Hi, it seems FeatureLayer creation fails when there is an empty space in SHP filename. I get "java.lang.IllegalStateException: The layer is not initialized or initialization failed.". When I am trying to load the same SHP file without empty space in it's name, everything is OK. Is it a bug?
As far as I know, spaces were never allowed in shapefile filenames, according to the spec - filenames should really be 8.3 format, with no spaces, only using alphanumerics, underscore or hyphen. I would not consider it a bug if spaces in the file name don't work. I think you can have a space in the file path (e.g. directory), but not the actual filename.
Hope this helps,
Shelly