Automating a flex app on a headless server

Question

I have a flex chart drawing application that needs to be automated. When automated it will read in data from the DB, draw the charts, and save them as .png files. This works flawlessly on my localhost version of oc4j on my Mac. However it has never worked on our Solaris oc4j deployment which is a headless server. I've set flex to run as headless in the config files but no dice. How can I get this working? Here are some of the error messages I'm getting:
LINUX/UNIX browser attempting to launch /opt/sfw/bin/firefox http://flexdomain.yadayadyada
08/11/06 14:41:53
user dir: /usr/local/src/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/j2ee/home
08/11/06 14:41:54 ERR>The application 'firefox-bin' lost its connection to the display flexdomain. yadayadyada:1.0;
08/11/06 14:41:54 ERR>most likely the X server was shut down or you killed/destroyed
08/11/06 14:41:54 ERR>the application.
08/11/06 14:41:54 ExitValue: 1
And here's a snippet from the Java which launches the flex app in the firefox browser:
String cmd = "/opt/sfw/bin/ff.sh "+ url; // ff.sh is a script which sets DISPLAY and launches firefox with the flex url
Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
Process p = rt.exec(cmd);
I'm using 10g, by the way.
Thanks!
Edited by: Solerous on Nov 7, 2008 7:04 AM

Answer 1

Ok, I'm convinced that this is some sort of configuration problem. I can get the browser to launch when written as a simple java program compiled at the command line:
import java.util.*;
import java.io.*;
public class Launcher {
public static void main(String args[]) throws IOException {
String url = "http://www.ebay.com";
String[] commands = {"/bin/sh", "-c", "/opt/sfw/bin/firefox ", url, "-width", "1600", "-height", "1200", ":5"};
ProcessBuilder pb = new ProcessBuilder(commands);
Map<String, String> env = pb.environment();
env.put( "DISPLAY", ":5" );
Iterator it = env.entrySet().iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
Map.Entry pairs = (Map.Entry)it.next();
System.out.println("\t>> environ: "+pairs.getKey() + " = " + pairs.getValue());
Process process = pb.start();
The output is just to show the environment variables and it looks like this:
     >> environ: XFILESEARCHPATH = /usr/dt/app-defaults/%L/Dt
>> environ: LANG = C
>> environ: DISPLAY = :5
>> environ: ORACLE_BASE = /oracle
>> environ: ORACLE_TERM = vt100
>> environ: PWD = /usr/local/u00/de8
>> environ: _ = /usr/bin/java
>> environ: MAGICK_HOME = /usr/ImageMagicK/ImageMagick-6.4.4
>> environ: ORACLE_SID = cots
>> environ: USER = de8
>> environ: NLSPATH = /usr/dt/lib/nls/msg/%L/%N.cat
>> environ: EDITOR = /bin/vi
>> environ: MOZILLA_SOLARIS_PATCHCHECKER = disable_patchchecker
>> environ: HOME = /u00/de8
>> environ: SSH_CONNECTION = 128.219.196.118 64994 160.91.230.33 22
>> environ: LD_LIBRARY_PATH = /usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.5.0/jre/lib/sparc/server:/usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.5.0/jre/lib/sparc:/usr/jdk/instances/jdk1.5.0/jre/../lib/sparc:/opt/SUNWspro/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/dt/lib:/usr/ImageMagicK/ImageMagick-6.4.4/lib::/oracle/product/9.2.0/lib
>> environ: LOGNAME = de8
>> environ: SHELL = /bin/ksh
>> environ: ORACLE_HOME = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1
>> environ: SSH_TTY = /dev/pts/1
>> environ: MAILMSG = [YOU HAVE NEW MAIL]
>> environ: MANPATH = /usr/opt/SUNWmd/man:/usr/man:/usr/local/man:/usr/share/man:
>> environ: NNTPSERVER = time.ornl.gov
>> environ: SSH_CLIENT = 128.219.196.118 64994 22
>> environ: MAIL = /var/mail/de8
>> environ: TZ = US/Eastern
>> environ: PS1 = ${PWD###/} $
>> environ: TERM = vt100
>> environ: PATH = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1:/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/OPatch:/usr/xpg4/bin:/usr/ccs/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/ucb:/etc:/usr/sbin:/u00/de8/bin:/opt/NSCPcom:/sbin:/usr/local/etc:/usr/lib:/usr/opt/SUNWmd/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin/perl5.00502:/usr/openwin/bin:/opt/sfw/bin:/usr/ImageMagicK/ImageMagick-6.4.4/bin:.:/oracle/product/9.2.0/bin
I decided to output the env vars in hopes that it would show what needs to be reset. But if I use the exact same code in my deployment, it fails and I get the following env settings:
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: XFILESEARCHPATH = /usr/dt/app-defaults/%L/Dt
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: LANG = C
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: DISPLAY = :5
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: ORACLE_CONFIG_HOME = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: NLSPATH = /usr/dt/lib/nls/msg/%L/%N.cat
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: TMP = /tmp
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: TZ = US/Eastern
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: NLS_LANG = AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8MSWIN1252
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: ORA_NLS33 = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/ocommon/nls/admin/data
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: LD_LIBRARY_PATH = /usr/local/src/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/jdk/jre/lib/sparc/server:/usr/local/src/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/jdk/jre/lib/sparc:/usr/local/src/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/jdk/jre/../lib/sparc:/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/opmn/lib:/oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/lib32
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: X_LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1/lib
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: ORACLE_HOME = /oracle/product/10.1.3.2.0/OracleAS_1
08/12/09 14:14:27 >> environ: SHELL = /bin/bash
Does anyone know how I can get the deployed version (running in the server container) to work exactly in the same way as the version run from a simple command line?