The new ActiveX bridge is part of J2RE1.4.2 beta which is released on April 3, 2003. The documentation is available at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/guide/beans/axbridge/developerguide/index.html
 xxxxx@xxxxx  2003-04-03Java should support the Active-X Bridge and bean packager technologies.
Originally, the Java Plug-in was based on this support.  However, this is
no longer true in 1.4.  The bridge support was removed to allow development
work to continue on the plugin under a new codebase, and also due to a lack of
customer interest.  Now that the technology has been removed, interest is
growing and we should consider re-implementing the support on a 1.4 codebase
and more fully supporting it.

 xxxxx@xxxxx  2001-12-20





FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
All jdk/jre 1.4 versions

FULL OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION :Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP
use131

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Not supporting ActiveX migth be a political decision. But
software developers having their requierements to integrate
with some Microsoft technology, rely on things like the
ActiveX Bridge.
So please reintegrate the ActiveX Bridge into JDK/JRE 1.4
again. It would be very customer friendly.

REGRESSION.  Last worked in version 1.3.1

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
Working ActiveX Bridge in JDK/JRE 1.4

This bug can be reproduced always.
(Review ID: 139353)
======================================================================

N/A

Commit to Tiger.
 xxxxx@xxxxx  2002-03-01

committed for mantis
 xxxxx@xxxxx  2002-07-30

Yes, yes, yes. I have built some java-beans that are 
clients for an application. They fit nicely into many 
things including ms-office applications. The bridge 
provides a way integrate java better into the ms 
environmeent without having to re-code large amounts. e.g. 
I have one javabean which can be used from a 100% java 
client, a vba client or a vb client without fiddling. 

I have seen the J2EE CAS COM Bridge Early Access thingy but 
it does not appear to be applicable in the way that I need. 

Finally the bridge has many quirks but I am more than 
willing to live with them. I would prefer the bridge to say 
in as part of the standard jre even if the quirks are never 
straightened out.

For some years we have relied on this bridge, and we are 
using it widely in our banking application. Until now we 
are stucked with Java version 1.3 because all succeeding 
Java versions gives an error upon exit in our VB app (bug 
id 4420882). If there will be no more bridges we must 
redesign all the VB-Java communication. We will urge you to 
come up with a working bridge soon.

Absolutely. It's hard enough to persuade my employer that 
Java is a viable proposition for our work. The ActiveX 
bridge is the only way we have managed to avoid being 
forced to use .NET. Please don't force us to drop Java.

I just started a Java project, thinking there would have to 
be a way to provide interoperability between Java and 
Windows. I would not have started it in Java had I done a 
little more research and seen that this bridge is not 
supported anymore.
Please include it in 1.4 with at least the functionality it 
had in 1.3.
Considering "lack of customer interest": just look at 
http://staff.develop.com/halloway/JavaWin32.html. You will 
see that there is enough interest to make some non-profit 
projects and even commercial projects which try to provide 
win32-java bridges florish.

thank you 
robert

Dropping the ActiveX bridge technology is going to force us 
to drop Java as our development environment. It is 
absolutely essential that we are able to deploy our current 
Java Beans as ActiveX components for an upcoming MS Outlook 
integration project.

Imagine my surprise: I've spent about 6 months developing a 
Java3D-based viewer that we were planning to drive with a 
VB application being developed in parallel. We probably 
won't throw it away, but it will make the viewer MUCH more 
of a PITA to use, if (a BIG if, at this point) and when we 
migrate to 1.4...

Yes please!  We have had a highly successful implentation 
of putting applet code into a VB app.  Users have loved it 
and we would clearly like to support it in the future.  It 
is simply not practical to rewrite the VB/C++ code in java, 
whilst the java application is a successful web app in its 
own right.  The bridge seems to be the ideal solution so we 
would like it to be re-introduced in a future plugin.

We have also built an application that links VBA to the main
application in Java via this bridge. Removing the bridge would force a complete reimplementation on us and right now I don't even know about a viable alternative.

Please put it back in!
This is a useful tool and there is a great need for it.

