Unable to initialize ArcObjects environment (Java API)

Question

Hello,

I have a simple console application developed in Java. It works fine in the NetBeans IDE, but when I try to run the jar file from a command line (Windows XP) I get this error message: "Unable to initialize ArcObjects environment. AutomationException: 0x800401f5 - The specified product or version does not exist on this machine. in 'ArcGISVersion.Version'". This error is triggered by the EngineInitializer.initializeEngine() line of my code.

Of course, I do have ArcGIS 10 installed on my machine, and this error does not happen in NetBeans IDE.

The main class of my application is the Bootstrapper I found somewhere on this forum and it is working well (its purpose is to locate the arcobjects.jar). The error happens later, when I try to initialise the engine.

Here are snippets of my code:
The method causing the error:
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      // Initialise ArcGIS
      EngineInitializer.initializeEngine(); // This line triggers the error
      AoInitialize aoInit = new AoInitialize();
       initializeArcInfoLicense(aoInit);

INetworkQuery networkQuery =openNetworkQuery(args[0], args[1], args[2]);
      computeMetrics(networkQuery);

// Release the license.
      aoInit.shutdown();

} catch (IOException ex) {
      System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
    }
  } //End of method main.

The bootstrapper class:
public class Bootstrapper {
    public static void main(String[] args)throws Exception{
        bootstrapArcobjectsJar();
        //Replace the following line with the name of your main application.
        // App.main(args);
        TopologicalMetrics.main(args);
        System.out.println("done.");
    }

public static void bootstrapArcobjectsJar(){
        String arcEngineHome = System.getenv("ARCGISHOME");
        String jarPath = arcEngineHome + "java" + File.separator + "lib" +
            File.separator + "arcobjects.jar";

File f = new File(jarPath);

URLClassLoader sysloader = (URLClassLoader)ClassLoader.getSystemClassLoader()
            ;
        Class sysclass = URLClassLoader.class;

try{

Method method = sysclass.getDeclaredMethod("addURL", new Class[]{
                URL.class
            }
            );
            method.setAccessible(true);
            method.invoke(sysloader, new Object[]{
                f.toURL()
            }
            );

}
        catch (Throwable t){

t.printStackTrace();
            System.err.println("Could not add arcobjects.jar to system classloader");

}
    }

StevenRozic · Answer

Excellent! 😄

-=Steve

AlexandreHirzel · Answer

Thank you very much.

Your pointers were instrumental in getting me back on the rails.

I used the bootstrapping method I found in the samples. The next step to get it work, was to remove the arcobjects.jar that NetBeans automatically places in the dist/lib folder.

Cheers!

Alexandre

StevenRozic · Answer

I also forgot to mention that a large majority of the samples require the boostrapping process. If you have a look at the loadsample package and open the Main.java, you can see a code sample of how our samples boostrap the location of the arcobjects.jar and execute (might be another useful tool to help you troubleshoot with).

-=Steve