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Known problems

See also Frequently Asked Questions.

Problems which are solved by upgrading XXE and/or the JavaTM runtime are not listed here. Therefore, the first thing to do if you have problems is to upgrade XXE to latest version and to upgrade JavaTM to latest supported version (no beta please!).

item Known problems whatever the platform 
item Known problems on Windows
item Known problems on the Mac
item Known problems on Linux
item Known JavaTM Web Start problems
item Known problems when XMLmind XML Editor runs as an applet

Known problems whatever the platform  Back to TOC

  • XXE becomes very slow, sometimes almost frozen, when when you open a document, when you select text or nodes, or simply when you move the caret from one node to another. This problem seems to occur mainly on Linux and on Linux, mainly when OpenOffice/LibreOffice is also running.

    Workaround: This happens when the system clipboard contains folders, graphic files, etc. More generally, when XXE becomes unexpectedly slow, it's almost always because the system clipboard contains data which is slow to parse as XML or as plain text. Therefore the workaround consists in updating the contents of the system clipboard by copying to it (i.e. by using Ctrl-C) a small piece of text.

  • Starting from JavaTM 1.6.0_23, converting XML documents to PDF using RenderX XEP randomly fails with false XSL-FO errors (e.g. attribute "space-before" may not be empty). This problem seems specific to the 64-bit runtime.

    Workaround: Upgrade to XXE v4.9.1 or use a 32-bit JavaTM runtime or use a 64-bit JavaTM runtime older than 1.6.0_23.

Known problems on Windows  Back to TOC

  • Starting XXE causes some portions of the screen to become blank or garbled. In some cases, other applications, and even Windows itself, may crash.

    Workaround: upgrade your display driver (i.e. NVIDIA, ATI) and/or start XXE with system property -Dsun.java2d.d3d=false (this is a workaround for Java bug http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6757527 Open in a new window).

    Assuming that you start XXE by double-clicking its icon:

    1. Edit XXE_install_dir/bin/xxe.jstart using notepad.
    2. Add a line containing "-Dsun.java2d.d3d=false" just after the line containing "start jre\bin\javaw.exe".
  • When XXE is started in a directory which has an UNC filename (example: \\home\jsmith), opening documents is very slow or fails with strange error messages such as "Cannot open file XXX: www.oasis-open.org".

    Workaround: when XXE is started in a directory which has an UNC filename, loading the XML catalog XXE_install_dir/addon/config/catalog.xml silently fails. Therefore, the workaround is to start XXE in a directory which has not an UNC filename, for example: C:\.

    In order to do this:

    1. Right-click on the XMLmind XML Editor ``icon'' that you use to start XXE. For example, right-click on the XMLmind XML Editor menu item found in the Start menu > All Programs > XMLmind XML Editor menu.
    2. This will display a popup menu. Then select the Properties menu item.
    3. This will display a dialog box. Then select the Shortcut Tab and change the Start in field to, for example, "C:\".
    4. After that, always start XXE using this modified ``icon''.

Known problems on the Mac  Back to TOC

  • Dragging the icon which looks like a bookmark in the node path bar does not work.

    Workaround: upgrade to XXE v4.8+.

  • Input methods do not work inside the document view.

    Workaround: upgrade to XXE v4.4+ and turn on option "Use integrated input method support" (Options|Preferences, Edit section).

  • Printing large documents consumes an enormous amount of memory and can cause XXE (i.e. the JavaTM VM) to crash with a bus error.

    No workaround.

Known problems on Linux  Back to TOC

  • XXE randomly hangs for a couple of minutes. This seems to happen only on Linux with a JavaTM runtime 1.6+. This often happens when OpenOffice/LibreOffice is also running.

    Workaround: using an external application, update the contents of the system clipboard by copying to it (i.e. by using Ctrl-C) a small piece of text.

  • When KDE 4's Klipper is running, Edit|Copy (Ctrl-C) and the X selection behave strangely, which make XXE almost unusable.

    Workaround: Make sure that the "Prevent empty clipboard" checkbox is not checked (Configure Klipper, General Config). Also use a JavaTM 1.6 runtime rather than a JavaTM 1.5 runtime.

