IMPORTANT: Problems starting ARIS Express? Bug in Oracle's JRE Java 7, update 6!

Hi Frank,

I'm Donald Smith and on the Java SE PM team.  I'm really sorry to hear this - can you send me the bug # so I can follow up?

 - Don

Hi Don,

thank you very - very - very much. This is good news.

The bug id is # 7194221. If you got additional questions, you can use this link to send it to us, it will be forwarded to me.

Bye,

Frank

Danke für die Lösung meines Problems. ARIS Express lässt sich nun wieder mit der "alten" Java Version öffnen und ich kann weiterarbeiten..

VG und VIELEN DANK

Grumbelfix

I returned to save some lives.

Deactivating the updates is a VERY dangourous advice.

Java 7 version 1 - 6 was affected by a VERY critical vulnerability!

This issue was fixed by Oracle in Java 7 version 7.

Maybe also the ARIS Express problem was fixed in that version. I don't know it.

Java 6 is not affected by this vulnerability!

You should disable Java in your browser. This is a very good idea in most of the cases.

Here is a guide how to do this in Firefox:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/How%20to%20turn%20off%20Java%20applets

You spoke too soon: 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/31/critical_flaw_found_in_patched_java/

Hello all!

What is the status of corrections to use ARIS Express again!

Yesterday my laptop very suddenly stopped to work on ARIS Express.  The problem dedscription had a long list of JAVA related topics.  I have updated to latest JAVA JRE proposeld automatically by Oracle.  I tried to follow Frank's advice to downgrade to JRE version 6, but my JAVA 7 does not disappear?? So the same error message starting Aris Express :unable to launch application comes again...

What is the latest advice?  Wait for ARIS Express update?

Hello Don?  Any news on this?  I am very reluctant to downgrade to JRE 6, as I have many other Java JRE based applications and I am worried about the security risk.  I have latest JRE 7 rel. 7 in my PC.  No ARIS Express functionality anymore since Monday this week.  It just does not launch at all.

br.

Helena

Sorry - no news yet, but it's been flagged given it seems like a unique situation.

Hello Don!  Any news for Aris Express supporting the newwest Java JRE 7.7??

I have not doengraded, still waiting for bug fix from Aris (it should support JRE latest...)

br. Helena

When is ARIS going to support Java 7(.7)?!

We are not allowed to downgrade Java, so we are now UNABLE to use ARIS  :(

Please release a fix soon so we can continue to work with ARIS.

I absolutely agree with Stjepan!!

I am currently giving BPM training to a big  company in Finland. They chose ARIS Express to start modeling, as most or the participants have IT-experience but not any BPM and the entry level tool was chosen because of no cost and ease of use.  The company plans to upgrade to Aris later on, as they want to be able to provide BPM documents to their customers in ARIS framework (commonnly in use)

Now I am in trouble, because ARIS Express stopped  working... not for all but for those who upgraded the JAVA JRE 7.7..  I think it is not a sophisticated advice from me to propose to downgrade to JRE 6, as so many other applications use always newest JRE and if you don't have it , the prompt for upgrading comes automatically.

What is the way to influence SAG to fix the bug (I call it a bug) and ensure latest JRE is supported?

What is going on here? Oracle's Java v7 is here for a while. Other applications do work with v7 fine. So we're expecting ARIS development team to update ARIS in order to support new JRE. Nobody should blame Oracle's team for upgrading his Java. ARIS Express version 2.3 is too long here - where's v2.4, v2.5 or even v3.0. I hope ARIS developers will solve this incompatibility between ARIS and JRE v7 soon.

The workaround solution for this problem coud be to temporarly disable JRE v7 (1.7) on your machine and leave only JRE v6 (1.6) active and then start ARIS Express:

Control Panel -> Java -> Java tab -> View button ... disable JRE v7

Dear Sjoerd, if you read my previous post you'd see that you don't have to explicitly downgrade from v1.7 to v1.6. You can only temporarly disable v1.7 in order to start Aris and activate it back again afterwards. I have both versions JRE v1.6 and JRE v1.7 installed on my machine and ARIS Express works if I disable v1.7 of JRE and leave only JRE v1.6 temporarly active.

Hello again!

I have followed Sthepan's note to have BOTH versions of JRE.  This is the case now.

