Getting started

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi. I mistakenly wound up installing a later version of java on my laptop when Windows suggested  or tried to force (?) it. This somehow disabled the search function in my beloved Polarbar mailer 1.25e build 20061.  On my desktop there is no problem. 

But it is probably a good time for me to move up to a newer build of PBM. The problem is that I am not very sophisticated and the last time I upgraded PBM; it was through a package that was quite simple to install. 

So I have downloaded Java 11, as suggested, and want to follow all the directions on https://www.polarbar.net/README.TXT.  I also downloaded JFX 11 from Gluon. But I am not sure what to do. I have the zip file for JFX on my desktop, but how do I actually install it? Different sites suggest different things, such as creating a directory C:\bin\java to put it in.  I currently have openjfx-11.0.2_windows-x64_bin-sdk.zip on my desktop, which is in my D: drive. I don't seem to have a directory called C:\bin\java on my C: drive, or if I do it's not obvious. 

Where should I extract the openjfx-11.0.2_windows-x64_bin-sdk.zip files to?

I'm sorry for such a lame question, but I have a feeling that I will need some help from more knowledgeable people when installing a newer release of PBM, which I very much want to do.

Thanks much in advance.  :- )

Fred

--

Frederik L. Schodt
www.jai2.com

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on Mon, 1 Feb 2021 20:42:20 -0800

Hi Fred. It's not totally obvious how to do this so I don't think your questions are lame. Here's
how I've got it on my desktop Windows 7 system. On my boot partition, I have a directory
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java. In that directory there are 0 files & 2 directories. One directory
is for Java & the other is for JFX. There is no formal installer program for these packages. You
just unzip the 2 files you downloaded into each of the 2 directories. Now, the 2 zip files I
downloaded came with a root directory that had 0 files & 1 directory. So you do not need to create
any directories within C:\Program Files (x86)\Java. Just create the Java directory within
C:\Program Files (x86). Then unzip your 2 downloaded files into C:\Program Files (x86)\Java. This
will create the 2 directory trees for Java & JFX respectively. They will sit side by side within
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java. That completes your installation of the packages for Java & JFX.

The next step is to get the environment variables to point to the 2 directories in C:\Program Files
(x86)\Java. You do this through Control Panel by navigating these things:

System and Security -> System -> Change Settings (within the section with the heading Computer
name, domain, and workgroup settings, over on the right)

This opens a dialog box with tabs across the top. You want to go to the Advanced tab. The bottom
section is labeled Startup and Recovery. Click the button Environment Variables. This opens
another dialog box with 2 areas in it. The bottom area marked System variables is where you need
to add the 2 SET commands that are described in the PBM installation notes. There are buttons
below the scrollable area marked New & Edit. I think you can figure out which of these you need to
use. Try clicking on anything that is already in that scrollable area, then click the Edit button.
Look at what it shows you. Try this for several items to get the idea of how to put the PBM SET
commands into the list. Always click out of those things with Cancel since you are just looking at
them. You don't want to change them. Once you grasp the concept of the pattern, use the New
button to create the 2 SETs that PBM uses. In my system, there is already a value for this SET
symbol:

SET ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)

Note how there's spaces on the right of the equal sign but not on the left. (I'm showing an equal
sign here but you do not code an equal sign in the dialog.) So when I defined the SET symbols for
PBM, I coded them as:

%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\whatever

Then just click the OK button at the bottom & close up the other parts of the dialog.

Defining these SET symbols does not immediately put them into effect. Windows interprets these SET
symbols exactly once, at boot up. If you change their values, it may look like they've been
changed correctly but the system does NOT recognize your changes until the next time you reboot.

I hope this gets you further along in the process. Maybe even to successfully using PBM once again.

WW
GO HABS GO!
Configuration: Windows 7 64-bit, AdoptOpenJDK build 11.0.7+10 (2020/4/14), PBM 1.27 dev CI-799 build 2329

[Frederik L Schodt]

Wow. Thanks much. I’ll try this and hope it works. It’s definitely not quite as easy as I had hoped. So I’m very grateful for your help and encouragement.

Fred

Frederik L. Schodt
フレデリック・L・ショット
NET: fr...@jai2.com
WEB: www.jai2.com


> On Feb 1, 2021, at 9:48 PM, Bill Wild Willy Kredentser <grampaw...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.
> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/6018e7b2.1c69fb81.5f72a.bc0e%40mx.google.com.

[WildWilly]

Oops.  I overlooked one step.  The PBM readme mentions only JAVAFX_HOME.  You also want to define JAVA_HOME as a system environment variable.  Once you create this SET symbol, you want to insert it into the system environment variable PATH.  Find the symbol PATH (or perhaps it's Path) in the system environment variables.  Then click the Edit button.  Then change its value by inserting a reference to JAVA_HOME in the front of the value, like this:

%JAVA_HOME%\bin;followed by what's already there

That should do it.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

I hope you don't mind me asking a few more very basic questions. I downloaded the Gluon JavaFX as recommended and was able to extract that to my C:\Program Files (x86)\java folder. However, when I downloaded the recommended AdoptOpenJDK file (JDK11U-jdk_x64_windows_hotspot_11.0.10_9.msi), it comes as an MSI file, not as a zip file. I copied the msi file into the  C:\Program Files (x86)\java folder and then click on it, and clicked through some screens but nothing appears in the folder, even though it seems to be going through the motions of installing something. Whatever it is installing is not clear, as I can't find it anywhere. Do you think I should try to use a different jdk from a different site so I can get it into the proper folder?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/e30de2d9-95a4-48e0-8121-b4060873168an%40googlegroups.com.

[WildWilly]

MSI?  That doesn't sound right.  Here's what I found:

Go here: https://adoptopenjdk.net/

Under Choose a Version, I picked OpenJDK 11 (LTS).

Under Choose a JVM, I picked HotSpot.

Then I clicked on the Release Archive & Nightly Builds  button .

That takes you to a page with more release number options but the same selections you already picked are preset.

It gives you a choice of Latest release or Nightly builds.  Click Latest release.

That gives you a page where you can get zip files.  You want to go to the one for Windows x64 (not x86).  You'll see one that says JDK-196M & one that says JRE-42M.  I have always gotten the JDK but I suppose that's overkill.  I assume the JRE is enough.

I have to say this is all rather a surprise to me.  I have not updated my Java from 11.0.7+10 & they're offering Java 11.0.10+9, a newer one.  I suppose if I get really motivated, I'll update my Java.  You could pioneer it for me/us & tell me/us how it goes.  But when I got mine on May 19 last year, I don't remember them offering any MSIs.  I'm not entirely sure what an MSI is.  The only thing they were offering last year was zip files so this is all news to me.  If executing the MSI did something, I can't advise you on what that might have been.  Maybe if you look in Control Panel at the list of installed applications, Java will be listed.  Maybe if you open a command prompt & go to the root directory of your boot partition, assuming it's C:, and enter this command

dir /s java.exe

it might tell you where it put Java.  Then you can follow my instructions above.

If you find Java like this & it is usable with PBM, I suppose you can just stop & be happy.  Otherwise, I would try to uninstall whatever it is this MSI installed, then get the zip file & start over.

Do keep posting on your progress.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill. Thank you for helping me. I am a bit lost in a couple of places. I got rid of the MSI installer and installed as you suggested and it seems to have worked (at least the installation did). I think that I was not used to the MSI installer and had not specified the right directory path so it had put it somewhere else. They have a remove function and that seemed to work.  

I'm stuck now on the environmental variables. To ask a really, really stupid question, should I include the "whatever" that you have listed for the first SET symbol, the Program Files one?  Or should this be the name of the the JDK folder now within  the Java folder, i.e., jdk-11.0.10+9-jre?

