Patches for some of these issues may be found here:

  http://www.borland.com/devsupport/jbuilder/

Answers in this category:
jbuilder -build throws a null pointer exception if there is an archive node in the project
My project references class files for which I have no source. JB3.5 would compile this, but JB4.0 won't. What's wrong?
TogetherJ Javadoc comments confuse JBuilder 4.0? I'm getting "unclosed comment at line <line #>"
"Delete IIOP generated files" deletes everything!
I can't define another application server.
Should the "Include debug info" switch affect the serialVersionUID?
Find in Path won't search for wildcard characters even if 'pattern match' is unchecked. The current file 'Find' command will do this.
I'm using a non-English keyboard and JBuilder's license dialog won't accept the ? character.
Team/CVS Project Create Module fails on Windows 2000
Compiler Error: "Error #: 2301 : internal compiler error: java.lang.NullPointerException"
Unreported Exception error message in an anonymous class
UNVERIFIED: Jbuilder accepts assignments to 'final' variables.
Foundation won't compile a project created/altered by a sample, tutorial, or wizard.
The JSP Tutorial doesn't work.
JBuilder4 doesn't work properly with J2ME SDK.
I can't find file setup_windows.html!
After running a wizard, keyboard context is stuck in a source file and won't move to the desired file.
Why does JB4f associate file-extensions like *.class, *.java, *.idletc. with itself even when I don't want to? (I clearly said 'No' when it JB asked.
My project pane isn't displaying complete package names, and won't let me browse packages I know exist in my source tree.
Enterprise's JSP Syntax highlighting is broken.
I try to launch JBuilder 4 but I get the following exception: Exception occurred during event dispatching:java.lang.StringIndexOutOfBoundsException: String index out of range: 55 at java.lang.String.charAt(String.java:507) at com.borland.primetime.util.Strings$StringEncoding.b(Unknown Source) ...
CVS doesn't function on Windows 95/98.
CVS Diff (in the source pane's history tab) handles unicode characters incorrectly.
JBuilder 4 Enterprise: Solaris: Error when starting EJBs in WebLogic, "java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError"
Designer can lose changes made directly in the source code.

Bill Joy of Borland noted: (paraphrase)
If the jpr or jpx file is at the root of a drive, the archive wizard will throw an NPE when it tries to traverse the parent

  http://www.mers.com/MERLIST/BORLAND/PUBLIC/JBUILDER/DEPLOYMENT/4926.HTML

http://www.borland.com/devsupport/jbuilder/downloads/jb4_Archive_Builder_update/
2002-Apr-16 9:04am gyles19@visi.com

(Editor's Note: I seem to recall an older reference to this that implied it was a problem with class files inside of or outside of jar files, one or the other. If your classes are stand-alone, try sticking them into a jar, or vice versa.)

2001-Jan-08 11:40am gyles19@visi.com

"I wanted to remove IIOP generated files. I selected all my files, including the folder, right clicked and selected Remove Generated Files... and ALL my files were gone !!! This seems to happen if you put a folder into your selection. Even worse, they have not been moved into the Garbage Can so I can't restore them. Is this bug already repported (I could not find anything on Borland site) ? Is there any patch fixing it ?

Bill Joy replied:

"Yes, this is a very nasty bug which was just noticed recently by an internal user. It appears to be in every all-Java version of JBuilder which has been shipped. I am working on a patch and will send you a copy when it is ready. Sorry for the problem and the loss of your code. Please avoid selecting any Folder or Package nodes when doing a Remove Generated Files operation until you have the fix."

(NOT IN MERS YET)
2001-Jan-09 5:28pm gyles19@visi.com

There's a patch for this on CodeCentral:

  http://codecentral.borland.com/codecentral/ccweb.exe/listing?id=15549

HI,
I've been trying for a day but can't seem to add another app server (other than the default inprise, weblogic and EJB 1.1) using the project properties->Enterprise->New.
Everytime I fill in the fields and click ok, the window disappears but the jboss option does not appear. This is so frustrating. Has anyone else added jboss or any other app server? Is this a bug?

Bill Joy responds:

This is a bug -- it was intended to allow partial integration of an application server (launching via Run or Debug) into JBuilder without having to write an OpenTool.
2001-Jan-15 8:51am gyles19@visi.com

It should not, but I can tell you what is happening. When the class is compiled with debug, JBuilder generates code to initialize member variables that are initialized to compile-time constants. This affects the Serialization Version UID for the class, since it creates a static initializer block. This will only occur for classes where all of the static final variables are initialized with compile-time constants.

I have a work-around that will eliminate the problem for you. If you create a static, non-final variable with an initializer, it should always create the static initializer, so the Serialization Version UID will be the same whether or not you compile with debug information. For example, add the the following to your class.

    private static int DUMMY = 1;

The other thing you can do is to explicitly specify the Serialization Version UID for the class. Although I am not that familiar with the issues concerning serialization in CORBA, doing this is critical when you store serialized versions of classes and may need to deserialize them with a modified version of the class.
2001-Jan-19 1:53pm gyles19@visi.com

  http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,27558,00.html

  Cannot search for a string containing only wildcards.

