Why in COM, set smth true, stays true even after System.exit?

Question

I am using "Jacob" to do COM calls. When I alter the "ShowAll" property of Word.Application and I set it to true, it will then forever be true even if I exit the application AND quit the word application. If I set it to false, the same thing happens, it will always be so. The code to call/set this is:
(NOTE: This uses classes I made to wrap the Dispatch calls)
Word wordApp = new Word();
Documents docs = wordApp.getDocuments();
Document doc = docs.open("D:\\JavaProjects\\Test.doc");
//GET VIEW
View wordView = wordApp.getActiveWindow().getView();
//PRINT THE VIEW PROPERTIES
System.out.println("Show All: " + wordApp.getActiveWindow().getView().isShowAll());
System.out.println("Show Paragraphs: " + wordApp.getActiveWindow().getView().isShowParagraphs());
//SET THE VIEW PROPERTIES
wordView.setShowAll(false);
wordView.setShowParagraphs(true);
//PRINT THEM AGAIN
System.out.println("Show All: " + wordApp.getActiveWindow().getView().isShowAll());
System.out.println("Show Paragraphs: " + wordApp.getActiveWindow().getView().isShowParagraphs());
doc.close(Document.DO_NOT_SAVE);
wordApp.quit(new Variant[] {});
System.exit(0);The actual Dispatch calls are:
//NO IDEA WHY THIS IS, BUT SHOWALL = TRUE IS -1, AND FALSE IS 0
private final static int SHOW_ALL_TRUE = -1;
private final static int SHOW_ALL_FALSE = 0;
/** SETSHOWPARAGRAPHS **
* Sets the property (boolean) ShowParagraphs.
public void setShowParagraphs(boolean showParagraphs)
     Dispatch.put(this, "ShowParagraphs", new Boolean(showParagraphs));
/** ISSHOWPARAGRAPHS **
* Returns Boolean of whether or not this is set to show paragraphs.
public boolean isShowParagraphs()
     return getBooleanValue(Dispatch.get(this, "ShowParagraphs"));
private boolean getBooleanValue(Variant variantBoolean)
     //MAKE IT AN INTEGER AND GET ITS int VALUE
     int intVariant = new Integer(variantBoolean.toString()).intValue();
     //RETURN IF IS SHOW ALL
     return (intVariant == View.SHOW_ALL_TRUE);
}I'm wondering if the problem is that I get back either -1 or 0 and if maybe that means something else?

Answer 1

1: Properties persistence is not a DEFECT but a FEATURE . It was implemented in MS Word so users could change MS word WITHOUT HAVING TO DO IT EACH TIME THEY START IT UP.
2: Don't you intialise all your variables in your code after you instanciated them ? I am sure you do so and therefore the persitence feature you described should not be annoying you at all. It is not necessary to intialise variables in the BASIC langage but that does not mean you should not do it.
3: (-1) was chosen arbitrary by Microsoft as the TRUE value for Boolean datatype and 0 the value for FALSE when they designed Visual Basic. This is not a problem if you write code properly
I recommend you test bool variable in any langages using the following test:
(myBool <> 0)
HAVE A THINK ABOUT IT
Finally,
you need to understand what you are working with before you complain about it.
Argument for Argument sake is not good and if you think MS word is a bad program just don't use it. go and write your own word processor in JAVA.
GOOD LUCK
I WISH TO APOLOGISE FOR ANY POSSIBLE SPELLING OR GRAMMATICAL MISTAKES I COULD HAVE MADE IN THIS REPLY. ENGLISH NOT BEING MY FIRST LANGUAGE.