I'm shocked that Sun would remove a key technology that so 
many depend on.  Unfortunately it is a Windows world out 
there and the Java apps have to inter-operate with the COM 
apps.  I can guarantee that if the ActiveX Bridge is not 
released either with JDK 1.4 or as a seperate download, 
then this is one developer that you will lose to C# 
and .Net.  Choosing the better platform does not pay the 
bills, satisfying the customers requests does and that 
means that Java MUST be able to inter-operate with COM if 
it is to survive on Windows.

I fully support the request for keeping the ActiveX bridge
and packager (and even improve on it).
My project deeply depends on the bridge being functional
and I do not want stay stuck with JRE 1.3.1 to keep my 
project working. WE NEED THIS BRIDGE!!!
Suggestions for improvements:
- documentation using Visual Studio C++ 6.0
- check focus handling and keyboard navigation (there are 
some problems)
- the serialization issues can be annoying
- deployment of packaged beans is not easy
- updating/modifying a once-packaged bean is a bit 
cumbersome: it would be great to
  allow keeping GUIDs so that at least at development time,
  it is not necessary to re-do a lot of the GUI integration.
- Integration of visual beans in Visual Studio is sometimes
  really hard.

I need it, I need to connect VB with Java and if you no 
provide this I need to work with Visual J++

I do a lot of output into Office applications and use Java 
to do the non-visual computational and data manipulation 
operations. I would like the bridge to continue to be 
supported with new versions of Java.

The ability to write a javabean and to have it appear as if 
it is a COM object is fundamental to the approach we have 
taken to our software.  So much so that we will not be 
releasing a 1.4 version of the software (SSL classes had to 
be reworked, in case you are wondering) until such time as 
we can offer the same ease of use to VB, ASP developers as 
with 1.3.  While you are at it, why don't you add the 
ability to make a jar appear as an import into c# as well 
as VB.Net etc.
Please add it back in to 1.4, not having it will make a 
significant difference to my decision to use java.

I had only just convinced my manager that incorperating our 
future projects in Java with our legacy projects in VB 
would be feasible when I noticed that perhaps it will not 
be anywhere as easy as I had made it out to be.  I had 
hoped to break the M$ strangle hold on our office and am 
more than a bit suprised that Sun would pull support for 
such a direct manner of linking these technology bases.  
It's probably too late for my current project to be saved 
but you might help enable other programmers to transition 
their shops to Java.  Thanks for the consideration.

I am currently in the process of choosing the appropriate language to implement a bookmark tool for IE. This "Bug" will make Java useless for projects such as my own. While my interest is purely academic, I believe that commercial users will have an even harder time to understand the decision to "remove" a direly needed feature from JDK1.4.

Sad.

I too would like very much to have continuing support in 
jdk1.4+ for this bridge. We are here a 6 years old company 
who has never delivered anything outside Microsoft's world. 
We want to build our new UIs in java ( starting straight 
now!) and use them with our legacy ActiveX. Don't force us 
to start new developpments as ActiveX!!!

Please continue including the bridge in 1.4. We got used to 
it and you cannot just remove it !

Please resume support and update the bridge. Removing the 
bridge capability detracts from Java's viability to compete 
with .Net; At this point with Micro$oft's $200,000,000 .Net 
ad budget, Java needs to maintain the bridge capability.

Our developers love Java (obviously).  Our test group likes
to write test programs in VB (because they aren't really
programmers).  This bridge is vital to us!  Please make it
available in some form.

Our team is in the process of choosing a replacement for 
PowerBuilder.  If the ActiveX bridge is no longer 
available, Java will no longer be a viable choice for us as 
we will not have an option to slowly replace our existing 
PowerBuilder app by integrating Java code as ActiveX 
controls.  Please restore this functionality or we will be 
stuck with .Net :(

Why should Windows users have all the fun integrating Java and C++ code?  UNIX users also need an easier and more efficient way than JNI for calling C++ code and for calling java code from C++.  Look to GCJ for some ideas of how this can work.

Dropping the ActiveX bridge technology is going to force us 
to drop Java as our development environment and to change 
to .NET. All our efforts in building up development 
knowledge for Java would be rendered useless. It is 
absolutely essential that we are able to deploy our current 
Java Beans as ActiveX components, as the vast majority of 
our customers use ActiveX as the technology for component 
integration.

