How do I intercept/catch a JMF-crash when playing unsupported files?

Question

I'm writing an application with a media viewer (JMF2.1.1) in it. For some file formats it works okay, but when playing some of them, I get the 'Unable to handle format' error. Now I can live with that, but the problem is that the entire app just HANGS. No exception is thrown, no option to get rid of the error, nothing.
In my code I have several try/catch blocks, but those are not adressed with these particular crashes.
My question is this: how can I intercept or catch this crash? How can I PRE-detect whether the file format is unsupported and then send a message saying this file is unplayable (thus not starting the player.realize process)?

Answer 1

Ok, this is what I have so far. The mediaplayer opens in a separate JDialog window.
import javax.media.*;
import com.sun.media.ui.*;
import javax.media.protocol.*;
import javax.media.protocol.DataSource;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.event.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.Vector;
import com.sun.media.codec.audio.mp3.JavaDecoder;
public class MediaPlayer implements ControllerListener  {
     private Dialogs dialogs = new Dialogs();
    private JDialog mediaDialog = new JDialog();
    private MediaLocator mloc;
    private Player player = null;
    private URL mediaURL;
    private JPanel mediaPanel = new JPanel();
    private boolean realized = false;
     Component visual = null;
    Component control = null;
     int videoWidth = 320;
     int videoHeight = 240;
     int controlHeight = 30;
    int insetWidth = 10;
    int insetHeight = 30;
    public MediaPlayer(String mediaFileLocation) {
         mediaDialog.addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {
               public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
                       player.stop();
                       player.close();
                       mediaDialog.setVisible(false);
        try {
            mediaDialog.setTitle("Media Viewer");
            mediaDialog.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            mediaDialog.setSize(400, 400);
            mediaDialog.setModal(true);
            mediaDialog.setEnabled(true);
               mediaDialog.setLocationRelativeTo(mediaDialog.getOwner());
               System.out.println("MPwindow setup");
               mediaPanel.setLayout(new BorderLayout());
            mloc = new MediaLocator(mediaFileLocation);
            player = Manager.createPlayer(mloc);
            player.addControllerListener(this);
               System.out.println("MPmedialoc0");
                 wrapRealize(); // gives error at wrong codec or unable to handle file
               System.out.println("MPmedialoc1");            
            player.prefetch();
               System.out.println("MPmedialoc2");                
               mediaDialog.add(mediaPanel,BorderLayout.CENTER);
            mediaPanel.setVisible(true);
            mediaDialog.setVisible(true);
                System.out.println("MPpanel setup");
        catch(Exception e){
            e.printStackTrace();
            dialogs.failedPlayer("Error: couldn't initiate Media Viewer.");
            System.out.println("failedPlayer(Except.error: couldn't initiate Media Viewer.");
    public synchronized void wrapRealize(){
        try {
             player.realize();
             while(!realized){
                 try {
                     wait();
                     System.out.println("MPrealizewait");
                 catch(InterruptedException ie){
                      ie.printStackTrace();
                      dialogs.failedPlayer("Error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");
                      System.out.println("failedPlayer(Interrupt.error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");
        } catch (Exception ex){
             ex.printStackTrace();
             dialogs.failedPlayer("Error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");
            System.out.println("failedPlayer(PreRealize.error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");     
    public synchronized void controllerUpdate(ControllerEvent ce){
         try{
             if(ce instanceof RealizeCompleteEvent){
                 realized = true;
                 Component display = player.getVisualComponent();
                 mediaPanel.add(display);
                 System.out.println("MPdisplay add");
                 Component controller = player.getControlPanelComponent();
                 controller.setBounds(500,500,100,300);
                 mediaPanel.add(controller);
                 notify();
                   System.out.println("MPpanel add");
             else if(ce instanceof PrefetchCompleteEvent){
                 if ((visual = player.getVisualComponent()) != null) {
                      Dimension size = visual.getPreferredSize();
                      videoWidth = size.width;
                         videoHeight = size.height;
                         mediaPanel.add("Center", visual);
                          System.out.println("MPvis setup");
                   } else {
                        videoWidth = 320;
                   if ((control = player.getControlPanelComponent()) != null) {
                         controlHeight = control.getPreferredSize().height;
                         mediaPanel.add("South", control);
                          System.out.println("MPcontrol setup");
                   mediaDialog.setSize(videoWidth + insetWidth,videoHeight + controlHeight + insetHeight);
                   mediaDialog.validate();
                 player.start();
                    System.out.println("MPsetsizeandvalidate");
             else if(ce instanceof EndOfMediaEvent){
                 player.stop();
         } catch(Exception fe) {
              dialogs.failedPlayer("Error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");
              System.out.println("failedPlayer(Except.error: couldn't realize Media Viewer.");
}If anyone knows how to get around the 'Unable to handle' crash, please let me know.