Another question is about JAVAFX_HOME.  I tried to define it in the Set symbol, using the same method as before. Not sure if I have done this right. THen, I am not sure how to insert this SET symbol into the system environment variable path. I find PATH in' the list, but there are many lines inside it. Which one do I insert JAVA_HOME into? 

Very sorry to bother you with this, but you can see where a non-programmer gets hung up on simple things. 

I'm attaching some screen shots for you.  I have not download'ed the latest PBM file because the web instructions imply that everything else should be set up properly first. fu

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/e14fd043-08ce-467c-9b91-a1ba59b31879n%40googlegroups.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on Wed, 3 Feb 2021 13:03:20 -0800

Fred, it seems Microsoft made some significant changes to this dialog between the Windows 7 that
I'm running & the W10 you have. I have to say they look like improvements. I'll show you what it
looks like on my system. The last image shows the directory structure on my boot partition. I
think you're pretty close to having it right. Just remember that after changing any of the system
environment variables, Windows does not recognize your changes as soon as you close the dialog.
The variables are changed but Windows doesn't use the changes until you reboot. It seems that
Windows looks at the environment variables to construct the environment only once & that one time
is at boot up. You can change the variables all you want but Windows won't recognize the changes
until you reboot. At least, that's how it works for me on W7. It could be that W10 has been
improved in this area as well. I don't know. You'd have to experiment to figure it out. Or,
miraculously, it may actually be documented how this all works. I discovered what I know by trial
& error. My experience with looking up Windows help has been, shall we say, inconsistent. Like
what I usually find is no help at all.

As for downloading PBM, you could download it whenever you want, before installing Java & JFX,
after installing them, before fixing the environment variables, after fixing them, whenever. The
important step in the sequence is when you actually install, not just download but install, PBM.
The downloaded file for PBM can be on you system patiently waiting for you to get set up. It's the
install of PBM that you should delay until after you get set up.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on Wed, 3 Feb 2021 13:03:20 -0800

I'm curious about something. On your Windows 10, when you click Edit on one of the variables, in
the Variable name field, is the word SET already there or did you type it? If it's already there,
OK, that's the way it works now in W10. As you can see in my images, the word SET is not there. I
don't type it in, either. Very curious. In any case, if the system doesn't present you with the
word SET, you should not type it in. If the system puts it there, then leave it alone. Either
way, leave it alone, & follow their pattern for JAVA_HOME and JAVAFX_HOME.

As for the PATH variable, it looks like the interface for manipulating the variable is greatly
enhanced in W10. It looks like you would highlight the top entry in the list, then click New.
That opens a second dialog (I'm guessing now, since I don't have W10 & I've never used it) that has
just one field in it. You enter a path name, which in this case would be this:

%JAVA_HOME%\bin

It looks like W10 does not need you to include the semicolon. That looks like it's a W7 thing so
you don't have to be concerned with it. Then you save it. Then you use the Move Up & Move Down
buttons to reposition your new entry within the PATH. Windows looks up objects to execute by
hunting through the entries in PATH in the order you can see in your image #3. I've got JAVA_HOME
first in PATH so when it comes time to run PBM, the hunt is short. Plus there isn't a lot for
Windows to search through in that directory so it won't impact performance of other things much.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill.

I believe that I typed in the word SET, because otherwise I have no SET anywhere, as far as I can tell. I assumed from your description that I should create a SET but I can see from your screen shots that this is not necessary.

I gather that I don't need to do this, so I just follow your lead and put, for example, ProgramFiles(x86), followed by %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre for the variable value (for the jre installation)... But in the window, I note that none of the other items on the list have this configuration. All the system variables have "values" in the opening window that give the path, starting with C:\windows\ blah blah. When I click on edit, of course, the line often starts with %, but not always, sometimes the syntax is C:\windows, etc. Maybe this is something new in Win10?

In the system environment variable "path" there are many lines, as shown in the screen shot. Should I create a new item there? If I highlight the first item on the list, and then click new, I just get a new line where I can enter something, and that line is then added to the list, I presume.

I'll keep following your kind advice, and hopefully I will get there! :- ) I have a new laptop ordered, so this is a good rehearsal for that, and also installing it on my current desktop, too.

I'll also download the new PBM zip file, but not install it, just read the "readme" file I assume is in it.

Again, thanks much,

Fred

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601b25c8.1c69fb81.ef5d7.dabf%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill.

I believe that I typed in the word SET, because otherwise I have no SET anywhere, as far as I can tell. I assumed from your description that I should create a SET but I can see from your screen shots that this is not necessary.

I gather that I don't need to do this, so I just follow your lead and put, for example, ProgramFiles(x86), followed by %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre for the variable value (for the jre installation)... But in the window, I note that none of the other items on the list have this configuration. All the system variables have "values" in the opening window that give the path, starting with C:\windows\ blah blah. When I click on edit, of course, the line often starts with %, but not always, sometimes the syntax is C:\windows, etc. Maybe this is something new in Win10?

In the system environment variable "path" there are many lines, as shown in the screen shot. Should I create a new item there? If I highlight the first item on the list, and then click new, I just get a new line where I can enter something, and that line is then added to the list, I presume.

I'll keep following your kind advice, and hopefully I will get there! :- ) I have a new laptop ordered, so this is a good rehearsal for that, and also installing it on my current desktop, too.

I'll also download the new PBM zip file, but not install it, just read the "readme" file I assume is in it.

Again, thanks much,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 2:38 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>; PolarBar Mailer Mail List <mai...@polarbar.org>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601b25c8.1c69fb81.ef5d7.dabf%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill.

I believe that I typed in the word SET, because otherwise I have no SET anywhere, as far as I can tell. I assumed from your description that I should create a SET but I can see from your screen shots that this is not necessary.

I gather that I don't need to do this, so I just follow your lead and put, for example, ProgramFiles(x86), followed by %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre for the variable value (for the jre installation)... But in the window, I note that none of the other items on the list have this configuration. All the system variables have "values" in the opening window that give the path, starting with C:\windows\ blah blah. When I click on edit, of course, the line often starts with %, but not always, sometimes the syntax is C:\windows, etc. Maybe this is something new in Win10?

In the system environment variable "path" there are many lines, as shown in the screen shot. Should I create a new item there? If I highlight the first item on the list, and then click new, I just get a new line where I can enter something, and that line is then added to the list, I presume.

I'll keep following your kind advice, and hopefully I will get there! :- ) I have a new laptop ordered, so this is a good rehearsal for that, and also installing it on my current desktop, too.

I'll also download the new PBM zip file, but not install it, just read the "readme" file I assume is in it.

Again, thanks much,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 2:38 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>; PolarBar Mailer Mail List <mai...@polarbar.org>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601b25c8.1c69fb81.ef5d7.dabf%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on Wed, 3 Feb 2021 17:38:13 -0800

> I believe that I typed in the word SET, because otherwise I have no SET anywhere, as far as I can
> tell. I assumed from your description that I should create a SET but I can see from your screen
> shots that this is not necessary.

Sorry about this. I'm skipping things I don't realize I figured out so long ago I've forgotten I
had to figure them out. The idea is that this dialog creates the SET values. SET value,
environment variable, they're synonyms. But the word SET itself is more or less implicit. You
should NEVER type the word SET yourself. Look at any one of the values you have NOT touched.
There isn't one that shows SET, is there? So you need to follow that pattern. If there are any
values that you changed by inserting SET yourself, quick like a bunny fix them all. Remove the
word SET from every place you put it in.

Also, the SET variable ProgramFiles(x86) which has no blanks should have the value
C:\Program Files (x86) with blanks. If you changed this one, put it back to this value. Make sure
you don't have the word SET in there.