For those who can't wait for Tiger, see the java2com tool 
in Intrinsyc's JIntegra Suite.
http://www.intrinsyc.com/support/jintegrasuite/online_docs/

I am not affiliated with that company.

We use the bride as a way to migrate slowly our VB app to 
Java.  It is our belief that the strongest (gold) 
acomplishment of Sun with Java is their commitment to it by 
supporting everything they started with since 1.0, are you 
(Sun) going to change this after so many years?

Almost anything that can help Java interact with other 
languages, components, etc. should be encouraged. Please 
restore the Active-X Bridge. We may not like Microsoft and 
their technologies but many do. If we can use Java to 
interact with them instead of having to use them 
ourselves, so much the better.

make it so

NO! Please do not reinstate the ActiveX Bridge.

Sun is wise in removing it from 1.4. Java has a 
significant following and I think that it will grow once 
people start using ".Not" because they will realize the 
shortcomings of the .Net platform and its immaturity.

For all those who are writing for the MS platform, they 
are short-sighted. They do not realize that MS is not a 
server platform. They may develop in MS but to lock 
themselves into MS is plain stupidity. These 
developers will bring Java down with them by falling 
into the Microsoft trap. They are stupid enough to do 
that but that does not mean that the rest of us should 
bear the brunt of their stupidity by allowing MS to 
subvert the Java platform.

Sun has already sued MS for attempting to subvert the 
Java platform. MS will be laughing their heads off if you 
put the ActiveX bridge back into 1.4 Then they will claim 
that Sun itself shot themselves in the foot. Their (i.e. 
Sun's) own community demanded it and Sun gave it to 
them.

PLEASE DO NOT RELENT TO THEIR PRESSURE!

Please continue including the bridge in 1.4. We got used to 
it and you cannot just remove it !

Failure to provide support for this will essentially kill
Java here.  If I can't embed a bean in an ActiveX container
using a NON-ENTERPRISE tool, I likely will be unable to use
Java at all and will have to resort to VB (ugh!).

If Sun expects Java to have a future, they should be
enhancing interoperability with COM (perhaps even a package
as part of the distribution, like the CORBA package) rather
than removing things like this.

Please either put the bridge back, or release the source
code to the public.  This is too important a feature to be
dropped so suddenly and without warning!

Also, the FAQ's need to be updated (see 
http://java.sun.com/products/javabeans/faq/faq.bridge.html).
This answer is no longer correct:

Will Sun continue to enhance the JavaBeans Bridge for 
ActiveX?

Sun's JavaBeans Bridge for ActiveX includes features that 
allow JavaBeans and ActiveX components to exchange 
information between components in both directions. This 
allows customers to embed JavaBeans components within 
existing ActiveX containers, such as Microsoft Office, 
Internet Explorer, Borland Delphi and Visual Basic 
applications, among others.

The Bridge is an important feature within the BDK and Sun 
intends to continue to enhance the Bridge and to work with 
the developer community to make sure the Bridge meets 
developer needs.

I also would like the ActiveX bridge returned. It has been 
an invaluable tool in allowing me to use Java to 
circumvent all the crazy MS carnage.

We have big production control system and we would like to 
reimplement it to java technology. We cannot do it in one 
step. We need bridge to start reimplementing in java some 
parts of the system and using them together with old 
Windows application. Please return the bridge to Java 1.4

You need to provide BETTER ActiveX support, NOT LESS!
IF Java is to be THE development platform it should, you 
HAVE to integrate ActiveX components as client AND server !
don't make the mistake of killing Java by abandoning key 
technologies !!!

jim mason  jmason900@yahoo.com

Finally I've found a way to create a COM-Java component, 
and now it seems dropped in 1.4. This is essential for 
integration with legacy software !!

drop the bridge and well have to drop java...
You should be expanding the COM integration...
Making it easier, then everyone would see what a great 
language java was...

Please make available a tool to integrate java beans into 
activex. Without this I cant convinve my company to switch 
develoment into java.

