Installing Java and BlueJ
Last Revision: February, 2002
( McCann )

Looking to install Sun's Java 2 SDK, Monash University's BlueJ Java development environment, and the javabook package for Wu's Java text? Reading this first couldn't hurt much, and might even help you out.

First, the caveats:

Step 1: Download these files:

Obviously, The SDK is going to take a long, long time to download if you're like most people and have a net connection through a modem. Plan ahead, or find a friend with a broadband connection who can download it to a CD-RW, CD-R, or Zip disk for you. Before we move on, here is a list of links to pages with downloading and installation information for these software packages. If you run into trouble, start looking for answers here:

Step 2: Install the Java 2 SDK

From within Windows Explorer, double-click on the SDK file you downloaded. (The name will probably be something like j2sdk-1_3_1_02-win.exe) It will unpack a bunch of stuff, and then you'll see the first of several installation windows. Here is the list of the ones I saw, and what I did in each:
  1. Welcome: It recommends closing your other windows, so I closed all of them except Windows Explorer. I've successfully installed previous versions with many windows still open. Click Next to continue.
  2. Software License Agreement: I clicked Yes without reading a word of it.
  3. Choose Destination Location: I have a directory on my C drive named langs, into which I install all of the programming language-related software I install. So, I set the Destination Location to be c:\langs\jdk1.3.1_02 and clicked Next.
  4. Select Browsers: I was a bit peeved that there was no automatic installation option for browsers other than Internet Explorer or Netscape 6.*. Still, this is progress; previous installers didn't even offer this window. I just clicked Next. If you use a different browser, you'll have to check http://java.sun.com/ or your browser's installation instructions to see how to install a Java plug-in so that you can execute Java applets with your browser. Note that this isn't necessary to run your own applets; you can use BlueJ to run them, or the appletviewer that comes with the Java 2 SDK.
  5. Select Components: I clicked Next, to accept the default (which is to install everything).

    And then it installs the SDK. Assuming that everything went OK, you'll next see ...

  6. Setup Complete: I clicked 'Yes, I want to view the README file.', and clicked Finish.

    I read the README file (it didn't say much, frankly), and closed the Notepad window.
IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS: Visit those links I listed in Step 1, above.

Step 3: Install BlueJ

I just double-clicked on the bluej-115.jar file (in Windows Explorer, of course), and saw a window titled:
  1. BlueJ Installation: I set the 'Directory to install to:' box to read c:\langs and the 'Java (JDK) directory:' box to c:\langs\jdk1.3.1_02 and clicked Install.
The installation went smoothly.

Step 4: Test the installation of the SDK and of BlueJ.

In c:\langs\bluej, I found a file named bluej.bat In Windows Explorer, I double-clicked it, and BlueJ fired right up. I tested it by loading one of the example programs from the BlueJ examples directory. It compiled and ran just fine.

A note for Windows 95/98/ME users: The last time I tried to install and run BlueJ was under WinME, and when I first tried to run it I got a DOS screen titled 'Finished - bluej' with the message 'Out of environment space' twice, and a thread exception message.

I went to Google and searched for that error message. The first hit was to Microsoft's support site with a link for Windows ME (how convenient!): http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q261/8/25.ASP (A similar page for Win 95/98 users is: http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q230/2/05.ASP)

I chose Method 1 to solve the problem. I opened a DOS window (Start --> Programs -> Accessories -> MS-DOS Prompt under Windows ME), and upped the initial environment size to the maximum (4096 bytes). I clicked Apply, got the 'hey, you need to restart the program' message, closed the DOS window, and opened another DOS window. I changed to the BlueJ directory and typed 'bluej'. It fired right up.

Step 5: Install the javabook package.

In Windows XP (and ME, for that matter), ZIP files can be extracted without a separate unzip program. I right-clicked on the swing_javabook_pkg.zip file and told Windows to extract the contents (a folder and a .GIF file) to c:\langs.

A brief historical message: Originally, the package of extra classes for Wu's book was named javabook. Then a new version of the package was created, and to distinguish it from the first one it was named javabook2. Recently, the new version was apparently renamed to be just plain 'javabook', probably to match the text. Unfortunately, we have the lab and our class materials set up to use 'javabook2'. So, when you develop programs with this installation you're in the process of creating, use import javabook.*; in your programs. When you're working in the lab, use import javabook2.*; instead. Definitely an annoyance, but a minor one.

The page http://www.bluej.org/help/archive.html#tip5 explains how to tell BlueJ how to find classes like javabook. You can find Preferences under Tools in BlueJ 1.1.5.

I used the 'Add' button in the Libraries tab in the BlueJ Preferences window to add c:\langs to the User Libraries list, and after restarting BlueJ I could use import javabook.*; just fine.

NOTE: If you have trouble with that approach, you can leave the swing_javabook_pkg.zip file as-is and just add the name of the zip file to the User Libraries list. While this is easier, I think I would recommend that you try the first approach; people tend to remove or move zip files without thinking (they're meant to be for storage and transfer of files, after all), and so after a hard drive cleanup you may discover that you inadvertently (re)moved this one, too. But, use whichever works for you.


And that's all I did to install those three packages. Good luck!


Do you have a comment on this page? I'd like to hear it; you can email me at mccannl@acm.org.