> I gather that I don't need to do this, so I just follow your lead and put, for example,
> ProgramFiles(x86), followed by %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre for the variable value
> (for the jre installation)...

No. That's the wrong environment variable. I just mentioned the variable named ProgramFiles(x86)
(remember, no spaces). The variable is named ProgramFiles(x86). The variable ProgramFiles(x86)
(no spaces) can be used elsewhere in the environment variables to refer to the directory
C:\Program Files (x86) (spaces). That reference is done with the weird notation
%ProgramFiles(x86)%. One example of this is the JAVA_HOME variable. You give the variable
JAVA_HOME the value %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre\bin. This is shorthand for giving
this variable the value C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre\bin. Again, pay attention to
where there are spaces & where there are no spaces. This is a general concept of environment
variables.

Let me give an example. Say you want to define a variable named Fred. Say you want to give
variable Fred the value G:\PolarBar Mailer. So, you create a New variable with the name Fred & the
value G:\PolarBar Mailer. Now let's say you want to create a variable named Attachments with the
value G:\PolarBar Mailer\ATCHMNTS. So, you create yet another variable with the name Attachments &
give it the value %Fred%\ATCHMNTS. Do get the idea?

One reason for this is to make it possible to have multiple versions of Java on your system & use
one or another. Like let's say tomorrow you wanted to install Java 11.4.72 (I made that up). Just
get that zip file & unzip it into %ProgramFiles(86)%\Java, just like you did for the version you're
using now. So, now it's sitting right beside the Java you do have installed but it's not being
used. Well, you didn't download it to not use it. So, all you have to do is change the value of
the JAVA_HOME variable. Change its value to %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.4.72-jre\bin. Then
reboot. Poof. Magic. You'll be using the new version of Java.

Suppose there's a problem with the new version of Java. Just change the value of the variable
JAVA_HOME back to what it was before. Then reboot. Poof. Magic. You'll be back to using the old
version of Java.

> But in the window, I note that none of the other items on the list
> have this configuration. All the system variables have "values" in the opening window that give the
> path, starting with C:\windows\ blah blah. When I click on edit, of course, the line often starts
> with %, but not always, sometimes the syntax is C:\windows, etc. Maybe this is something new in
> Win10?

No. Not at all. It's always been this way. The %blahblahblah% thing is just shorthand for
something longer. I'm not entirely certain but I believe this was like this back before Windows
existed. It's something OS/2 did. I think it originated with UNIX systems about 40 or more years
ago. Just for fun, open a command window & execute the command SET. Just SET, nothing more. This
may help you understand some things. Look for % signs in what the SET command generates,
especially for variables you know have % in them.

> In the system environment variable "path" there are many lines, as shown in the screen shot. Should
> I create a new item there? If I highlight the first item on the list, and then click new, I just
> get a new line where I can enter something, and that line is then added to the list, I presume.

Yes, exactly. I am guessing that the new one you create will be inserted in the list next to the
one you highlighted. Before or after? I don't know. Do it & tell me. If you don't like the
order, just use the Move Up & Move Down buttons to resequence the directories in the list.
Changing the order won't hurt anything severely. It's possible that certain functions may launch
faster or slower depending on where their entry is in the PATH list. Windows searches for
executables using the PATH variable. It just starts at the first directory & goes hunting. In our
case for PBM, Windows has to find java.exe. So, some entry somewhere in PATH has to be a directory
where java.exe can be found. That's what JAVA_HOME does when you make %JAVA_HOME% part of PATH.
It tells Windows to include the Java directory in its search to find programs, any program, but
specifically java.exe. Otherwise, it gives you one of those annoying messages about how it can't
find program so-and-so when you know it's on your system. You have to put the relevant directory
into PATH so Windows can find the program.

Note how putting the JAVA_HOME directory into PATH using %JAVA_HOME%\bin adds the Java directory
into the list. But in order to use another version of Java, you don't have to change PATH, which
is, as you can see, a large, unwieldy beast. Just change JAVA_HOME & that change gets reflected in
PATH.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill

Thanks for being so patient for someone with so little knowledge. Somethings that you mention I am starting to remember. I was a long-time OS/2 user, and even once knew some basic unix commands and syntax, but that knowledge now is all snarled up and vaporizing fast.

I think I forgot to attach the screenshot for the Path window. So here it is.

Thanks much,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 7:34 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601b6b32.1c69fb81.5aaf4.e628%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill

Thanks for being so patient for someone with so little knowledge. Somethings that you mention I am starting to remember. I was a long-time OS/2 user, and even once knew some basic unix commands and syntax, but that knowledge now is all snarled up and vaporizing fast.

I think I forgot to attach the screenshot for the Path window. So here it is.

Thanks much,

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Wednesday, February 3, 2021 7:34 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601b6b32.1c69fb81.5aaf4.e628%40mx.google.com.

[fschodt]

Hi, Bill.

I have tried to make all the changes that I am supposed to do in environment variables. Altogether there are four changes, as I understand it. I tried to imitate what you showed me in your screen shots, and wonder if you could check to see if I have things right. For the PATH insertion, in Win10 there are a lot of existing entries but I wasn't sure what I should use, so I created a new entry, rather than inserting the string you recommended in front of an existing one, because I'm not sure which existing one would work.  Also, from your screen shot, I wasn't sure what the last alphanumeric should be, since it seems cut off. Is it system32?  I decided it probably is and used the string in the screen shot attached.  If this works, would I be good to go, to move to installation of PBM? 

I downloaded the latest build of PBM. I couldn't figure out how to get the same build that you have in your sig file. I also notice that on the download page on the PBM site  it says something about using 2328 beta3, which is described as the latest,  but it seems as though that is not what you are running, and that the real latest is from the current build list url.  

For installing the latest version of PBM, I gather that this time I actually do unzip the zip file.  I think it says in the readme file that it creates a directory, so I don't need to do that, presumably. I normally keep PBM in my D: drive, I think (I keep Mailer in Dropbox so I can use PBM with multiple computers). So I would just unzip PBM into my D: drive, I assume. 

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from fschodt <fsc...@gmail.com> on Thu, 4 Feb 2021 13:04:44 -0800 (PST)

I think the differences between Windows 7 & Windows 10 are still confusing you, Fred. In W7, the
PATH environment variable is just one big blob. It's multiple directories in a list separated by
semicolons. You have to add new directories to the list by typing the new directory name in the
list after a semicolon & then remember to put in a semicolon yourself to separate your new entry
from the one after it. Or put your new entry at the front of the list & follow it with a semicolon.

In W10, they have a fancy-ass new graphical interface to manipulate PATH. Each directory in PATH
is a separate entity which you can edit individually in its own dialog box. You don't have to
worry about semicolons. You never have to enter semicolons on W10. Don't take my W7 images as
gospel. W10 uses a new approach of which I was totally unfamiliar until you started posting your
images. In W10, you can resequence the directories way way easier than was possible with W7. With
W7, you had to carefully cut & paste a directory from one position in the list to another, being
careful to preserve the semicolon. In W10, there's no more worrying about semicolons & there's no
more cutting & pasting. You use the Move Up & Move Down buttons to change the order of the
directories in the PATH. But I'm seeing in your image 2021-02-04 Environment Variables 4.JPG that
directory %SystemRoot%\system32 is already an entry in PATH. It's the second one from the top in
your image. You should not be adding it in any entry you code. Plus you have a typo anyway.
You're missing the \. But like I said, each directory in the PATH is a separate entry in this
fancy-ass new GUI. So, nothing you add should have more than 1 directory in it. What you see in
my images is the way it used to look on W7. Don't slavishly take that as your model to follow.
%SystemRoot%\system 32 randomly happens to be the NEXT entry in my PATH that is AFTER the Java
entry. That part of my image is noise. Ignore it. What's in my image is how I added the Java
directory to PATH on W7. That is NOT VALID on W10. You have to do it differently. Your new entry
in PATH should mention only 1 directory, no semicolons. If you want to add 2 directories to PATH,
you do two separate New operations, putting a single directory into each dialog box. You would
NEVER edit an existing directory in PATH & add another directory there. But you won't be adding 2
directories to PATH for PBM.