Please make available a tool to integrate java beans into 
activex. Without this I cant convinve my company to switch 
develoment into java.

Yes, yes and yes.  Having the activex bridge as a core part 
of java makes all the difference in the world for us. 
Please keep it alive and growing - M$ will be better off if 
you don't!

If Sun will not provide ActiveX-bridge in future, I will 
move to .Net or C#.

Please support the bridge in 1.4
We were very happy when finding out, that by means of the 
beans bridge we could considerably enhance the graphical 
capabilities of a third party development tool.
Having no bridge would mean for us, to fall back to c++.
If we are able to supply these function at all.

As many people have said, the bridge does have some 
problems, but once it is working it is reliable. We use it 
in products sold to our customers and would very much like 
it reinstated to the jre as soon as possible.

My company needs the bridge. If Sun descontinous it, my 
company probably will develop some projects in .net. We 
(developers) prefer Java instead of .net, but Sun will let 
us without choices.

Where's that confounded bridge?

I use the ActiveJMS component to allow MSVC++ clients to 
publish JMS events (via ActiveJMS, via ActiveX Bridge).  
This was a big selling point for using JMS for our MOM 
instead of MSMQ.  Anyway, ActiveJMS relies on the ActiveX 
Bridge.  Without support for the bridge in JDK 1.4 it will 
be hard to move to the newer JDK.

It is a step back for Sun Microsystems by removing this 
bridge from JDK 1.4

If you want Java to be a market leader, then you'll have to 
support this interface in order to bridge to Windows 
applications - especially since the majority of desktops 
are Microsoft based.  Otherwise it would be easier to use 
C# to access Windows based applications.

Many of our customers (top-tier global investment banks) 
have significant multi-million pound/dollar investments in 
Microsoft technologies AND Java technologies.

The MS stuff just won't go away as the investment is too 
large and the cost of changing in one hit is massive. So 
its imperitive that we can bridge the two worlds. So please 
re-introduce the ActiveX bridge in the next JDK release.

It would be a very customer-friendly move.

Isn't java write-once run anywhere? Anywhere should also 
include MSFT environments in all aspects. So YES, get the 
bridge back (in working order) ASAP

We at SAP rely on the Bridge in one of our CRM applications 
for integration with Java Components on the Microsoft 
plattform. Due to the removal of the bridge in the later 
versions we and our customers are stuck on Java Version 
1.3, missing out on all subsequent bugfixes.

The bridge is an essential part of the Java product because 
it provides an generic way to integrate Java Components 
into Windows applications. Without the bridge the  
integration of every Java component is a new and totally 
unnecessary struggle.

Please bring back the bridge as soon as possible.

I think the number of comments here should cause Sun some
concern. The really sad thing is that the evaluation is
"Commit to Tiger". I'm assuming that this means the bridge
will be back in that release. However, if you look at one of
the related bugs, say: 4301272, there is an indication as to
the planned release date for "Tiger": "Tiger  = Java 1.5 FCS
Q4, 2003". I don't know about other people here, but the
idea of waiting over 12 months for this is not very
attractive. All I can say, as somebody who has to battle
constantly to keep Java alive in our company, is _Please_
recognise this a problem that needs to be tackled more
urgently than it is at the moment.

Yet another concerned comment - one of the BIG uses of this 
is integrating Java apps in ASP almost seemlessly with the 
same app used in a JSP/Servlet environment. My company (CSC 
Financial Services) would like to drop reliance on MSJAVA 
for this functionality because keeping the client side code 
at Java 1.1.5 is now untennable since it is preventing us 
from integrating with other products that rely on a Java 2 
environment. 

The realization that we could do a Bridge-based solution 
was highly interesting - until we noted the removal from 
1.4!! Not a very good decision from the steering commitee - 
I doubt very much if all this interest was absent two years 
ago when the decision was made, it just wasn't polled very 
well!! And waiting until 1.5 for a reintroduction is not 
particulalrly appetising!

Please consider releasing this much sooner than 1.5.

Maybe reinserting the ActiveX-bridge will bring down the pure 
doctrine. But I'm living in a real world. And in a real world I 
have to find interfaces between JAVA and the MS-platform.
Removing support for the ActiveX-bridge from JRE1.4 
constrains me to use other technologies instead of JAVA.

