ERROR: Cannot instantiate class

Question

I am getting the following error when I try and use the active-x bridge with VB and try to find the Context Factory.
"Cannot instantiate class: com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory"
The class it references is in the fscontext.jar file, from what I can tell the problem is that it can not find the class. The fscontext.jar file is in the classpath folder and the lib/ext folder.
The code works fine inside a java application, the code also works from VB using the JIntegra product.
Below is the code, any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
public class MessagingWrapperBean extends Object implements java.io.Serializable {
public MessagingWrapperBean() {
private Context ctx = null;
private String initialContextFactory = "com.sun.jndi.fscontext.RefFSContextFactory";
private String providerURL = "file:/C:/JNDI-Directory";
public int openSession() {
Hashtable env;
ctx = null;
try {
env = new Hashtable();
env.put(ctx.INITIAL_CONTEXT_FACTORY, initialContextFactory);
env.put(ctx.PROVIDER_URL, providerURL);
env.put(ctx.REFERRAL, "throw");
catch( Exception e ) {
return 999;
try {
ctx = new InitialDirContext( env ); // *** ERROR OCCURS HERE ***
catch( Exception e ) {
lastError = e.toString();
return 1001;

Answer 1

I have to share this, because I stumbled with it myself for a while.
It has been answered before in thread:
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jsp?forum=40&thread=432365
The reason is braindead classloading mechanism when bridge is used.
But the solution is simple. Put the following
code before any JNDI actions:
  if (Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader() == null){  
      Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(
                         this.getClass().getClassLoader());
      System.out.println("Contextclassloader was null!!! Now it is:" + this.getClass().getClassLoader().getClass().getName());
        else {
            System.out.println("Thread contextclassloader:" + Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader().getClass().getName());
        }This sets context class loader to sun.misc.Launcher$ExtClassLoader
which can find classes from your lib/ext.
/Kullervo