Your image 2021-02-04 Environment Variables 2.JPG shows an error. The environment variable
JAVA_HOME should read %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.10+9-jre. Stop there. No \bin. Then in
your image 2021-02-04 Environment Variables 4.JPG, your directory should read %JAVA_HOME%\bin.
That's where the bin should be. You left out the \ anyway so it wouldn't have worked. I put my
Java directory at the beginning of my PATH. If you want to do the same, hit the Move Up button
however many times it takes to put your new entry at the beginning of the list. But that's
optional. The order of the directories in PATH can affect only the length of time the system takes
to find whatever executable it needs to find. If the Java directory is at the front of the PATH
list, java.exe will be found faster than if the Java directory is lower down in the PATH list. But
I suspect the difference in the time it would take is a small fraction of a microsecond. So it's
not all that important.

Your image 2021-02-04 Environment Variables 1.JPG looks like it has an error in it. You seem to
have a stray % in there.

I've been downloading Continuous Integration (CI) builds from here:
https://www.polarbar.net/pbmdaily2.html. I seem to be a few behind. I haven't seen any
notifications from the developers recently that would prompt me to move up to a new build. The
developers have been communicating things here: https://www.polarbar.net/jira/login.jsp. That site
needs you to register a user ID & password. It is where you'll get notifications of development
activity. It is also the place to report bugs. You can join there or not. Your choice. I have
no recommendation to give you on whether to join. It's entirely up to you.

When it comes to installing this later version of PBM, it depends on what you are running now. If
you are running a PBM that is more than a couple of years old, you have to create a whole new
directory tree into which you unzip the current PBM. If you've already done this once, then you
would just unzip each successive update into this new directory tree. A few years ago, I happened
to be running PBM from a directory named H:\JSTREET. But when these new PBMs arrived that run only
on Java 11 or later, I created a whole new directory in which to run it called H:\PolarbarMailer.
You should not mix the two. But I have installed several updates to PBM into H:\PolarbarMailer.
You do it once & then reuse it for all subsequent updates.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks much, Bill.  I am going to study these great recommendations over the weekend and see if I can get it to work. Eventually, I'm sure I will, although I might have to ask a couple more questions along the way. You have been so helpful, I would like to send you a little something from San Francisco, if you let me know where to send it. 

Fred.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/601ce6b0.1c69fb81.bd098.3fec%40mx.google.com.

[fschodt]

Hi, Bill and Anyone else who might be able to help. 

I tried to check everything in the environmental variables, etc., and then with great trepidation extracted the PBM files into my D: directory, creating a PolarbarMailer folder. I then crossed my fingers and clicked on the polarbar.exe file. I also created the link to my Mailer file where I have all my emails. To my great surprise, it all came up and looks very nice!  

Mystery to me, however, is that the search function does not work properly. When I say it doesn't work properly, it seems to work, but the search results are invisible. In other words, the search result window does not appear, although there seems to be something hidden in the background because I can see vestiges of open windows hiding behind my Polarbar icon on my Windows taskbar.

What is truly strange about this is that the main reason I felt compelled to upgrade my installation is that the search function has stopped working in exactly the same way. I assumed it was because I was running an old version of java (jre7, I think)  but now that  should not be the case. It's quite a mystery to me.  For your reference I've attached a snip of the CL file showing what happens when PBM starts up. Do you have any idea what might be causing this problem?  Any advice is appreciated, as I am really out of my depth at this point. :-)

Attachments area

ReplyForward

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks, Bill. I have tried to repost our exchange to the whole group. I'm not very versed with googlegroups.com and may not be doing this right. 

I've been using Dropbox for my Mailer folder for years. If you have a fast internet connection, it works great for accessing the same account from two different computers. I never had any problem with it.  The polarbar mailer folder is on my D: drive, not in Dropbox. What I meant by the search function failing is that the search seems to work, in the sense that I can see the number of hits in a folder, but the result is invisible. However, on my Win10 taskbar, where I would normally have the PBM icon, I can see that there is a window that would normally display the search result, except that there is nothing visible. It's called "virtual folder results.'

You mention the -d switch on the command line to tell PBM where to find my data directory.  I'm such an ignoramus that I can't remember where the -d switch goes in the string. Is it in the very beginning, as it -d xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?  Maybe if I put that in it would help?

Regarding the APPDATA/HOME forward slash, I notice that in the screen shot I sent sometimes slashes are forward, sometimes backward. Windows is usually backward, but some lines showing paths show them backward.  In the back of my brain I'm thinking that maybe unix or maybe Java script is different from windows in this regard?  I see in the line "using log4j properties from: jar:file:/D:/PolarbarMailer/Polarbar.jar!/org/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx etc etc that the slashes are all forward slashes. 

What's really puzzling to me is that I lost my search function in Polarbar, not when I installed the latest version, but when I was running 1.25e and was pushed by Windows to somehow upgrade to a newer version of Java and made the mistake of doing so. 

Thanks much, as always, for your help.

Fred

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on

> Mon, 8 Feb 2021 22:13:54 -0800

 

Fred, congratulations!  You've apparently got it set up the way it should be.  There is one significant difference between the way you're running it & the way I've got it.  I explicitly provide a -d switch on the command line to tell PBM where to find my data directory, to use the parlance shown in the command window.  That's my E-mail repository where my Inbox, Outbox, Sent, Trash, & the other folders are.  I have that on a disk drive local to my system.  You are apparently using the APPDATA/HOME environment variable for this.  Well, APPDATA is an environment variable, but I don't know about the /HOME part.  The slash going in that direction is not very Windows-like so I don't know what that message is telling us.  I don't see that message when I run PBM.  You mentioned your E-mail repository is on DropBox.  I am not familiar with using that as a technique to hold my mail repository.  Perhaps this is influencing things.

 

When you say search is failing, do you mean Virtual Folder?  I use Virtual Folder every so often & it's worked for me.  Once again, maybe the DropBox thing is having an influence on your results.

 

You know you sent this to me as a private E-mail & you did not post it in the group on Google.  I'm afraid I don't know what the deal is here.  You should probably post this in the group & see if the other guys know what might be wrong.  The last line of your command window shows an error I am not getting, something about an InteropFactory & javafx & swing.  These are things I am totally unqualified to troubleshoot.  I recommend you post this in the group & hope Carl or Graham can help.  [SNIP]

 

Sorry I can't be any more helpful.

 

WW

GO HABS GO!

Configuration: Windows 7 64-bit, AdoptOpenJDK build 11.0.7+10 (2020/4/14), PBM 1.27 dev CI-799 build 2329

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/9c1bdbf8-edc4-4a1c-bc30-e15dca49249dn%40googlegroups.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <fsc...@gmail.com> on Mon, 8 Feb 2021 23:51:34 -0800

Fred, I don't know if I can help too much here. I used to use PostRoad Mailer way back over 20
years ago on OS/2. Then PRM was replaced by JStreet Mailer as Innoval decided to make the product
platform-independent by rewriting it in Java. So I have a standard directory structure of
H:\JStreet\Mailer\Maildata that I've been using for years. At a certain point, Innoval decided to
vacate the market niche. They open-sourced the code & gave it to our good buddy Paul van Keep in
the Netherlands. He changed the name to Polarbar Mailer. He did a great job with it for a number
of years but he got tired of it or his life priorities changed, something, I don't really know. So
he handed it over to others. Development of PBM has gone years at a time with no progress, then a
spurt of progress, then none, then some more progress. The main contributors at the moment appear
to be Carl Miller & Graham Norris. But they're not focused here right now. Carl was for a time
about a year ago but he's been distracted by real life for a while.