We have an app that needs to be accessed from an MS 
product.  Currently we are being forced to stay with 1.3 
because 1.4 does not include it.  The J2EE CAS COM Bridge 
will not take care of our needs because we will not have the 
ability to be running an app server as well as this introduces 
another level of complexity (install app server, make sure 
running...) this will not work at all for our app and clients.  
Please reconsider including in 1.4.  The ActiveX bridge does 
have some quirks, but it is a very simple approach that 
works.

The truth is: We have to integrate Java staff in WINDOWS
Applications and, if there is no possibility to do that, we
can't use Java. I think .NET (C#) etc. will be the better
product.
(solution for this ActiveX bug is planned Q2 2003!!!!)

So much for platform independence.  
If you want to beat microsoft, you need to make your stuff 
more capable not less.

This utility is vital for building user-friendly java applications, 
if sun is no longer including it with the JDK they should make 
it available as a separate download.

Please implement JavaBeans ActiveX bridge.

JLover

Please implement JavaBeans ActiveX bridge.

Please could we have some information relating to progress on 
this beyond the "committed for mantis".  When is mantis going 
to be released and BTW are you aware that .NET is unable to 
instantiate a bean wrapped with the ActiveX wrapper while 
VB etc, etc can.  This behaviour is evident under 1.3.

Here is some information about Mantis and Tiger:

http://java.sun.com/features/2002/03/totiger.html

(This says Mantis will be v1.4.2)

You need to return the ActiveX Bridge to the Java developer 
community.  Despite believing Java is the best technology, 
many of us are handcuffed by our business to Microsoft as 
well.

Yes! the bridge that provides the way to integrate javabeans 
and activeX is a necessary for java plataform.

The bridge should solve the problem of embedding Java UI 
into native Windows UI. It should but it did not very well. 
With every version of the bridge, a ActiveX container could 
be found where something didn't work. 
So why cry for reintroduction: By using IBMs SWT and some 
MFC ActiveX code the embedding of Java UI into ActiveX-
containers could be done in an way that no one will notice a 
difference to an ActiveX control created with VB.

ok... I found a way for my problem with ActiveX Bridge.
I used the WebBrowser component in my form to view my 
applet and to access the method's applet, i'm using the 
interface idocument's microsoft in vb code.

Yes, this bridge is vital to our work.  We like Java, and don't want to have to use C# or VB.  If Sun doesn't want to support it, release the source so we can.

:-)

Use J-Integra

Lack of support for the ActiveX bridge is killing the java 
projects in my company. Please please please put it back in.

A new, high quality Active-X Bridge is being implemented on the 1.4.x
codebase for the Java 1.4.2 release due to ship in Spring 2003.

Jim Melvin
Java Software
Sun Microsystems

I want to add our voice to the call for on-going support of 
the activeX bridge. We are another Java dev. group who must 
co-exist with the MS desk-top. The ActiveX bridge is a must 
have for desktop integration.

A working ActiveX bridge is essential for us since our 
application uses this and so we cannot deploy on Java 1.4!

That sounds good. We have been using the bridge i several
applications and we were very dissapointed when it was 
removed. Please reintroduce it!!! 

I am developing an application using Java/Swing.  A slim
client component communicating with a java-based server
component needs to run in the MS world.

If I cannot make this client component interface to MS apps,
I will stop using java and re-do the project using .Net. 
The project is still at the begining so I have the option to
do so.

Thank you..

The ActiveX-bridge is an easy to use tool and should be put 
back in the JRE/JDK as soon as possible!

Like many developers here... we NEED this feature in the 
futere releases of the JDK.  We're in the middle of converting 
from Powerbuilder into Java and downloading 1.4 stopped us!  
Please, please bring this back!

Must have it!!

Please provide Active X support ASAP!  And please make sure 
it works with .NET events.

Yes Yes!  We have an application with a VB front end and a 
java server back end that has been running very successfully 
for over three years.  Our company (the largest index 
investment management company in the world) has a heavy 
MS presence on the desktop and we had to struggle to get 
java into the server side.  Removing support for this bridge 
would doom any java at the company and force us to 
use .Net end-to-end.

