The University of Arizona
Applet Trouble Shooting  
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This page is used for both TCW and SyMAP applets.

Java version 7 - new security rules

If Java will not give you access to the applet, go to the Java Console and set the security level to medium.

1. Do you have Java installed?

You need to have Java installed, with version 1.6 or later.

For platforms other than MacOS: Check your install at www.java.com, and you can install or upgrade your Java from this site too.
For MacOS: If you are on 10.6.8 or later, then your Java should be sufficient. You can double-check this at the site www.javatester.org. Make sure you are current with all the MacOS software updates (click the Apple menu at the top left of the desktop, and choose "Software Update").

2. Is Java disabled by your web browser?

For Firefox, check Tools-->Add-Ons and make sure the Java Applet Plugin is not disabled.

For Chrome, check Settings, Advanced Settings, Content Settings, Disable individual plug-ins

For Safari, check Preferences, Security, Allow Java

For IE, check Tools, Manage Plugins

3. Is Java disabled system-wide?

If you have Java version 7 or later, it has a security setting allowing you to disable it for all browsers. Find the Java Control Panel, look at the Security tab, and make sure that Enable Java content in the browser is checked.

To find the Java Control Panel:

MacOS: In the Finder, open Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences

Windows: On the Windows Control Panel, open the Java icon.

Linux+Firefox: Look for the java plugin link in ~/.mozilla/plugins. It will look like libnpjp2.so, and may also be in the directories ~/.firefox/plugins or ~/.mozilla/firefox/plugins. Find the source of the link using ls -l; it will look like /usr/java/jdk1.6.0_33/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so. Go to the directory starting with jdk. It has a bin subdirectory, which contains the ControlPanel application to run.

4. Make sure you approve the security popups!

The TCW applet puts up two security popups, which must be approved in order for the applet to work. The SyMAP applet may or may not have security popups, depending how the administrator has installed it.

5. Do you have enough applet memory?

If Java Applets are working from other websites, but not for TCW or SyMAP, chances are the memory is insufficient. You may also see an explicit error message about memory. Java applet memory is limited and you can raise the limit as follows:

First, open the Java Control Panel, as described above. Then do the following:

On Linux or Windows:

  1. Select the Java tab.
  2. Click the View button under Java Applet Runtime Settings.
  3. For each row, click the Java Runtime Parameters column and enter -Xmx512m.
  4. Click the OK button to close the Control Panel.
  5. Restart your browser.
On MacOS:
  1. Go to the General tab
  2. You should see a list of Java versions. Select the top-most one, and click Options.
  3. Under Applet Runtime Parameters enter -Xmx512m.
  4. Click the OK button and close the Control Panel.
  5. Restart your browser.

6. If it still doesn't work

If the applet still doesn't work, you will need to contact us to help debug it. Before doing this, you will need to turn on your Java Console display, which shows debugging information; otherwise, we will not have any information to work with. If you are already seeing this window (it displays a bunch of scrolling text) then it is turned on. Otherwise do the following:

First, open the Java Control Panel, as described above.

In the Advanced tab, check the box "Show Console".

Click "OK", close the Control Panel, and restart your browser.

Restart the browser and try to run the applet. This time, if Java is running correctly, you will see a text window as shown below. If the applet starts, but then crashes, there will be error messages in the console window. You can use the "Copy" button to copy all of the text and email it to us.

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Email Comments To: www@agcol.arizona.edu


Last Modified Thursday January 23, 2014 16:18 PM and 51 seconds