I have dísabled JRE 7 and enabled JRE 6...

But when I try to launch Arix Express, I get a prompt to update to JRE 7.7. and I cannot bypass this.  So Aris won't start!  Where is the problem now???

Thanks for help in advance..

Hi Don,

according to your information it is a bug in the JRE, and it is fixed in JRE 7, update 10.

I am happy to confirm, that, in the available early access release of the update 10, Express starts again. Thank you very very much!

Best regards,

Frank

JRE 7 update 10? as of today (sept 28th 2012) the lastest is 1.7.0_07 right? how do I get 10?

Hi Diego,

You won't get it yet. It will be released hopefully soon. Until now, you only have the possibility to downgrade to a working version.

Bye,

Frank

I have today posted a question to Oracle JAVA support to request the availability of JRE 7.10.

Hopefully they answer... I come back if that happens. If someone wants to push pls copy the request...

Dear Stjepan!

I start to become desperate with the situation!

We have not yet JRE 7.10 available.

I have done exactly as you said installing both 1.6 and 1.7 to my laptop, then tickled ENABLE only to JRE 1.6.

Then, when startting ARIS express, it always proposes JRE 7.7. update, and when saying NO it stops there.  I even removed and re-installed ARIS express to check if this hepls. DID not.

So my problem is not having JRE 1.6 but ARIS express launch  asking for 7.7. update.

Can you find out how to pass by?

If I totally remove JRE 1.7, I guess ARIS still asks for JAVA update.

Can anone help me!!

br. Helena

Hi Helena.

actually, the most easy and clean way to get rid of this problem is to

1. delete the webstart cache (Express will be gone)
2. uninstall the JRE 1.7
3. in the java control panel (see picture below), disable the java-update
4. install Express newly. Your settings won't be touched.

Disabling the update can be found here (at least in my JRE version of 1.6).

I'm not sure, but it might be possible, that Express was downloaded with JRE 1.7, which then causes the problem.

Bye,

Frank

Hello Frank!

Thanks so much!

The problem was solved after your step 2. I did not need to re-install ARIS.

Removing totally JRE 1.7.7.  helped in my case.

ARIS started normally proposing JRE 1.6, no update...

Have a nice weekend!

br. Helena

Thanks for the info, I have ARIS Express at least running again, but my drill down symbol (to nav to a child) is not showing up. So, I have no drill down capability, uhg... And, we are evaluating the tool for purchase, but all the issues with jae have just about sunk our momentum. Any ideas on how to resolve the drill down issue?

I received a Java update and I hoped that it would fix ARIS.

But no.. ARIS Express still doesn't run with the newest Java version 1.7.9

(I know it Should  be fixed in 10, but still... No ARIS)

How do you communicate this with new users who download ARIS Express?

They download the product and it doesn't work. That's really not user-friendly and I doubt if they will try it in the future.

(All my other Java applications do work on 1.7.9 )

Hello Sjoerd!

Sorry to hear that latest JRE did not fix the problem.

I have downgraded to 1.6.35.

While coaching my customers I have chosen to say honestly that this version must be used to run ARIS Express.  I have said problem is known and expected to be fixed in the next Java JRE.

I have not so many new customers right now, but I feel a bit upset to tell this story to the next ones..  Hope the new version comes SOON!

br. Helena

Just tried 1.7.10 (early access) and still does not work.

Is this the same like my problem?

ARIS Express 2.3 starts up well to the welcome screen with Java 1.7.0_09. But when trying to open an .adf-file, it shows the message "ARIS Express was updated. Please exit the program and restart. Do you want to exit ARIS Express now.".

However, this is an endless loop.

When searching the web or this site, it seems nobody typed that very message anywhere. Besides, the automated system check (http://www.ariscommunity.com/aris-express/system-check) yields no issue.

Shall I open a new thread or is it this one?

the endless loop terminated the next day (after a power cycle and on another access point).

seems not to be related to this issue...

Is Software AG serious about continuing to provide Aris Express? Having recommended this strongly to a number of clients embarassingly none of them can use it anymore because of issues relating to Java.

The current download (even after the extremely annoying constant downloads every time you start it) fails on both Mac and Windows. Even after removing all traces of Java 7 on either platform it fails to start. It costs me 2 downloads to find this out.