FinancialDevice Java componentes for ATMs are used into VB 
applications between the Active X brige. Please do NOT 
remove this features. What is lack ofcustomer interest?!!!.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND YOU PEOPLE! (SUN, THAT IS) ..

THERE IS A NEW RELEASE OF JRE 1.3.1_05 (OVER _04)
THAT ALSO HAS THE BRIDGE REMOVED.

IF YOU WANT TO REMOVE IT IN 1.4, SHAME ON YOU FOR
PLAYING YOUR POLITICAL GAME WITH MICROSOFT AT
THE EXPENSE OF YOUR DEVELOPERS BUT WHY REMOVE
IT FROM 1.3.1 ALSO?  WHY NOT LEAVE IT ALONE THERE?

WHAT ARE YOU FOLKS TRYING TO DO?  GET RID OF
EVEN MORE SUPPORTERS OF JAVA?

GET WITH THE PROGRAM ALREADY!

We may need to write our own Windows COM - JavaBean 
component then.
I thought Sun encourages people to use Java even on 
Windows platform.

we are inetgrating our old applications written in VB  to java. 
this applications run on notebooks of about 1500 agents, that 
have no possibilty to connect to a server. however the 
bussiness logic is completely implemented in java and is 
accessible through web and VB. since java-com bridge is not 
available in 1.4 we cannot migrate to 1.4 either. we fully 
support the request for keeping the ActiveX bridge
and packager and improving it.

It is so important the ActiveX Bridge be reintegrated into a 
future release.  I am dealing with several legacy systems that 
are written in VB.  I am showing some of the other developers 
in my organization the benefits of using Java.  Rewriting the 
legacy applications is not an option for me at this point.  
Without the Bridge we have no choice but to interface with 
our legacy systems using newer VB apps.  Please reintegrate 
the ActiveX bridge.

I'd like to be able to migrate my legacy VB application to
Java.  I'm taken aback by the removal of the COM bridge.  I
was counting on being able to do new development in Java and
hooking into my VB app and slowly converting pieces of the
VB app.  Looks like this is no longer possible.  I'm now
looking into non-Java alternatives.  Its not just the
technical issue, but the fact that I can't put my job on the
line  when parts I depend on may be removed.

This is very important! Integration with the COM/ActiveX 
technology is a must if you want to keep up with Microsoft. 
It's also very sad, thet the CAS COM Bridge is not supported 
anymore (pages are from 2001, I get no feedback to my 
questions) though I hoped that it will be finally released.

My vote for both ActiveX and COM bridge or a superior 
successor!

when will this bug be fixed? it's quite irrtating to move to the 
next version knowing that it won't support ActiveX.

active-jms brings jms to .Net -- without the bridge there is no 
active-jms, and companies like mine will have to look at dot-
net server side components for messaging instead of the java 
counterparts

BIG YES!!!
I would argue that if Sun want to compite with M$ and 
theirs .Net they should provide features that make them 
competitive on the Unix market as well as on the Windows 
platforms. 
For example in my company we have J2EE AS and use heavy 
use of JMS, but we also have proprietary framework for the 
Web that is based on the M$ technologies. It would be just 
great to use JMS on the web tier.

Support it!!! The bridge is a good way to integrate Java 
applications in M$ applications. Thanks to scsi-boy who asked 
to vote for keeping that brigde up! Some peoples income 
depends on that bridge... do not forget that!

We have developed a huge set of Java classes that need to 
be used in Microsoft Office and other products that use 
ActiveX.  Cutting the bridge will only make seem the use of 
Java in my organization as a mistake since we widely use 
Excel, Word and other windows applications through the 
organization.  Not having the bridge will make us re-code all 
sort of connecting classes in order to make our applications 
useful under M$ Office, which will probably end up to a .Net 
migration.  Cutting this just makes the "platform 
independency" advertisement fake.  Help me to make my point 
of using Java here!

We need the bridge to transport our beans to Delphi 
COM//OLE objects. It is vital!

odedfehr2002@wi.rr.com