WebStart over a LAN

[erikd]

Hi there,

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

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

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

jnlp file:

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24

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

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

Erik

[oNyx]

file:// <- heh it's triple slash!

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

In that case it works with netbios. Well, I guess webstart tries the "usual" port 80 http stuff. So yea... a webserver would solve that problem I guess

[erikd]

Thanks for the reply.

file:// <- heh it's triple slash!

You have to trip-slash if you want to omit the hostname and do a C:/... path. In this case I think you have to use a double slash.
...except that it doesn't work  
(I tried triple slash as well)

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[princec]

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

Cas

[Herkules]

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

[blahblahblahh]

You have to trip-slash if you want to omit the hostname and do a C:/... path. In this case I think you have to use a double slash.
...except that it doesn't work  
(I tried triple slash as well)

Yep. FYI, the standard has:

protocol:path1

...and the most-frequently-used path1 is:

// hostname / path

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

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

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

so you get

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

[erikd]

Besides, what's wrong with setting up a tiny HTTP daemon to farm out the files anyway?

Because I'm lazy and I hate wading through docs to find out how to set up mime types  

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

Yes, locally it worked already. Anywhere else it doesn't.
Anyway, I added the jnlp mime type to apache which I had already installed anyway, so it works.
Can anyone recommend a tiny http server I can use for serving webstart apps for just a LAN? No security, performance or scaling requirements whatsoever, just serving a webstart app.

Erik

[cfmdobbie]

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

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

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

[erikd]

Hey that looks great, thanks  

[oNyx]

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