In any case, this is the way I launch PBM:

H:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d H:\JSTREET\Mailer

The -d parameter tells PBM where my E-mail repository is. PBM uses the same directory structure
for its E-mail repository that JStreet did before it. I've never bothered to change the name. As
you can see, I've placed the new PolarbarMailer directory on the same partition as my E-mail
repository. But that's just because that's where I have room. They don't have to be on the same
partition. And the way you've been using it shows they don't even have to be on the same computer.

But my suspicion is that you are somehow telling PBM to go find the E-mail repository on DropBox.
Do show us how you invoke PBM. I am expecting you are using the -d command line option. All the
command line options are documented in the PBM help that is accessible via the main PBM window from
the Contents... entry in the Help menu. I don't know if the page devoted to command line options
is up to date. Seems to me Carl put some work into the help a while ago so I think that
information is current. But it seems to me that a couple of the command line options shown there
are obsolete. Whatever may be the case, the description of the -d option looks right to me.

I recently had some problems on my system that necessitated a repair install of Windows 7. This
wasn't a complete install from scratch into an empty partition. It was a reinstall that preserved
my applications & settings. It refreshed the operating system files, some of which had become
corrupted for reasons I don't know. One of the handful of symptoms that prompted me to do this was
that the Resource Monitor would not open properly. I could launch it & it would open a window, but
there was no information being displayed in the window. Sound familiar?

But Resource Monitor is part of the Windows 7 operating system. A PBM virtual folder is most
definitely not part of the operating system. So going to the extreme of reinstalling Windows is
not going to fix this. However, in my hunt for a solution to the Resource Monitor problem (meaning
Google searches), I came across reports from several people who had seen the exact same problem in
Resource Monitor that I had seen. A few of them said that they had managed to cure the problem
through a trick in Control Panel. Now, I'm running Windows 7 & you're running Windows 10. I don't
know what your Control Panel looks like or how it's organized. It may be the same, it may be a
little different, it may be a lot different. I'll tell you where this thing is on my system but
you'll have to hunt it down on your system. On my system, I would navigate Control Panel ->
Appearance and Personalization -> Display. On that page, there's some radio buttons that set the
global system font size to these possible values:

Smaller - 100% (default)
Medium - 125%
Larger - 150%

Allegedly, changing this value to 100% & rebooting (I think they had to reboot, I don't actually
remember), made the Resource Monitor show what it's supposed to. After getting Resource Monitor to
appear correctly once, then they could change the font size back to 125% or 150% & the Resource
Monitor would continue to display correctly.

I found this advice after I had done my repair install. I had more problems with my system than
just Resource Monitor so I would have done a repair install anyway. But I wish I had found this
advice sooner just to see if it would have worked for me. It may affect your virtual folder
results window. I can't imagine why it made any difference to Resource Monitor for those folks who
reported this solution, but they claimed it worked. It's worth a shot in your case. It seems like
a rather innocuous sort of system change to try, and it's easy enough to put it back afterwards the
way it was before. I have never seen the problem you're reporting with virtual folders so I can't
confidently offer any suggestions about how to proceed. This is just a wild-ass guess in the
absence of real support from someone who might actually know something (Carl or Graham).

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks, Bill.  

It seems we have both followed a similar path, since I have been using PBM since the PRM days on OS/2, too. It has always been very reliable for me and easy to upgrade. I am beginning to think that some of my problems may even be induced by some changes in Win10 or java. Win10 keeps making updates of various things, and that's when I first noticed this issue with search. This morning I made things worse because I wanted to test the other functions in my system. All the other functions seemed to work but I noticed that the built in web browser function (what used to use something cryptic, maybe ICE something or other) didn't seem to work and had been replaced with Webkit something. I even saw that I had some vestigial reference in one of the browser setting lines to a drive I no longer use with some reference to now -archaic Innoval or jstreet in one of the options.  I must have tried to input another browser option (probably google), and whatever I did caused PBM to no longer function. In the command line window it went into an endless loop and couldn't stop, so PBM wouldn't display properly. I tried to go into "Account.settings" and got to the point that all I could think of was that I am doomed.  :-)  When I get to this point I have realized over the years that I need to step back and reevaluate what I am doing before I go over the cliff. I may try to reinstall the new version of PBM, after deleting the Mailer folder (that contains my mail and setting) and trying to install the old one I had. Perhaps, as you indicate, I didn't properly point PBM when I was asked for the location of the mailer folder. I haven't been starting PBM with a command line script (which I always used to do until I tried to upgrade), because I first wanted to make sure everything would work properly. I just started by clicking on Polarbar.exe.  I'll also try changing the fonts. Who knows? It might work. Here's a question you might have an answer to.  If PBM is not functioning because of a change in the settings, and I can't access the settings through the normal route,  is Account.settings the file to go into with a text editor to see if I can find problems or rejigger things?

Thanks much for your help, Someday, I will get this thing to work properly, I hope. If not, I'll have to figure out a completely new system for mail, which fills me with even more dread. 

Fred 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/6022e50a.1c69fb81.36c97.6875%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

> ** Reply to message from "Frederik L. Schodt" <spam protected> on Thu, 1 Apr 2021 21:23:22 -0700

> Hi, Bill (or anyone with an answer). Fred here again. I spent all day
> trying to figure out what is wrong and still can't get PBM to run properly
> despite double-checking environment variables. It first seemed to run amok
> when it tried to load JAVAFX, and the Command window screen started to
> scroll endlessly, but I could see the PBM app load, even though it didn't
> work at all. I found an accidental space omitted in the Program Files
> directory path for JAVAFX, and when I fixed that PolarBar starts and
> displays the command line window for a tiny instant and then vanishes.

Instead of double clicking on PBM, first open a Windows command session. Then navigate to the PBM
directory. On my system, that would mean entering these commands:

H:
cd PolarbarMailer

You probably have to do something different, like maybe C: or X: or whatever the drive letter is
where you have the PBM executable directory. Then on a new line, just type the name of the bat
file or executable you're double clicking on, and hit Enter. This should execute whatever it is
you're trying to run & leave the window open after for you to see whatever errors are occurring.

> PBM
> doesn't load at all. The JDK variables may be working, because when I input
> java -version, I do get a proper answer now. Not so for JavaFX. In reading
> some literature on JavaFX, at least one site recommended adding a system
> variable called PATH_TO_FX. Do you have this in your system? It doesn't
> seem to do anything on mine.

I just did what you can see in the attached image. It shows every SET variable on my system, which
is to say every system environment variable. You should try this same thing on your system &
compare what you have with what I have. Drive letters & such may be slightly different but you
should have many of the same things. Many. Not all. I'm running Windows 7. You're running
Windows 10. So you're going to have to take that into account. I don't know how different your
results will be & I imagine certain differences are not errors on your system. Most of what you'll
see is system default stuff that is just noise for our purposes. It's stuff that is just there,
don't question it, it has nothing to do with PBM. In my results, you can see the effect of certain
variable substitutions. For example, you can see that I have definitions for these:

ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)
JAVA_HOME=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk-11.0.7+10
JAVAFX_HOME=C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2

But that's not what I have defined in Control Panel. Here's what I have defined in the dialog in
my Control Panel.

