Last updated: 14 Dec 2005
Two applications distributed in StrataBugs version 1.8 rely on the JRE to be installed. These are the "updater", which is launched from the Accessories | Look for Updates..., and the the Organiser. If you get an error while starting either of these applications then you may need to configure StrataBugs for your JRE.
In the Original release of v1.8, these two applications were launched from batch files SBupdate.bat and JSBUGS.bat in the StrataBugs installation folder. This method is no longer recommended.
For copies of version 1.8 that were released after 25 June 2004, the batch files are optionally no longer required. These instructions on this page relate to this later copy only. To check which copy you have, select Help | About from the StrataBugs control panel. If your copy displays a build date less than the above, then you will need to download the latest from here (Select the Control Panel, download sbugs-8.zip and extract the contents of the zip file into your StrataBugs folder. Then repeat for Database Maintenance (DBmaint), download dbmaint-8.zip and extract into your StrataBugs folder).
Step 1 - install the JRE
If you do not have access to the Internet, or are using a very slow internet connection, then you can install the JRE that is distributed on the StrataBugs CD. The JRE is updated frequently and the copy on the CD will no longer be the best or latest release, so it is advisable to download from the Java web site if possible.
To install from the CD: When you installed StrataBugs there will have been an icon called JRE setup created on your Windows desktop. This is a link to the file j2re1.4.2_01.exe. Double-click this link and the contents of a zip file will be extracted into a sub fodler of your StrataBugs 1.8 folder. If you cannot see the link, locate this file in your C:\Program Files\SBUGS1-8 folder (or installation folder if different), and double-click to extract.
To install from the web site (recommended): Go to http://java.sun.com, or click here, and follow the instructions to download java software to your computer. When the installation is complete you will have the java software installed. The default installation folder will be C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06.
Step 2 - Link StrataBugs to the JRE
From the StrataBugs control panel, select Accessories | Config | Database...
Select the first option to "Edit Registry Settings" by double-clicking that line, or by selecting it once and then pressing the Run button. You should see a dialog like this:
(If your dialog does not have all these entries then you may need to download a later copy of DBMaint.exe from here)
Press the "..." button next to the entry for the path to the JRE. You will get a file selection box.
Navigate to the application called "javaw.exe". This entry will be found in the "bin" folder of the JRE installation folder. Typically this will be C:\PROGRAM FILES\JAVA\JRE1.5.0_06\BIN\JAVAW.EXE.
Click OK on this dialog and return to the control panel. The Organiser and Updater should now work.
Note: If you get a message "Cannot find the main class" then you may need to do the following. Exit from the StrataBugs control panel. Find the StrataBugs startup icon. Right-click and select Properties. Ensure that the entry for the "Start in" folder is the same as the folder in the "Target" entry. So, if the target is C:\Program Files\SBUGS1-8\sbugs.exe, the "start in" folder will be C:\Program Files\SBUGS1-8.
If, after doing this, you still get this error, then try the following. Edit the registry settings and remove spaces from the "Location" entry by using the abbreviated folder name instead of the full name. In this case, "C:\Program Files" becomes "C:\Progra~1". You can determine the short name of a foldr in a Command Prompt window using the DIR/X command. When you have changed this entry you will need to close and restart the StrataBugs control panel.
Obtaining further error messages from Organiser
For Organiser and other StrataBugs applications you may need to capture error messages to be able to send them to StrataData support. The easiest way to do this is to obatin the error, then while the error dialog is the active (highlighted) window, press the Alt and PrtScn keys together. You will then find that you will be able, in most cases, to use Paste (Ctrl-V) straight into an email message. If this fails, you should be able to paste the image into an application like WordPad (Start | Programs | Accessories | Wordpad). Then save and send the application's file as an email attachment.
Some messages from Organiser will not ordinarily appear in a dialog, but are output to a Command Prompt window. To see those, you need to select a different java interpreter. In the above step where the JRE path is selected, instead of selecting the file JAVAW.EXE, select the file JAVA.EXE. You will notice that when Organiser or Updater are launched, these is also a Command Prompt (DOS) window that is opened at the same time - this will apper in the Windows Task Bar. This window will contain other Organiser messages. You will be able to copy the text of these messages using the conext menu from the top left icon of this window. Select the text to copy, then select the menu item Edit | Copy. you will then be able to paste the text into an email.
To return to the method of starting Organiser without the background command prompt window, return to the JRE path selection and select JAVAW.exe instead of JAVA.exe.