The 'Find' command which searches the current open file does do this correctly, and searching for a string containing only wildcard characters works okay.
2001-Jan-20 11:48am gyles19@visi.com

To work around this, temporarily change your keyboard locale to US English. Launch JBuilder with the -license option and enter the serial number and registration string in English. Exit JBuilder.

Now change your keyboard locale back to your preferred setting.
2001-Jan-21 10:41am gyles19@visi.com

  http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,27240,00.html

 
  C:\Documents and Settings

 

 
  C:\Documents and Settings\...\cvscmd.bat
 

 
  C:\MyProfiles\myname
 

 
  vmparam -Duser.home=C:\MyProfiles\myname

 

  http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,26450,00.html

Summary: When JBuilder compiles an anonymous class, it is required to provide
default anonymous constructors.  However, some anonymous classes can throw
exceptions in the constructors and so these must be declared by the compiler.
JBuilder fails to provide the throws clause, thus causing the error message.  

Because one isn't allowed to define an explicit constructor for an anonymous
class, the workaround is to convert the anonymous class into a named inner
class and explicitly declare the constructor and its throws clause there.


Example code from Vito:


Here follows a more straightforward TestClass that reproduces the bug,
followed by a TestClass2 that compiles correctly with JBuilder4:

----------TestClass
compilin with JBuilder 4 gives error "TestClass.java": Error #: 360 :
unreported exception: java.io.FileNotFoundException; must be caught or
declared to be thrown at line 15, column 43,
while compiles correctly with javac:

package test;
import java.io.*;

public class TestClass {

  public TestClass() {
   try {
     instantiateAndClose();
   }
   catch (Exception x) {
   }
  }

  public void instantiateAndClose() throws Exception{
   FileInputStream fi=new FileInputStream("testfile"){
     protected void finalize() throws IOException {
     }
   };
   fi.close();
  }
}
-----------------------------
Follows TestClass2, where I declare the class MyFileInputStream with the
correct constructor, that compiles correctly with JBuilder4:

---------TestClass2
package test;
import java.io.*;

public class TestClass2 {

  class MyFileInputStream extends FileInputStream {
   public MyFileInputStream(String name) throws FileNotFoundException {
     super(name);
   }
   protected void finalize() throws IOException {
   }
  }
  public TestClass2() {
   try {
     instantiateAndClose();
   }
   catch (Exception x) {

   }
  }

  public void instantiateAndClose() throws Exception{
   FileInputStream fi=new MyFileInputStream("testfile");
   fi.close();
  }
}
---------------
Vito.

The workaround is to manually add subpackages or individual files within the subpackages to the project.

Since JBuilder uses its project pane more as a list of packages than a list of individual files, this problem is visible only when a wizard or sample creates a new subpackage which is not already noted in the project pane. Adding a single source file from the new subpackage should be sufficient to get the project to compile.
2001-Apr-20 10:37am gyles19@visi.com

Also, there is an error in the body of the Tutorial. When the Tutorial instructs you to alter the jsp file, it gives you the wrong jsp tag. The result is a compilation error within Tomcat when you try to run the altered JSP:

Error in jsp service(): Unable to compile class for JSP {insert horribly long filename here}

Where the Tutorial says to edit JspWithCountingBean.jsp and add the line:

<P>This page has been visited <%= JspWithCountingBeanId.count() %> times.<BR>

What you should really add is:

<P>This page has been visited <%= JspWithCountingBeanBeanId.count() %> times.<BR>

IE there is a Bean missing from the class name in the JSP tag.
2001-Mar-16 5:23pm gyles19@visi.com

  1 JBuilder4 forgets the configuration settings for the J2ME SDK.
  2 After an HHE is created, JBuilder's main menu becomes unstable.
  3 JBuilder won't exit properly.
  4 File|New|Micro|Spotlet is disabled.

Solution:

  1 Ignore Tools|Configure J2ME SDK, use Tools|Configure SDK instead. Select the path to j2me_cldc.
  2 Copy the preverifier.exe from the j2me_cldc\bin\win32 folder to j2me_cldc\bin
  3 Verify that HandheldExpress4beta.jar is in jbuilder4\lib\ext.

2001-Apr-04 1:05pm gyles19@visi.com

Unfortuately, the last panel of the executable installer still refers to the original name of the file, setup_windows.html.

When you unpack the zip file you downloaded, it will create a subdirectory 'foundation', and the index.html file you are looking for is in this subdirectory.
2001-Apr-05 6:06pm gyles19@visi.com

I don't know why this happens. To regain control of the keyboard focus, you can use Window | New Browser to open a new window, then close the old browser window. The new browser window will have normal keyboard focus again.