ProgramFiles(x86)=C:\Program Files (x86)
JAVA_HOME=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\jdk-11.0.7+10
JAVAFX_HOME=%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2

The things within percent signs get interpreted & replaced. You can see this in my PATH. The way
my PATH is really coded is like this in Control Panel:

Path=%JAVA_HOME%\bin;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;%SYSTEMROOT%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\

When you execute the SET command, the %string% substitutions get made & you can't see the original
coding, only the result of doing the substitutions. Plural. PATH contains a %string%. That
string itself contains yet another %string%. The substitutions occur recursively.

As you can see, I don't have a PATH_TO_FX. I do have the variable JAVAFX_HOME. This is something
PBM needs. It needs to exist & it needs to be spelled like this. You can define PATH_TO_FX but
only a program that is looking for a variable by that name will use it. I'm guessing you don't
have such a program so it's a useless thing to define.

You'll notice that PATH contains a reference to Java but not to JavaFX. This is because PATH is a
variable that Windows uses. In order for Windows to find Java, you need to put Java into PATH. On
my system, that reference to Java is the very first thing in PATH. But Windows doesn't know squat
about JavaFX. PBM does but Windows does not. That's why there's no reference to JavaFX in PATH.
But PBM needs to find JavaFX & that's what JAVAFX_HOME is for. PBM looks for that variable. You
have to have it or PBM won't work.

> Currently, for the JAVAFX system environment variables I have JAVAFX_HOME
> as %Program Files(x86)%\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2

Good. Look at mine. It sounds like you've done the same. That should be correct.

> (Is it better to use
> C:\Program Files(x86)%\Java\javasf-sdk-11.0.2?) in the PATH string,

It's 6 of one & half a dozen of the other, as I've explained above. But what you're showing here
has a syntax error. When you code percent signs, they need to be paired. You have the trailing %
but not the leading one. In any case, you should make it like I've explained above.

EXCEPT!!!!!!!

We have already established a few weeks ago that Windows 10 has a much more user-friendly dialog in
the Control Panel for the PATH system environment variable. So you need to do whatever works on
your system that results in a PATH that has a correct reference to the directory where Java exists.
No extra slashes, no unpaired percent signs, etc.

> I have
> no reference to JAVAFX specifically, only to JAVA_HOME. Do you think I
> should add one for JavaFX, and would it be %JAVAFX_HOME%\bin or something
> like that?

I addressed this above.

> Sorry to keep bugging you on this with my poor working knowledge, but one
> never knows. What I am thinking of trying next is to install everything in
> a completely new installation of PBM on my brand new laptop. I'm thinking
> that if I can just get PBM to work, I can always just copy over the mail
> directories in MAIL, and reset all the necessary account settings, rather
> than rely on the old ones. Do you think this might help, if something in my
> old set-up is getting in the way?

I believe there is something fundamental that you are not doing. Going to a fresh installation
will just migrate whatever it is that you aren't understanding to a new system. Let's get this one
working. It should work. You have all the pieces in place. I think you have made some mistake in
your system environment variables. Show me what you get when you execute a SET command in a
command session & maybe I'll see something.

> Any advice is always appreciated!
>
> Fred

We'll get there.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks, Bill！　　I'll keep trying.  It may take a long time, but I'm sure something will work, someday. I will also try a fresh install on my new computer, because maybe there is something in the old "account settings" file that is getting in the way. If nothing else, this is making my poor brain work very hard.  :- )

Fred

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/6066af4a.1c69fb81.d854.10c3%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Fred, I don't think you're getting far enough along for any potentially bad PBM configuration
settings to be causing problems. I think you should hold off on doing a fresh install on a new
computer. I think if you try a new install of PBM on your new computer, you're just going to
unknowingly repeat the mistakes you're making now. I advise you to get this first system working.
In that process, I'm hoping we discover something specific you're doing wrong. Once we find that,
you'll avoid making the same mistake on the second system. I think that would also save you some
time in the long run.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill.

I spent a few more hours trying to figure out what is going on today, trying to check things. I'm attaching screenshots of my SET variables, and also the readout from running it in the command line window. For the latter, one of the problems is that when I execute the file, it very quickly goes into an endless loop and never ends.  Most of the lines are about exceptions in JAVAFX, so there seems to be some problem with invoking it. I don't know why.  I tried executing with the |more command at the end of the line, but it doesn't seem to work in this case. Neither does <control-c> once PBM starts to fire up. In fact, I can't stop anything.  Right before PBM executes I found that if I hit <control-c> I can get a break in there, and then take a screenshot. You can see the weird line that starts to trigger the exceptions. I think everything is fine until the line "interopfactory:cannot load com.sun.javefx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN" (I may have some typos, but I think you can see the line).  After that, we just see a rapid fire scrolling of exceptions that never stop. If you see anything wrong in my setup, I'll of course try nearly anything. 

You mentioned something about your settings being different in your "control panel." Do I have that in Win 10?  I'm not sure where that is or what it is. 

Thanks much, as always. 

Fred (who is still trying!) 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/6066bccb.1c69fb81.ce822.4a00%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Fred, it looks to me like your SET variables are OK. But here's what I have coded in my .Bat file
I use to invoke PBM:

H:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d H:\JSTREET\Mailer

The -d switch just tells PBM where the E-mail repository is. Your PBM seems to be finding your
E-mail repository on D:\Dropbox\Mailer. I'm not sure how you're doing that but it seems to be
working so let's let that pass for the time being.

But you're missing the -FX switch. I think that may be what's tripping you up. The error looks
like it's not finding something related to JavaFX. The -FX switch tells PBM where to find what it
needs. I got this switch by running . . . I forget now what I ran. Oh wait. In the
PolarbarMailer directory there is a README.TXT file. Scroll down to section 2.1. It explains how
to create a shortcut for PBM on your Start Menu. When you do what it says there & the shortcut
appears, open the Properties for that item. Click Mouse Button 2 on the entry in your Start Menu
to get the context menu to pop up. Then select Properties off that menu. The Properties dialog
opens on the Shortcut tab on my system. If it doesn't on yours, go to that tab. In the Target
field you'll see a sample of how to invoke PBM. Just mimic that yourself. I've attached an image
of what it looks like on my system. That's how I learned about the -FX switch. You might find the
whole README.TXT file useful since you'll already be in there.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks, Bill.

This is a great suggestion and thanks for the jpg. I will try it this weekend. I have been wracking my brains trying to think logically about this problem, and it's clear from what you say and from the command line read out that JavaFX is not being invoked properly, if at all. I think it also must be an issue with something in Account Settings that is not working or is corrupted. It's another reason that I think that at some point I should also try a completely clean install on my new laptop and rebuild the account settings.

I have three computers that I currently use. One is a desktop, where I first encountered a problem when I mistakenly clicked on an MS notification about using a newer version of java. That version of PBM, at my workplace in the City, at present seems to be quite functional, except that the search or find function of PBM does not work properly. It does download email from the server, however, which is critical for me, since I have my domain running on a service that has only limited space for email, so I have to periodically download all my mail. For this reason, I don't do any fiddling with the PBM on my desktop now.

All the experimentation I am doing is on an older laptop, which is at my home and easy to work with. The problem with PBM on this laptop is that when I first installed java, javafx, and the latest PBM, when I first launched it seemed as though everything was going to work okay. I unfortunately don't recall, at this point, whether the search function in PBM worked at first. I do remember that everything looked very nice, and I was confident that I would be off and running. But I went into the PBM settings (through the PBM icon), and stupidly tried to change the default browser to something other than what was offered jbuilt-in. I think I was trying to change it to Google. That seemed to cause some issue, and from that point on things have steadily gone hay-wire. At one point, I could fire-up PBM and everything seemed to work except for the search result window, which would disappear instantly (even though I could see that PBM was searching through the mail). Now, however, for some reason when PBM is invoked, it can't access JavaFX and goes into a completely endless loop. When it does this, PBM is visible on the screen, but nothing at all works. I think all the resources are eaten up by the endless looping going on in the background. This means that I can't go in and make the change you are suggesting with your jpg file because I can't access settings from within PBM itself. Your change makes a lot of sense to me, and I'm thinking that I should try to edit the Account Settings file manually, using a text editor like Notepad++ .