  • When using window managers such as fvwm2, the XXE main window is displayed at a wrong place with a wrong size.

    Workaround: JavaTM seems to be tested only against the Gnome and KDE standard window managers. Therefore, you unfortunately need to use another window manager.

Known JavaTM Web Start problems  Back to TOC

  • Running deploywebstart with both the -indexjars and -packjars options leads to an application which does not start and which reports false missing class errors.

    No workaround.

Known problems when XMLmind XML Editor runs as an applet  Back to TOC

  • XMLmind XML Editor, as an applet, does not work on Mac OS X.

    Mac OS X Leopard (10.5.8): no workaround. The support of the ``next generation Java plug-in'' on this version of Mac OS X has been dropped by Apple. See About Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10.

    Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and Lion (10.7.1): no really usable workaround. See Empty area instead of the applet (JNLP and separate_jvm) in Safari 5.1:

    1. On Mac OS X Lion, you'll have to first download and install Java from this page.
    2. Start the "Java Preferences" application (found in the Application/Utilities folder) and check "Run Applets in their own process" ("Enable applet plug-in and Web Start applications" on Mac OS X Lion).
    3. Start the applet, for example, our Editor1 applet.
    4. After the applet code is downloaded (this happens only the first time the applet is started) and you are prompted to accept the digital certificate used to sign the applet code, you'll see nothing but an empty area in the browser window. In fact, the applet is there, up and running, but, due to an Apple Java bug, its panel is not rendered on screen. Pressing Cmd+Shift sometimes allows to drag the applet panel out of the browser window and after that, to use it normally.

      Note that all the browsers we have tested, Safari 5.1, Firefox 6, Google Chrome 13, behave this way.

  • When using a JavaTM 1.6.0_24+ runtime on the computer running the Web browser, the applet starts but does not work as expected.

    Workaround: The JavaTM 1.6.0_24+ runtime has a regression http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=7023399 which prevents the applet from really being functional. You need to upgrade to XXE v4.9.1 or downgrade the JavaTM runtime to an older version (e.g. 1.6.0_23).

  • The applet fails to start. This often happens after upgrading the Web browser and/or the JavaTM runtime.

    Possible workaround: first make sure that your Web browser really runs the next generation Java plug-in and not the legacy Java plug-in. (More information in Deploying XXE as an applet, Requirements.)

    If this is already the case, please redeploy the applet by running deploywebstart, but this time using the latest JDK and without any of the following options: -jsapplet, -indexjars, -packjars. (More information in The deploywebstart command-line tool.) However doing this does not always fix the problem, which often lies in the Web browser and/or in the Java plug-in itself.

  • Running deploywebstart with both the -indexjars and -packjars options leads to an applet which does not start and which reports false missing class errors.

    No workaround.

  • When deploywebstart has been used with the -indexjars option, trying to convert a document to PDF using Apache FOP will raise an obscure ClassCastException.

    Workaround: Do not use the -indexjars option if you need to run FOP from within the applet.

  • Using the File menu to reopen a recently opened document found on an HTTP server requiring the user to authenticate himself will cause the applet to hang.

    Workaround: Use the -auth command-line option (wrapped in applet parameters) to pass the applet authentication credentials for that HTTP server.

  • On Windows, a 32-bit Web browser will fail to find any installed 64-bit JavaTM runtime. In such case, the applet will suggest to download and install a 32-bit JavaTM runtime.

    Workaround: Use the 64-bit version of the Web browser.

  • Firefox on Windows only. Minor applet repaint bugs.

    No workaround.

  • Firefox and Google Chrome on Linux only. Opening a dialog box which is part of the applet (e.g. the "Find Element" dialog box) and then closing it will fail to return the keyboard focus to the applet.

    Workaround: click repeatedly in the document view and/or slightly move the main window of the Web browser.

  • Firefox on Linux only. The applet may steal the keyboard focus from the form fields displayed in the same HTML page as the applet.

    No workaround.

  • Firefox on Linux only. Applet scripting randomly hangs for 30 seconds or so.

    No workaround.