing the input file on the desktop is not a problem after all. I had no trouble with the desktop when I tested it on my Mac.

Another possibility was the presence of an accented character in the user name or in one of the folders. There are reports of this being a problem with Java on Macs, however it worked correctly when I tested it. In any case, the user name and folder names in the video had no accented characters, so that couldn't be the problem.

The only thing left is the possibility that an older version of the Mac OS is causing the problem. My test computer is running the latest version of Catalina. The newest version of Mac OS is Big Sur, but it only came out in November and the problem was first reported much earlier. Can you please find out what version is used in the student's video? If it is older than Catalina, have him or her update it to Catalina and see if that fixes the problem.

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Harry, all my students who are having the problem opening cfg files in Mac report that they have Big Sur.  I have one student running Catalina who confirms that he has no problems.

[Harry King]

Do you have any students running Big Sur that do not have this problem?

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Not that I'm aware of. I will check and I'll get back to you.

[Harvey Harrison]

If one of your students having the problem could try the following,
instead of double-clicking the jar file to open JaamSim, could they
run it from the command line:

java -jar JaamSim2021-01.jar

And let me know if there is any difference in behavior, there was some
new security restrictions introduced in Big Sur that can impact java
programs launched directly from java (command line) or automatically
launched from the java laucher (double click)

Harvey

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[Harry King]

The problem appears to be a new feature in Big Sur that restricts access to the Documents and Desktop folders for some apps. The solution is to create a new folder for your .cfg files that is outside of Documents and Desktop.

Harry

[jame...@uvg.edu.gt]

Hi Harry!  Just to let you know that one of my students running Big Sur just confirmed that your proposed solution did the trick.  I am yet to confirm with the others but it seems to be a valid solution.

Thanks!!

[Jürgen Strohhecker]

Harry,

Great. Thank you very much. Problem solved.

Jürgen