The only other thing I can think of is to try an absolutely clean install on my brand new laptop, incorporate my voluminous old mail folders by copying them over into the right place so they can be accessedd, and then rebuild the account settings needed (most of which I once had on the Desktop, when it used to work like a charm but was still dependent on java 1.8).

That's my strategy, anyway. Because I have used PBM for literally decades now (and before it JStreet and so forth) I think something must have been corrupted in my account settings Account Settings file, or there must be something in there that is not compatible with the latest versions of Java, JavaFX, or PBM when they are installed. As I have mentioned before, when looking at the command line read-out on invoking PBM, there have been times when I have seen lines that look very alien to me. I wish now that I had kept a log of all the issues that have popped up with various setting changes in environment variables.

Being quite an ignoramus about all this, does my line of thinking make any sense to you? Do you think that going in and making the FX change you recommend, of using a text editor on the AccountSettings file makes any sense (at least as a starting point before doing a clean install on the new computer)? If so, I will try that.

Always grateful for advice and still determined,

Fred



-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Friday, April 2, 2021 10:49 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/606801d6.1c69fb81.fda26.b630%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Fred, I still say you are not getting far enough yet for Account.Settings to be affecting anything.
Your problem is in the way you are invoking PBM. The change I suggest with the -FX switch has
nothing to do with Account.Settings. It has to do with the command line you use to launch PBM. I
would advise against manually editing Account.Settings. I looked at mine yesterday, since you
brought it up, and I don't see anything in there that I would touch. I'm pretty sure you just need
to add the -FX switch to your PBM command & you will get a main PBM window to work with. At that
point, PBM will do what it needs to when you get into the Settings dialog. That's how you should
edit Account.Settings: open the PBM Settings dialog & then click OK. Leave behind any idea of
manually editing Account.Settings.

Once you have this PBM working, then knock yourself out configuring things on other computers. In
fact, if you really think your Account.Settings is corrupt, once you have a functioning PBM on a
second system, come back to this one & just delete Account.Settings. After that, your next
invocation of PBM will be like doing a fresh install. PBM will create a new Account.Settings file
& it shouldn't have any corruption in it. But I still question your conclusion that your current
Account.Settings is corrupt. PBM is not executing far enough to even read Account.Settings. Even
if it is corrupted, such corruption isn't hurting you yet. PBM isn't getting to the point of
reading Account.Settings. I think PBM needs JavaFX to read Account.Settings, & you're not telling
PBM where JavaFX is yet. I've never had a corrupt Account.Settings & I've never manually changed
my Account.Settings file. Seems to me Carl put some logic into a release of PBM within the past 2
years that actually cleans up Account.Settings. So if there is corruption in there, getting PBM to
launch will clean Account.Settings for you.

So I say concentrate on adding the -FX switch to your PBM command line invocation. Use a .Bat file
so you don't have to retype everything every time. My Polarbar.Bat file contains one line:

H:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d H:\JSTREET\Mailer

Just do that. One line in a .Bat file. That's it. See what that gives you before you start
worrying about Account.Settings. You might not even need the -d switch. You might be able to get
away with this:

H:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib"

Do that & tell me what happens.

[Frederik L Schodt]

Thanks, Bill. I will try your way. If I can just get PBM to read the JavaFX, I sure things will be different. It makes sense. Also makes sense what you say about the account settings file and pbm not having enough time to access it.

Thanks much as always.

Frederik L. Schodt
フレデリック・L・ショット
NET: fr...@jai2.com
WEB: www.jai2.com


> On Apr 3, 2021, at 10:06 PM, Bill Wild Willy Kredentser <grampaw...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Fred, I still say you are not getting far enough yet for Account.Settings to be affecting anything.

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

> To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/60694955.1c69fb81.c1811.7577%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill.

I tried out the .bat file. It looks as though javafx is being recognized, at least. Unfortunately, everything stops working properly at the same old place, which is the same old InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN (whatever that is!). I tried running bat files with and without the -d string, to no avail. After this line, the PBM screen comes up and the program goes wacko, running in an endless loop of JavaFX exceptions. While this is happening, I can't do anything with the PBM image that displays on the screen. My main problem is trying to get a log that I can take with a screen shot, because after the problem line noted above, Control C doesn't seem to work and the program is just whizzing by forever and ever.

Have you ever seen this line " InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN" ? I know that Sun Micro developed Java, but the reference here definitely seems quite weird to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue where to go from here, unless I do a completely clean install.

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Saturday, April 3, 2021 10:07 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/60694955.1c69fb81.c1811.7577%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Fred, I'm reaching the end of what I can do here. I've never seen that error. There's always the
Polarbar.Log file. You'll find that in the Mailer directory within your E-mail repository, which I
believe is on your D: drive in a directory structure you've called Dropbox. Maybe you can see
something in there. You might want to post some portion of that file here & see if Carl or Graham
or somebody who works with the code can figure out what's wrong.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

On further review, I think your JavaFX is not where you are saying it is. For me, when I invoke
PBM, I have this switch:

-FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib"

With the quotation marks. On my system, %JAVAFX_HOME% resolves to this:

%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2

Further, %ProgramFiles(x86)% resolves to this:

C:\Program Files (x86)

So my JavaFX resides in this directory:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2

On my system, I would go to a command line & execute this command:

dir /s "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2" 1>"Your Drive:\Your Directory Tree\Your Result File.txt"

Pay close attention to the quotation marks. This will place the results of the dir command in a
file. You can define the destination of this file to be on any drive on your system, in any
directory, and you can give the file any name. I suggest you use the file extension .txt because
the result will be a plain text file. I want you to execute this command but you have to tell it
to list the directory where you have JavaFX installed. I'm not sure which release of JavaFX you
have so your directory name may be slightly different. I see some possibilities. Either your -FX
switch in your .bat file for launching PBM has a typo (I'm thinking particularly of the placement
of quotation marks), or you don't have JavaFX installed properly, or JavaFX is not installed where
you think it is. Post the resulting .txt file here as an attachment & let's have a look at it.
Also, post your .bat file. Since it's only 1 line, just copy/paste it into your post.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill. My system says this never went out, for some reason, so if you already have this, please ignore it.

I tried out the .bat file. It looks as though javafx is being recognized, at least. Unfortunately, everything stops working properly at the same old place, which is the same old InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN (whatever that is!). I tried running bat files with and without the -d string, to no avail. After this line, the PBM screen comes up and the program goes wacko, running in an endless loop of JavaFX exceptions. While this is happening, I can't do anything with the PBM image that displays on the screen. My main problem is trying to get a log that I can take with a screen shot, because after the problem line noted above, Control C doesn't seem to work and the program is just whizzing by forever and ever.

Have you ever seen this line " InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN" ? I know that Sun Micro developed Java, but the reference here definitely seems quite weird to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue where to go from here, unless I do a completely clean install.

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Saturday, April 3, 2021 10:07 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/60694955.1c69fb81.c1811.7577%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill. My system says this never went out, for some reason, so if you already have this, please ignore it.