If it were a case of paying a reasonable licence fee to continue to use this product I would not hesitate provided it would at least operate. Any new users going to your site are going to be confronted with a product that fails to work. They will possibly never return. I have read that java 7 release 10 solves it all, but there is no sign of that on the Oracle site.

So right now I have many different process models only accessible on one machine that I cannot upgrade for risk of losing the last remaining access I have to this. Your first message in relation to this problem appeared in August. We are now in December. This indicates you either intend to remove the free version of ARIS or are not serious about remedying the problem. Either way, this is shoddy behaviour for a reputable company.

Unfortunately, I was attempting to demo the capabilites of the tool for the co. I now work for, but due to the bugs with aris express on Java 7, they were turned off. Moving on to IBM telelogic SA. Good luck

Hi all,

recently, many users were having problems starting ARIS.

This was caused by a bug in the JRE. Sorry for any inconveniences.

Anyway, the knowledge about the reason causing this and a debonair "Sorry for any inconveniences" does not really help you.

So, the good news is: yes, we are aware of this issue and yes: <imagine a fanfare here> there will be a new version of Express coming soon, just to solve this problem concerning the stability. And, no, please don't ask me about a concrete timeframe. The answer would be "soon". Consider this to be a christmas gift.

Just for you information: as you might have read in other posts in ARISCommunity.com, there is a huge list of innovations and new versions of our ARIS tools coming up next year. We needed to decide to fulfill the requests and needs of our customers for our "big" products, or investing time for our free-of-cost tool. Would be great to have your understanding here.

I'll keep you informed. Stay tuned.

Bye,

Frank

Hi everybody.

As I said:

> I'll keep you informed. Stay tuned.

So here is some news for you: http://www.ariscommunity.com/users/frank-weyand/2012-12-19-aris-express-24-released

Bye,

Frank

Hi Frank,

Happy Xmas to you and your folks.

Unfortunately 2.4 still doesn't work under mac os with jre7u10. 

java.lang.ClassCastException: java.util.HashMap cannot be cast to java.awt.RenderingHints

Earlier you wrote it was the bug with jre which is fixed in update 10. Is it the same issue or something new?

Thanks,

Ivan

Still doesn't work using Aris EXpress 2.4 with Java 7 update 11. 

java.lang.ClassCastException: java.util.HashMap cannot be cast to java.awt.RenderingHints

Hello Brendan!

I happen to have a brand new laptop (Xmas present to myself)  with Win7.

I directly launched the new Aris Express 2.4.

I don't have JRE in my machine!  yet...  at least search does not bring any java files..

I have not needed it obviously.

Aris Express starts fast, does not require any downloads (no comment of Java etc,)

and it works fine,  I have all my old Aris diagrams fully visible and editable.

pls check removing all Java files and check...what happens

Hi Helena,

you do use the new windows executable, which does not require a preinstalled JRE.

Hi Brendan,

you probably use the webstart application. We thougt the bug would have been fixed with JRE 1.7 update 10, but obviously, this is not really the case. Do you use windows? Delete the webstart cache and install the new executable. Otherwise, if you use e.g. Unix/Linux and going back to 1.6 is not an option for you: please test again, the bug does not appear always, and once you installed, it should not happen again.

Bye,

Frank

sorry, I thought this thread was for Mac OSX users. I didn't realise this was affecting all platforms. But no, I don't use windows. I'm using Mountain Lion. What is the best way of going back to jre 1.6 on the mac? 

Hi Brendan,

have a look here: http://www.ariscommunity.com/users/frank-weyand/2012-12-19-aris-express-24-released

Community user Francois Baux gave a good explanation how to do that.

Bye,

Frank

Totally not sure in all explanations above, especially about Java 7 or 6.

First - I was able to start ARIS Express on Java 7, check this - http://www.ariscommunity.com/users/awentland/2013-01-08-unable-allocate-required-amount-memory-jvm-please-turn-automatic-memory-management

But later on the other PC and with Java 6 (!) I got the same kind of problem again!

Frank, could you help, please.

I have the same as above " Unable to start application" at mac 10.9.4 JRE 8.11 the latest. I s the problem still occur and I have to get JRE 6?

Hi Kirill,

the post has nothing to do with the macintosh. I do not think that something has changed here.

Bye,

Frank