File.exists() does not work on mac for non-English characters on Java 7 on Mac

Tue Oct 9 08:47:52 PDT 2012

Hi,

My name is Agust Thorkelsson and I'm the owner of a company called Sideline Sports. We produce software for professional sport coaches. We have encountered a huge problem that we can't seem to find a workaround for.

We have customers in many countries in Europe and almost all of them have non-english characters in filenames of files they use in our systems.

The Java 7 upgrade for Mac basically renders our software unusable. This is only on Mac.

Scott Kovatch instructed me to file a bug for this and e-mail this address for a discussion. I'm hoping you have some kind of workaround you can let us know about. It would be much appreciated! The filed bug can be seen beneath.

I'm sure this bug breaks a lot of Java software here in Europe and not in a clean way either. File.exists() is a popular method to use.

Again, thanks for any help you can give.

Best regards,

Agust

Agust Thorkelsson
Sideline Sports
thorkelsson at sidelinesports.com
www.sidelinesports.com
Mobile: +46 (0) 704 244 359
Office: +46 (0) 40 692 7942

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Þorvaldur Blöndal <thorvaldur at sidelinesports.com>
> Subject: Fw: Your Report (Review ID: 2356502) - File.exists() does not work on mac for non-English characters
> Date: 9 oktober 2012 14:22:08 CEST
> To: "Thorkelsson" <thorkelsson at sidelinesports.com>
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: <Bug-Report-Daemon_WW at ORACLE.COM>
> To: <thorvaldur at sidelinesports.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:21 PM
> Subject: Your Report (Review ID: 2356502) - File.exists() does not work on mac for non-English characters
> 
> 
> Date Created: Tue Oct 09 06:21:15 MDT 2012
> Type:        bug
> Customer Name:   Þorvaldur Blöndal
> Customer Email:  thorvaldur at sidelinesports.com
> SDN ID:
> status:      Waiting
> Category:    java
> Subcategory: classes_io
> Company:     Sideline Sports
> release:     7
> hardware:    x86
> OSversion:   macosx
> priority:    3
> Synopsis:    File.exists() does not work on mac for non-English characters
> Description:
> FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
> java.specification.vendor=Oracle Corporation
> java.runtime.version=1.7.0_10-ea-b10
> java.version=1.7.0_10-ea
> file.encoding.pkg=sun.io
> 
> 
> ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
> os.name=Mac OS X
> os.version=10.8.1
> 
> 
> EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
> My Computer is in Icelandic. This also happens to a friend of mine in Sweden.
> 
> A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
> Hi.
> 
> Files (with non-English characters) that are returned by a File dialog return false from exists() if I double-click my jar. But if I run the jar from a terminal, exists() returns true.
> 
> I'm using
> os.name=Mac OS X
> os.version=10.8.1
> 
> I made a small test program. It opens a file dialog where I can select Files. It's much more successful if I run it from a terminal. I also tried to webstart it and run it from Netbeans. No success.
> 
> I think this is related to these things:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12509532/encoding-issues-on-java-7-file-names-in-os-x
> http://javafx-jira.kenai.com/browse/RT-23836
> 
> The System.properties are quite different.
> 
> When I run from terminal by typing "/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home/bin/java" -jar TestProject.jar:
> java.specification.vendor=Oracle Corporation
> java.runtime.version=1.7.0_10-ea-b10
> java.version=1.7.0_10-ea
> file.encoding.pkg=sun.io
> user.country=IS
> sun.jnu.encoding=UTF-8
> file.encoding=UTF-8
> user.language=is
> 
> When I double-click the jar in Finder:
> java.specification.vendor=Oracle Corporation
> java.runtime.version=1.7.0_10-ea-b10
> java.version=1.7.0_10-ea
> file.encoding.pkg=sun.io
> user.country=IS
> sun.jnu.encoding=US-ASCII
> file.encoding=US-ASCII
> user.language=is
> 
> 
> REGRESSION.  Last worked in version 7
> 
> STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
> Just deploy and run the attached code on a computer that contains files with atypical names. Like þæö.mp3.
> 
> File.exists() does not work if you double-click a jar or webstart it.
> 
> EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
> EXPECTED -
> I expected Files that are returned by a File Dialog to exist().
> ACTUAL -
> They did not.
> 
> REPRODUCIBILITY :
> This bug can be reproduced always.
> 
> ---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
> package testproject;
> 
> import java.awt.FileDialog;
> import java.io.File;
> import java.util.Iterator;
> import java.util.Map.Entry;
> import javax.swing.JFrame;
> import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
> import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
> import javax.swing.JTextArea;
> import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;
> 
> public class TestProject
> {
>  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
>  {
>     SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable()
>     {
>        @Override
>        public void run()
>        {
>           new TestProject();
>        }
>     });
>  }
> 
>  public TestProject()
>  {
>     StringBuilder props = new StringBuilder();
>     Iterator<Entry<Object, Object>> iter = System.getProperties().entrySet().iterator();
>     while (iter.hasNext())
>     {
>        Entry<Object, Object> next = iter.next();
>        props.append(next.getKey().toString()).append("=").append(next.getValue().toString()).append(System.getProperty("line.separator"));
>     }
> 
>     JFrame frameProps = new JFrame("System Properties");
>     frameProps.getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(new JTextArea(props.toString())));
>     frameProps.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
>     frameProps.pack();
>     frameProps.setVisible(true);
> 
>     FileDialog fd = new FileDialog(frameProps);
>     fd.setMode(FileDialog.LOAD);
> 
>     while (true)
>     {
>        fd.setVisible(true);
>        String selDir = fd.getDirectory();
>        String selFilename = fd.getFile();
>        if (selDir == null || selFilename == null)
>           break;
> 
>        File selected = new File(selDir, selFilename);
>        if (selected == null)
>           JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frameProps, "file was null");
>        else if (selected.exists())
>           JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frameProps, selected.getAbsolutePath() + " exists");
>        else
>           JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(frameProps, selected.getAbsolutePath() + " does not exist exists");
>     }
>  }
> }
> 
> ---------- END SOURCE ----------
> workaround:
> comments:    (company - Sideline Sports , email - thorvaldur at sidelinesports.com)
> 