Another method is to right-click in the source pane and use one of the 'split view' functions to add a new vew. Close the original view. Keyboard focus should act normally.

Closing JBuilder completely will also correct the problem.

2001-Apr-20 10:42am gyles19@visi.com

This is a bug. Even if you say "No" to the dialog the files still get associated with JBuilder (incorrectly as well I think). Unfortunately, once this is done there's no way to "undo" it other than to manually change the associations.

Also, for future reference, if you run with JBuilder.exe instead of JBuilderW.exe the file associations will never happen.
2001-May-03 6:16pm gyles19@visi.com

  http://codecentral.borland.com/codecentral/ccweb.exe/listing?id=15451

!--     is not handled as a block comment in HTML part
//      is not handled as a comment after in <%
/*      is not handled as a block comment in <%
<%-- is handled OK

This is a known issue and is said to be fixed in the next release, according to Vlad of Borland.
2001-May-03 7:00pm gyles19@visi.com

I may have a solution for this finally!

We are using CVS for our project and the project jpx file is a file that resides in the repository. I seem to have problems when the jpx changes and merges with my local copy. I haven't exactly identified what it is in the file that causes the problem, but I do have a workaround that has worked for me the last two times this happened:

  1) Open your project (if it opens to a JSP, edit your jpx.local file to remove references to the JSP's).

  2) edit the project properties - change something minor (I use 'Deepest package exposed' in the General tab.  Click OK.

  3) save your project.

Once you have JSP's opening again, you can change the project properties back if you want.

That seems to fix it for me.
2001-May-14 1:11pm gyles19@visi.com

I have submitted a fix to CodeCentral that corrects errors in JBuilder's support for CVS on Windows 9x. The patch is known to work on JBuilder 4, but it may also work and/or be necessary for JBuilder 5. I've included the tool's detailed description below.

This update addresses a problem with the CVS version control feature in Borland JBuilder version 4.0 (Enterprise) on Windows 9x operating systems. On those operating systems JBuilder does not see the output of the CVS command, so none of the CVS features work. After installing this update JBuilder's CVS support should work properly.

Note that as discussed in the JBuilder release notes, CVS must be configured to run without asking for a password. This issue is most significant with respect to use with ssh and the Ext repository access method.

See http://codecentral.borland.com/codecentral/ccweb.exe/listing?id=16243 for more information.

2001-Jun-18 1:09pm gyles19@visi.com

It's a known bug. It only affects the diff display and not the file contents.

2001-Jun-25 3:06pm gyles19@visi.com

  http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,27288,00.html

This is reported fixed in JBuilder 5 Enterprise.
2001-Jul-06 10:56am gyles19@visi.com

We were losing from time to time our edits, because Designer did not update source code, here is the path to always reproduce the problem, based on standart Java/Swing Components and JBuilder 4 defaultsettings on a german Windows NT 4 SP6: (This most probably applies to other environments as well):

To reproduce, do the following:

1) File | New Project (use all default values) click on generate "main" and then Button "Finish" (without Next).

2) File | New and there choose JFrame from wizards (use all standart settings).

3) edit this new File called Frame1 with designer.

4) drop down 5 times Swings JButton from componentpalette into frame (which has Border Layout as default Layoutmanager).

5) go into source of Frame1 one and add to bottom of main the following 2 lines:

  frame1.setSize(500,500);
  frame1.show();

6) "run" Frame1 (Rightclick Jbuilders Treenode with Frame1 and choose "Run").

7) Application starts and shows JDialog. Close Application window, and hit red rectangle Button to stop application running.

8) Go to designer of Frame1 and change constraint of one of the Buttons to be "Center" (preferably not the one which is already in the middle). You see Designerpanel updating at once correctly.

9) "run" Frame1 (Rightclick Jbuilders Treenode with Frame1 and choose "Run").

10) Notice: Jbuilder somehow starts previous version. (Application and Designer Panel are not equal. )

11) check Source code of Frame1 and see that designer did not write code. (Constraint of the Button you changed to be "Center" is not "Center" in Source Code and started Application, however it is Displayed on Desinger Panel corre cly "Center").

There is no way to make Desinger write your changes to the source code anymore.

Notice: there was no Error on JBuilders Console or Designers Tab.... If you edit Source Code now then Designer updates to old version....

2001-Sep-08 2:32pm gyles19@visi.com

Known problem that keeps creeping up. The crux in his steps is the "Run" which compiles the classes and sometimes shuts out the Designer (Greg has more info and has posted about it a couple times). The Designer keeps writing to the buffer but the buffer never seems to get committed.

At one time the "safe" pattern was to go to the source tab before running or compiling. The JB folks have chased variants of this for a while (I know I've logged and verified fixes for this in different versions) but there's still "something out there".
2001-Sep-08 2:32pm gyles19@visi.com