Java Access Bridge

There are two methods of installing the Java Access Bridge (JAB) – automatic and manual. The former is the preferred method and will suffice in the majority of situations; the latter is described here for reference.

The manual method may be required for use with non-standard installations of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Such installations are sometimes used by vendors who want to maintain control over the environment in which their software runs, or by vendors who have modified the JRE for a special purpose.

Each time the JRE in question is upgraded or modified (eg for a security update, issued by Sun Microsystems™, the creator of the Java Runtime Environment), the Java Access Bridge installation will have to be repeated in order to make sure that the new JRE has the correct extensions in place to work with the Access Bridge.

Each time a new JRE is installed on your machine (for example for use with a new piece of software, it may be necessary to repeat the installation of the Java Access Bridge, even for your existing JREs).

Prerequisites

The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) with which the Java Access Bridge (JAB) is to be used must be installed first.

Requirements

At the time of writing the latest version of the Java Access Bridge (JAB) is 2.0.1. However this version contains a critical fault, and is not suitable for use with Blue Prism. JAB version 2.0.0 is recommended for use with JRE version 1.2.2 and above. A copy of JAB 2.0.0 is available from Blue Prism on request. Please consult Blue Prism for advice if your JRE version is lower than 1.2.2.

Automatic installation

To begin the automatic installation, run the installation executable and follow the on-screen instructions. When complete, reboot your PC.

Manual installation

Only use the manual installation for non-standard JREs; the automatic installer will locate and amend any standard JREs as required.

  1. Extract files – Extract the contents of the installation archive accessbridge-2_0_0-manual_install.zip into a temporary directory.

  2. Copy system files – Copy the files JavaAccessBridge.dll, JAWTAccessBridge.dll and WindowsAccessBridge.dll into the windows system directory, located at: c:\windows\system32\

    These files may already be present if you have run the automatic installer. There is no need to replace them in this case (unless they correspond to an early version of the Java Access Bridge such as version 1.0).

  3. Locate Target JRE – First locate your JRE installation(s). You may install the Java Access Bridge (JAB) for use with more than one JRE installation at once. Indeed this may be necessary as well as desirable since products such as the official Sun Microsystems™ Java web browser plugin install a new separate JRE. Thus in order to be able to automate java applications embedded in a web page, you will need to install the JAB in this JRE (as well as any others you choose). To install into multiple JREs, repeat the instructions below for each JRE installation directory.

    Standard installations of the JRE are usually found in a directory such as:

    c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0\jre\ c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_05

    Non-standard installations of the JRE are usually found in a subdirectory of the directory in which the target application was installed. Eg:

    c:\Program Files\MySpecialApplication\JRE\

  4. Locate the extensions directory – Navigate to the folder lib\ext under your installation directory. Eg:

    c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.5.0\jre\lib\ext c:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_05\lib\ext

  5. Copy Java files – Copy the file named access-bridge.jar into the "ext" directory identified in the previous step.

    Please identify the version of the target JRE installation: a value of the form 1.X. Copy into the "ext" directory the file named jaccess-1_X.jar (where X is the number identified as part of the JRE version), and then rename it to jaccess.jar

    Where there is no matching file use the first available file with a lower version number instead, (eg in the case of 1.5 or 1.6, for which there is no matching file, please use the file jaccess-1.4.jar).

  6. Create properties file – Check for the existence of a file named accessibility.properties in the "lib" folder (one level above the "ext" folder), and create it using a text editor if necessary. Be sure to spell its name correctly. If the file does not yet include the following line then append it to the end of the file, on its own line:

    assistive_technologies=com.sun.java.accessibility.AccessBridge

    It is perfectly acceptable for this line to be the only line in the file.

  7. Cleanup – Delete the temporary directory into which the contents of the installation archive (accessbridge-2_0_0-manual_install.zip) were extracted.
  8. Reboot your PC.