I tried out the .bat file. It looks as though javafx is being recognized, at least. Unfortunately, everything stops working properly at the same old place, which is the same old InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN (whatever that is!). I tried running bat files with and without the -d string, to no avail. After this line, the PBM screen comes up and the program goes wacko, running in an endless loop of JavaFX exceptions. While this is happening, I can't do anything with the PBM image that displays on the screen. My main problem is trying to get a log that I can take with a screen shot, because after the problem line noted above, Control C doesn't seem to work and the program is just whizzing by forever and ever.

Have you ever seen this line " InteropFactory: cannot load com.sun.javafx.embed.swing.newimp1.interopfactoryN" ? I know that Sun Micro developed Java, but the reference here definitely seems quite weird to me. Unfortunately, I don't have a clue where to go from here, unless I do a completely clean install.

Fred

-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Saturday, April 3, 2021 10:07 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/60694955.1c69fb81.c1811.7577%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks, Bill

The problem does always seem to be invoking the JAVAFX.

Here's the .bat file I wrote:

D:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d D:\dropbox\Mailer

I've attached a screenshot showing where JAVAFX is. Also, I've attached Polarbar.log, in case anyone derive anything from it.

Did I make some typos? My eyesight and my hands aren't what they used to be, that's for sure. Maybe the brain, too. In looking at the bat file, which I tried to perhaps copy too closely from yours, did I screw up by not specifying where JAVAFX is actually located? Or is that implicit in -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d ?


Thanks much, Bill, as always. I am sorry to have taken up so much of your time.

Fred





-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 8:07 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/606bd04e.1c69fb81.4f8f0.5a35%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Fred, your Polarbar.Log shows PBM starting normally. Very weird. Your PBM .bat file looks fine.
But the jpeg is not at all what I asked for, but it was a bit helpful. It shows that you are using
the same JavaFX as I am, and it's located in the same place. You need to open a command window &
execute the dir command I asked for. That will create a .txt file which you should attach to a
post here. Not a jpeg, a text file. Since you & I have our JavaFX in the same location, the only
part of the dir command that you need to modify is the part after the 1>. Just be sure you keep
the quotation marks.

And you first post went out fine. Now there's 3 copies of it in the thread. No big deal.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

I'm attaching the results of the dir command I'm asking you to run. Your results should be exactly
the same since you're running the same JavaFX from the same directory structure. If yours is
different, that would indicate some sort of corruption in your installation of JavaFX. In that
case, I'd suggest you get a new copy of JavaFX from here:

https://gluonhq.com/products/javafx/

It's the very first download listed on the page. Then unzip the download into the same JavaFX
directory as before. Make sure the unzip replaces all files. To be safe, I'd delete the whole
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\javafx-sdk-11.0.2 directory tree & then unzip the downloaded file into
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java. After you do that, run the dir command again & compare your results
to mine. They should be the same.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

I can sort of explain how I came to the conclusion that your JavaFX must be broken. If you look in
the lib subdirectory of my directory listing in the file attached to my preceding post, you will
see a file named javafx.swing.jar. A .jar file is just a .zip file. You can unzip it but you
should not retain that as an unzipped archive anywhere on your system. But if you unzip that .jar
file, you'll see there is a file named:

com\sun\javafx\embed\swing\newimpl\InteropFactoryN.class

This appears to be the file that your PBM launch can't find. If your JavaFX is installed
correctly, you should not be getting that error on PBM launch.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill (and all).

I'm hoping not to be called for jury duty tomorrow, so I can try to reinstall javafx from the Gluon (sp?) site.

In the meantime, here is the file I previously forgot to send properly. It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but I'm slowly learning <g>. From my count, it looks exactly like yours. Also, I see the same com\sun\javafx\embed\swing\newimpl\InteropFactoryN.class in there.

Also, just for good luck, the .bat file again.

D:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d D:\dropbox\Mailer

Thanks much, as always.

Fred





-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com [mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy Kredentser
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 9:43 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/606be6df.1c69fb81.5078.8416%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill (and all).

I'm hoping not to be called for jury duty tomorrow, so I can try to
reinstall javafx from the Gluon (sp?) site.

In the meantime, here is the file I previously forgot to send properly. It
took me a while to figure out how to do this, but I'm slowly learning <g>.
From my count, it looks exactly like yours. Also, I see the same
com\sun\javafx\embed\swing\newimpl\InteropFactoryN.class in there.

Also, just for good luck, the .bat file again.

D:\PolarbarMailer\polarbar.exe -FX "%JAVAFX_HOME%\lib" -d D:\dropbox\Mailer

Thanks much, as always.

Fred





-----Original Message-----
From: polarba...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:polarba...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bill Wild Willy
Kredentser
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 9:43 PM
To: PolarBar Mailer Google Group <polarba...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [Polarbar mailer] Getting started

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/606be6df.1c69fb81.5078.8416%40mx.google.com.

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

Yes, Fred, it does look like you have JavaFX just fine. Well now I'm stumped completely. There
are some settings in PBM that turn on more logging. But you haven't gotten the thing to get to the
point where you could even access that. Plus, I wouldn't know how to advise you on that. Carl or
Graham or somebody like that would have to step in. Re-installing JavaFX would correct any hidden
corruption that might be in there. Just to be sure, I downloaded the latest general availability
JavaFX from Gluon yesterday & looked inside the download. It matched what I already have
installed. Of course, I just discarded it because my PBM is working fine so I have no reason to
reinstall JavaFX. But we have to hope it might make a difference for you. So don't acquit any
guilty people & don't convict any innocent ones, & get back to this when you can.

By the way, you seem to be duplicating your posts. Before you send a second time, you ought to get
on the Google Groups web site & verify whether your post has gone through.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Thanks nonetheless for all the effort you put into helping me, BIll. It's greatly appreciated. I will plow ahead trying various things and let you know what happens.  Fred

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Polarbar Mailer" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to polarbar-mail...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/polarbar-mailer/606d071b.1c69fb81.748dc.9123%40mx.google.com.

[Frederik L. Schodt]

Hi, Bill. I hope you don't mind me continuing to send you a couple of queries and updates. I re-downloaded JavaFX from Gluon (sp?) but it didn't seem to make any difference. Now, I am wondering if there is a problem with the PBM download. I tried downloading both the latest build and the Best stable build (on different pages). I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the problem. I have a Windows computer, and it seems to find "ransomware" in the PBM downloads when they are unzipped. This is of course a very scary thing to be told, but I note that in readme file on the PBM site it warns about anti-virus software. I think I can disable Windows Defender when I download the PBM zip file, but do you think it is safe?  Oddly, in trying both the latest build and the latest stable build, I have noticed a couple of differences, noting that with one, the command line window is not always open in the background and not running berserk.  I also noticed that while none of the icons on the PBM screen work, the text above them does seem to work. Some functions, such as the "ABOUT" file work, but others don't.  Oddly, when using Chrome I am unable to download the PBM zip files. On Microsoft Edge and FIrebox, it seems possible. If all my problems are caused by Windows Defender and disabling it would help it would be great, but the ransomware notices are a bit scary.  

This is my latest update for your entertainment.  <g>

Fred  

[Bill Wild Willy Kredentser]

If there's ransomware in PBM, my computer succumbed to Stockholm syndrome about 2 decades ago. If
your antivirus or firewall or whatever it is hasn't outright blocked the download & installation of
things, I'd ignore that error in this case. Not blanket advice, just in this case. I've never had
any of my antivirus programs trigger on PBM, and over the years I've had at least 4 different
antivirus packages. My current package likes to run things in its sandbox the first time I try to
run anything. So I have to tell the antivirus don't do this again, cancel the current execution of
the application & rerun it. On the second run, the antivirus doesn't trigger. But that's the
closest I've come. Once the antivirus has been slapped once, it behaves. At this point I'm out of
ideas. I don't think I can help you any further. Maybe one of the other guys can step in here.